Gene never experienced anything like what I went through. According to her, mana is passive in its nature. The fact that death mana has been so overbearing lately is something of great interest to her. I’m a bit disappointed in my lack of understanding, but that isn’t anything new.

Sensing my frustration, Gene suggests some spirit training. For the next couple of hours, I get lost in energy reading and perception checks. After that, Gene has me practicing a bunch of ways to manipulate my aura. After we finish training, we fall into a silent lull. It’s not long before she falls asleep curled up next to the fire. I gently place Gloom on her trying my best not to wake her.

The waves are breaking perfectly so I take my leave to meditate in the waters. I get pummeled wave after wave. It feels amazing. There is so much raw power in the ocean. Some waves I clash into face first, arms spread wide. Others I jump over or swim under. Most of the waves I ride, letting the monumental force push my body along.

I know there is work to do. That can wait. There will always be jobs to do. Right now, I need the sun, waves, …and food. In fact, between Gene and I, based on our current consumption, we will need lots of food. This intruding idea unfortunately brings me to my first plan.

I’ve taken out a good part of the invading horde. There should still be four fortresses remaining. Luckily, we have stopped one portal from opening. There is no telling if another is under construction in the other forts.

I prefer not killing for the time being. However, I can’t just leave them unchecked. I suppose I could. That just might have consequences in the future. Perhaps the best plan of action is some good old-fashioned sabotage. We go to the fortresses and take all their food and goods. Hopefully, we make the horde struggle while they are invading.

After a long swim, I notice Gene begin to stir. I ride a wave to the shore. I thoroughly dry myself off with some fur before summoning a light layer of clothing to wear. While Gene stretches herself awake, I prepare our next meal. As we finish our meal, I share my thoughts of plunder with her.

Because of Nette’s memories, we have a good idea of where the closest fortress is. Conveniently, it’s Sil’s camp. Now is as good a time as ever to clear up some misunderstandings.

Before we leave, I summon a bone stick and map out our location. What the drawing lacks in clarity I make up for with inadequate details. “Time for a team meeting,” I say to Gene, prompting her to check out my map.”

“We, Team Wolf and Me are here,” I say, pointing at the rough sketch of the beach. “This convenient depression in the sand is where the stronghold used to be.” I point at the depression in the sand. Then realizing I am missing most of the map still, I draw the rest of the details. At least the ones I think are important.

Gene, to her ever-growing credit, is patient with my impromptu strategery. Once she gets a good understanding of my sand map, she begins adding many of the details herself. Seeing that she has a much better hand and understanding of this, I step to the side and let her do the rest.

First, she finishes the outline of the island. There are no significant landmarks found on the border. It very much looks like a chunk of land was taken from somewhere else. So maybe the demon in the Greater Shadow Realm was telling the truth.

After completing the island's outline, Gene moves on to more prominent landmarks. The desert, perfectly represented by the sand beach, covers the entire eastern half of the island. Splitting the island in half is a mountain range that Gene represents with massive triangle shapes in the sand. West of the mountain range is more forest and large lakes. More mountains are added along the western coast, and then, as a final touch, forests, and rivers are placed in their proper spots.

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“This is Shadow Isle.” Gene presents the finished map to me. Her hand hovers west of the mountain range. One of the lakes connects to the southern sea with a river that runs parallel to the mountain range. Gene’s finger is now pointing at the woods near the lake. “This was where my people lived before we were forced to flee into the mountains. If you are open to suggestions, after our missions are complete on this side, I suggest we try to set up a base for my people there.”

I have no reason to say no and easily nod my head along with her suggestion. “Yeah, that sounds good to me,” I double down on my agreement, my words and head nodding working in perfect unison.

Taking my bone stick, I add four ‘x’s’ to the map. One is southwest of the stronghold near the mountain range. Two more markers are further southeast, between Forest Base Camp and our current location. The final marker is in the canyon of one of the mountain ranges, just northeast of Mount Tall.

Pointing at the markers closest to us, I explain, “this marker is Sil’s goblin camp.” I point at the fortress in the canyon. This is the bugbear’s fortresses. These other two fortresses,” I now point at the southernmost marks on our map, “are goblins and kobolds.”

Gene follows along without adding to the map, so I continue with my plan. “Let’s pillage our way south first. This will allow us to visit my friends and the hordes’ fortifications on this mountainside.”

I add one more mark to the map where I estimate the Deep Dark Forest should be. “Heading in this direction will also hopefully allow us to look for any spiders. Hopefully, by the time we meet any of them, I will have Annette’s mind-speaking skills down.

“Gene, how about you use your new forms and scout ahead while I make my way to our first camp.” My finger is pointing at Sil’s mark. Since it is the most basic and obvious of plans, Gene does not object. She shifts into her hawk form and takes off at once.

Feeling like a master strategist, I congratulate myself for putting the plan together so flawlessly. I take one last look at my island, taking a mental memory of it all, then wipe it from the sand. I give the ocean one last look and then head toward the goblin camp.

My trail leads me right through the destroyed grounds of the stronghold. I remain silent and aware of the destruction I created here as I tread through the rubble. The pit in my stomach matches the scenery. The desolation has erased all evidence of life here and it closely resembles a desert patch. Just like walking through the desert each of my steps here is a struggle.

It isn’t until I am well past the stronghold that I allow my focus to split.

First, I use my secondary focus to cycle shadow energy and enter my realm. Inside my shadow realm, I let my passive focus keep the shadow shroud so that I can stay within my realm. After that, I begin cycling pure mana with my secondary focus. My main focus studies Annette’s memories.

Part two of my two-part plan called Pillage, Plunder ‘n Save involves finding the spiders and convincing them that I want to keep them safe. That makes learning how to communicate with them a major factor in the plan. If I can’t figure out how to communicate with the spiders, then this plan may very well just be Pillage and Plunder.

Annette’s instructions begin. Communicating with your thoughts is as simple as wrapping your words into your pure mana and sending them into the target’s mind. It sounds so simple. Yet, I am struggling to wrap my words with mana. Words aren’t anything. They can’t be wrapped.

If it weren’t for the spider invading my mind several times over already, I’d think she’d be telling me lies. I stay focused on the skill and Nette’s memories, hoping to gain some insight. I walk into several trees and curse the fact that I don’t have the capacity to split my focus more.

I’m not saying I want to be in the desert. However, I can’t help but notice wandering never resulted in so many abrupt stops. Then again, the desert can rot. I’ll take the trees that refuse to shift out of the way over that gritty heap of dust.

Obviously, the first step towards failure is to try something. The more you try, the more chances you have of failing. It is the success that you must worry about. Success will stop you from trying faster than failure will.

Motivated by the gold nugget of wisdom I stumbled into; I start wrapping everything in pure mana — everything but words — that is. Words can’t be wrapped. It’s like wrapping up a thought, which is less than a breath on the scale of substance... Suddenly the air that’s always in constant supply ignores my demands.