Saul was seated near Ishan. He leaned against the trunk of a massive tree. Where before there had been silence, now there was a symphony of forest sounds. It was as if the whole forest began to blossom with life following their battle with the Ent.

His eyes were closed and his face had a serene expression as he expanded his awareness. He felt the connection between himself and the rest of the forest, a resonance that seemed to exist between all living things. He felt the ties that bound him and Basi together, a golden energy that stretched between the two of them and through those ties he felt an intense feeling of companionship with the beast. It was almost familial. He felt the connection between himself and Ishan. The 'party' line. It appeared silver in his head and seemed to link his mind to the wizard's.

The connection felt tenuous, as if it could be broken at a moment's notice. He pushed further outward with his Qi a cloud of his energy enveloping the entire clearing. He gained awareness of everything that happened within. It was as if his Qi were particles that moved at rapid speed, colliding with everything in the environment. Through those collisions he could see outlines of everything in the area. Everywhere his Qi flowed was solid white and everywhere that it couldn't flow was an absence of that light.

Inhale.

His Qi cloud shrank. Qi flowed into his lungs. He grabbed hold of that Qi and willed it into his dantians. Flooding them. Refilling them as they were continuously drained to project that Qi cloud.

Exhale.

His body relaxed. Tension evaporated. His heart rate slowed. He let his Qi cloud expand further.

Inhale. Deeply.

His Qi drew tight to his body as he breathed in, the cloud of his awareness shrinking down until it clung to his body like a cloak. More Qi, this time so much that it totally refilled his lower dantian. He struggled with that energy and contained it within that dantian. Forcing it to expand. To grow. Suddenly, pain.

Exhale.

He projected his cloud out again to empty the dantian.

He was working on grinding away at the barriers of the core, to expand its walls so he would have a greater energy capacity in the future.

An hour passed. To his right he heard shifting on the undergrowth, then the sound of soft 'pops'. He pulled his aura totally within himself and opened his eyes. Ishan was standing before him. "All done recovering your mana?"

The wizard nodded. "It takes me too long. I need to figure out how some of the other wizards I've seen get their mana back so quickly." Saul's shoulders raised in response. "I wouldn't know, unfortunately. I just shoot things." He climbed to his feet, his knees popping softly as he stood. Arms raised high over his head, back arched, before that popped too. He wore a satisfied smile as he spoke, "We shouldn't be too far from Sylethanas. Let's go figure out what's going on in this place." Basi stirred beside him at those words and moved to lean against his legs. The beast appeared serene. Happiness flashed through their bond.

They set off down the path. As they walked, Saul made an effort to expand his Qi cloud out in a 10-meter radius. It was taxing on his dantian but it seemed manageable. Important. ‘I’ll know if we’re under attack before it happens. I’m not getting ambushed again.’ After the experiences he’d had so far in the dungeon, his desire to avoid an unexpected projectile was growing. Vivid colors passed by as they continued on. The bright reds and purples of fungi dotted many of the fallen trees. Blue hues filtered down from the canopy as other wavelengths of lights were absorbed. Vivid, deep greens dominated the floor of the forest. One massive red trunk after another passed by. It was the kind of landscape that couldn’t help but put a smile on your face.

The rest of their journey passed peacefully. Saul saw a sign that indicated they were only a kilometer away from Sylethanas and pulled Ishan to the side of the path. “If these elves are as hostile as indicated, we’d better figure out a plan. I’d like to try and sneak into their village and see what’s going on…” He paused when he looked at the wizard. He could see the man was chewing his lip as if in thought. “What’s wrong?” Saul asked. “I don’t know if I can be quiet enough to sneak into an elven village. I’m good, but I don’t have any sort of skills or very high physical stats.”

Saul looked at the forest around them as he considered his options. “Why don’t we have a test? I’ll move over there,” he pointed into the distance at a fallen tree. “I’ll tell you when I notice your approach. If you get within… Let’s say three meters before I notice, we’ll call that good.” Ishan nodded.