When my alarm goes off and wakes me up, there's a noticeable difference in the air and soil of the zone from when I laid down. I'm not entirely sure what the change is but I can feel the difference quite clearly. The mana here is still at the level of a Level 1 Rank 5 Awakened so it can't be that and I'm not sure what else it could really be.

Unless…

It's not just ambient mana I'm sensitive to but all forms of magical energy. That overwhelmed me when I was younger so I learned how to filter them out. There are quite a few different types, and even mana has a few variances. I learned to eliminate the types other than mana from my sensing and turn all of the types of mana into just plain mana to my senses.

That makes it much more manageable for just going about my day, though I do sometimes tap into some of those other senses.

When I work on making potions and enchantments other than mana potions, I let back in the appropriate energy sense to guide me in making things as precise as possible. Rather than sensing ambient ones, however, I focus it directly on what I'm working on to avoid overload.

This is a time to let back in the senses for ambient energies. They might tell me what the shifts are and maybe even what I need to do to help this place grow more quickly. Why I didn't think of this before, I'm not entirely sure.

Maybe because I'm too used to only using those senses for crafting?

Sitting up, I close my eyes and slowly let the other senses for energy forms return. I don't know what the Mythic Forest felt like with them before now but I can compare it to other parts of the forest, if they don't have whatever this shift is.

Something catches my attention and I start filtering back out my energy senses until only the relevant ones remain. Streams of earth mana and water mana flowing through the area, both in the soil and in the air. The earth mana streams are strongest in the soil itself, while the water mana streams are strongest in the pond. Both are found throughout, however.

They feel strange, with me focusing on them directly like this. I can feel the way they weave through the area, however. Only through the portions closest to me can I really sense them with strength so I decide to check out away from the pond.

I stand and follow one of the streams of water mana away from its origin, which is within the spring part of the pond.

The further I walk from the pond, the more unstable the energy flow becomes. They weaken and begin to twist and curl rather than flow and gently weave their way through the land. By the time I reach the fog wall, the earth and water energy flows tangle just a little bit in a few different spots. I let in my senses at those points and find other energy flows tangled in them as well. Wherever the tangles are strongest, the energy flows all but stop and those which continue after are much weaker.

"So that's what's going on here," I murmur.

The energies of the Mythic Forests must have become unstable after the King of the Celestials stopped maintaining them for too long. He likely kept them stable and prevented them from tangling back before he left to observe mankind. Without him doing that, they started to weaken and tangle and that affected the soil, water, and air.

Making the place uninhabitable.

As I work on a place, he's probably smoothing out the tangles so that the flows return to normal and the land can recover.

Lazy bastard. It's probably taking him a lot of work to undo those and he simply decided to hire out someone else for the job of planting things and killing monsters. The river must be his way of distracting me for a few days so I stop trying to expand areas or add in new ones before he's ready. Even with the time difference when I'm not here, it must take awhile to fix the energy flows even for a master of all forms of magical energy.

This zone's energy flows must be doing well enough for him to feel comfortable letting it expand. The size of the expansion might be him trying to say "hey, when places are ready to expand, you'll know because it's a big one".

Floaty Fish Pond must be getting some sort of nice treatment right now. I'll check back another day to see if there's water there. Nothing I can find in the zone indicates that there's a source for it so I'm not sure how to handle growing things there.

If I'm right, then these energy flows are part of how the Mythic Forest maintained itself. The water energy flows most likely actually added water to the soil. I can experiment with that and see if plants will grow up to the points where the water and earth energy flows seem to still be strong, before they start weakening and tangling.

The only reason I don't suspect it's because of the earth magic crystals I had the pups plant is because it's not just those that look strong and healthy nearest to the pond. All energy flows near the pond do.

Wait.

I walk to the nearest tangle of energy flows and examine it with my full sense for magical energies. In a few spots, where the energy flows start to slow, they also start to swell up. It almost resembles what I've seen in pictures of Monster Eggs.

I follow the streams until I reach the fog wall and when I do, I spot touches of black and red entering them.

Just like in Monster Eggs.

"So that's how they form," I muse.

Monster Eggs are the results of the energy flows of the universe tangling and becoming unstable. That's why monsters don't need nourishment near them – they're bundles of corrupted energy the beasts can draw from. With the variety of monsters within the Mythic Forest and its current state, I'm guessing this place is more susceptible to them than outside.

It's either that or the time difference within here can be a lot greater at times and that just accelerates the process much faster. I can't think of another reason why the city would only have three with its immense size if the Mythic Forest has as many as it does.

"Oh, hello, Mrow," I say as the lifeseed worm pokes its head out of the ground near me. "Was that the last of the ogres?"

The mythical beast was consuming the ogres when I woke and continued doing so over the ten minutes I've been examining the energy flows. I turn my filters back on so it's only mana that I'm sensing as the lifeseed worm fully emerges from the ground.

As it slides across the soil, thousands of essence crystals plop onto the ground. Maybe even tens of thousands.

"Where did you get all of these?" I ask, and the lifeseed worm turns and makes for the pond instead of answering.

At the edges of the plant-filled area, Mrow begins depositing the soil he created from the ogres' remains, except there's quite a bit more soil than I would have expected from that. Whatever size his own storage space is must be quite large to house tens of thousands of essence crystals and that much soil.

"Wait," I realize. "Have you been accumulating this from my work at the river?"

Mrow turns its head and gives me a nod.

He's realized that I generally want the essence crystals and so has decided to not process them into fertile soil. I really don't need that many, but I guess it doesn't hurt to have some I can sell for extra money while my Daily and Weekly Dungeons are unavailable.

Cassidy likely won't ask questions about where I get them and just assume I'd left the city do to some hunting. If the bureau learned of it, well, they're aware that I'm most likely an Awakened of a higher Rank. Rank 4s and Rank 5s can easily collect a lot of essence crystals if they go to the right place outside of the city, so they'd most likely just wonder how I left the city without getting noticed at the gates but not ask more than that.

Thinking of being interacting with others reminds me that I haven't dressed yet, so I do that after cleaning my feet of the soil. With my bracelets back on, I begin putting some of the essence crystals into them. I won't be able to take them all but I can certainly make quite a decent amount off of the ones I grab.

Aster appears when I'm halfway done filling one of the bracelets and he immediately dives snout-first into part of the long pile of crystals.

"Whoa, buddy," I pull him out as he starts to roll around. "Let's not make a mess. Mrow was kind enough to pile them up nicely, alright?"

Aster gives me a disappointed look, but that lasts only a moment before he perks up again, tail wagging as he sends me a message. A memory of him playing with Ryan on my deck and getting belly rubs and a dish of strawberry jam.

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"You want to play with Ryan?" I ask. "No, not quite. You were playing with Ryan? Oh! Ryan's at my house right now?"

I got distracted and lost track of time, didn't I? Aster decided to play with Ryan instead of letting me know, and he probably got sent by Ryan to see if I wanted lunch.

As Aster gives me confirmation that my boyfriend is at my house, I access my gate and return home, then open the front door.

Ryan's outfit today is an orange short-sleeved shirt which hugs him just as nicely as his jeans do, and I take him in for a moment as he takes in my appearance. My current outfit consists of a light grey button-up with short sleeves over a light green short-sleeved shirt and a pair of jeans.

"Aster told me you were taking a nap," Ryan says. "At least, that's what I think him imitating sleeping for a moment meant."

"I woke up about ten minutes ago," the pup must have come to see if I wanted to play and found me napping, as I doubt Ryan would have showed up that much before my usual lunch time. "He wasn't bothering you, was he?"

"No," Ryan gives the pup a rub on the head, and Aster's tail begins swishing from side to side. "We played out here for a few minutes and I gave him some jelly, then asked if he knew when you were going to wake from your nap and if I should come back later. He vanished, and here we are. Would you like to eat lunch? I brought subs."

"Sure," I close the door and we move to the table, Aster plopping his butt on the ground as he stares up at Ryan. "Patience, Aster. How's your day been so far, Ryan?"

"Not bad," he answers as he pulls two white paper lunch bags out of his storage. "It's been a quiet morning for me. That said, when do you do your grocery shopping?"

"I get delivery on Sundays," I answer. "Why?"

"The major news outlets aren't reporting anything," he tells me. "They're under a gag order from the government. All guilds were ordered into silence about the situation as well. There's only so much which can be done, though."

"Sooner or later," I say. "Word's going to spread about the lack of Dungeons, Daily and Weekly Dungeons, and Level 1 Awakening Quests. We've already talked about the panic buying, though? Or did something else happen?"

"A smaller online journal posted an article a couple of hours ago," he says. "Mentioning that the government went strangely silent about new Awakenings – they never really talked about them in the first place – and their reporters hadn't seen any new Dungeons in a few days. Combined with the knowledge that things had already been slowing down, they suspect that Dungeons and Awakenings have ceased entirely and recommend people stock up before shortages begin."

"That's the sort of thing which causes shortages," I say. "And the government is preparing to make sure we have supplies for months out, aren't they?"

"They are," he says. "The earth magic crystals we acquired the other day are already either in storage or being used in the farms. We're-"

"Woof!"

We both look down at Aster, who's staring at Ryan impatiently.

"Oh, right!" Ryan laughs. "Sorry, little guy! Here! It's not varyihn beef, but I hope you enjoy it!"

He sets a plate on the ground, then chunks meat plop onto it.

"Those are from some mithriltusk boars I fought awhile back," Ryan tells Aster. "So while it's not minotaur meat, I hope you enjoy it!"

Aster lets out several happy barks as he runs in circles, then he starts chowing down on his lunch.

"I'll take that as a 'yes'," Ryan chuckles as he looks at me again. "We should get eating, too."

"Is the bureau going to release a statement?" I ask as we open up our bags and start pulling out our lunches.

"Not yet," he says. "The journal doesn't have too many followers and they're estimating not many will actually start panic buying yet. They plan on releasing the official statement this weekend and are hoping to reduce the amount of panic buys, but know it won't fully mitigate things for awhile."

"The hope is that Dungeons return before then," I say. "And with an abundance of resources, not a light amount."

"Right," he says. "Right after the official statement is released is when they're expecting the panic buys to start. A lot of Awakened are already stocking up because they're aware of the situation."

It's kind of incredible that so many people know what's going on as they're directly affected by it yet word isn't spreading too fast. Most Awakened tend to lean toward the type who don't try to cause panics so I'm sure that factors in, as does the bureau making sure the major sources of news keep quiet. Those two factors are definitely a larger part of it, but could something else be at play as well?

"If you get a delivery on Sundays," he says. "I'd recommend going by Friday just to be sure. Though I've get plenty of fresh produce in my storage so you don't need to worry about that."

Me telling him I'll be fine probably didn't fully make him comfortable and he still wants to help me with food during the shortages.

"In all honesty?" I ask. "I really will be fine, Ryan. The place the King of the Celestials is sending me to actually has some produce in it. Not just magical ones I can use for potions but ordinary ones. Mainly fruits, but I might be finding vegetables soon."

"Alright," he says. "Let me know if you want anything in particular, though. One of my bracelets is just produce. Nothing else, just produce. There's more in some of the others, though I do have dairy, eggs, and meats as well as sacks of different grains and flours. Also herbs and other seasonings, sugar, and processed things like noodles, jams, pickles, and breads. In a regular storage, I have toilet paper, napkins, paper towels, cleaning supplies, and more. Those don't really need preservation."

"You really don't need to offer me stuff," I tell him.

"I know," he says before I can continue. "But I want to. This is something I'd offer to any of my other friends if I didn't already know they likely have their own stocks. Maybe not as much as me, but they're all fairly strong and can sometimes go on an extended job outside of the city or happen into a massive Dungeon which takes several days. We tend to always have a little a little bit of extra supplies."

"And they all no doubt know," I say. "So they're all probably stocking up, too."

Aster suddenly starts whimpering and I look down to find his head low and tail curled underneath him. That's not all I see, as the origin of his worry is not far away.

Sitting on my deck is leopard-like creature at full height, her pelt a mixture of light and dark greens while the spots are a mixture of dark and light blues. Traces of purple shimmer throughout her coat, giving it a slightly ethereal look reminiscent of an aurora. Her amethyst eyes stare at Aster with a trace of annoyance, then she turns them to Ryan and me and they soften.

"I apologize if Aster has been a bother," her voice is gentle. "His Majesty ordinarily keeps the kit in line, but has been unable to do so for many sleeps now. While I attempt to keep an eye on him, he sometimes escapes my care. This last escape has been particularly difficult to find him again and it's taken me many sleeps longer than normal. If he has caused you any harm, I offer to you appropriate reparations."

Ryan just stares at her, no doubt unable to figure out how to respond to a talking beast, while I immediately realize what's going on. She's another Celestial and she's come for Aster. I give her a quick examination.

Aurora Category: Graceful Kind. Enjoys licks on the head and rubs on the belly. Don't punt into the lake. Is willing to watch the youth when they need watching.

I'm going to guess the King of the Celestials threw her into a lake several times before deciding to put a note in her information to remind himself not to. Asking her about it might not be the best of ideas.

Responding to her might be a good one, though.

"He's been fine," I tell her. "Mostly just hanging out with me or playing. He's gotten into our jams and stuff a couple of times but I don't think he'll do it again."

"I see," she looks at Aster, who whimpers again, apparently able to feel her gaze. "Aster, have you apologized? We've spoken before about you getting into people's food and that it's very wrong unless they've granted permission. Remember?"

Aster whimpers, then crawls over to me and gives me a quite apologetic look.

"You're fine," I pick him up and rub his head. "Like I said before, just don't do it again, alright? And don't get into my bed or on my furniture while sticky, either. That's all."

Aster nuzzles me.

"I did notice his fur was clean," she says. "I take it you have washed him? Without me doing so regularly, I was concerned that he'd become nothing but sticky again."

"He was when we met a few days ago," I tell her. "I gave him a good scrub clean for that, and another yesterday and today."

"Aster is insisting on staying with you," she stands and approaches, then gives me a light sniff. "Hm. I see. Do you have an issue with him staying with you? If so, then I will take him back to my domain."

That sniff… was she just confirming the scent of the Mythic Forest on me? It's possible that I have a trace of the big boy's scent on me as well since he's observing me so she may have been smelling that.

"Did… you just sniff a Celestial?" Ryan asks me.

"It's only fair if she sniffs me first," I say as Aurora lightly tilts her head to the side in mild curiosity. "You smell of fresh-baked berry pies."

"I try my best to have a pleasing scent," she says. "Aster is quite insistent on getting to stay with you. Aster, if you didn't want to get caught, perhaps teleporting in and out of the same location eighteen times in a single sleep was not the best of ideas? It made it quite easy to pick up the traces of your power and follow them back."

"Eighteen times?" I look at Aster. "What in the world were you doing?"

That's quite a few more times than I know about. The answer turns out to be that he was trying to convince one of his friends to come visit last night but they were quite reluctant to.

"Yes," Aurora says, having apparently overheard Aster's response to me. "He can be quite shy so I'm not surprised he was resistant to coming. If Aster kept popping in and out of his cave last night, then he might be upset. If you're okay with Aster staying, then I'll be off."

"I am," I tell her. "He's nice to have around, and I think I'll miss him if he leaves."

Aster perks up at that. It's the truth, too. While the pup's only been here a few days, he already feels like he's always been a part of my life.

"Then I'll be going now," Aurora says. "I have another young one to check on, thanks to a certain someone. Until we meet again, may His Majesty's power guide you."

She inclines her head to me, then vanishes as if she had never been here to begin with. That eliminates my ability to ask her some questions that I feel she holds answers to, but something tells me I'll be seeing her again soon.

"Celestials can talk," Ryan says, his first words since Aurora appeared.

"Some," I say. "Aster doesn't talk, do you?"

I rub the pup's head as he sends me a "no" through his normal means.

"That's what I thought," I give him a kiss on the head, then set him back on the ground. "Eat your lunch, buddy."

Neither Ryan nor I really know what to say next so we just eat our lunch in silence. Meeting a second Celestial was not in my expectations for today and I doubt it was in his. It's only when I'm halfway through my sub that I realize just how good at holding a conversation she was.

She and Aster were having a separate, probably mental, conversation while she conversed with me.