As I followed the twists and turns faithfully...

The once quiet surroundings slowly turned more and more lively as I got further and further away from my starting point. Small critters scurried about and birds started singing from the trees.

The dense jungle slowly turned into a lush forest. The atmosphere no longer felt as damp as more and more sunlight reached the soil beneath the canopy. The surrounding mana felt more and more less concentrated as I moved on...

After observing the now increasinly large animals around me I realized something. From the knowledge I aquired from absorbing mana I remembered that lifeforms absorb mana from their surroundings as they mature.

The reason for the high concentration at my birthplace could be attributed to the choking vegetation... Thinking about it... I don't know exactly how long my body had been lying there. My body might have been the reason for all the mana to accumulate at that specific spot...

My body being of the purest form of mana known simply as Origin. While my body was being formed and my consiousness being shaped, it would have caused all the surrounding mana to gather towards me.

Like moths to a flame it would seek to merge itself into its highest form... So the reason for the clearing and the extremely dense jungle were actually caused by my own birth.

With all the mana around, vegetation grew until it was physically impossible to expand more. With my body close by, the nearby plants would quickly die out since I used up all the surrounding mana. The grass around me would be able to at least absorb some of the mana in the ground. But the pebbles in the creek were different. They were far enough away from me to be able to slowly build up mana until now.

**Outside the borders of Anbriot's forest.

An old man studied an ancient looking scroll under a faint glimmering candle flame.

The old man suddenly dropped his quill on the floor as he felt a sudden change happening. He quickly rose to his feet as he stumbled outside.

"Old man! Hey! Where are you going?" - Senna asked in bewilderment. She had just returned from a trip to Anbriot's forest and came to get an old scroll valued that she found. As always she had gone to her grandfather's workshop in town to make sure of its value before selling it at an auction. She had just shut the door when her grandfather had rushed out.

"Hey! Come back! The auction starts in an hour!!! I need..." before she finished her sentence her grandfather had long vanished.

A loud bang ran through the hall as Millan rushed into my study.

"Hey old man. You can't just..." I said with a frown.

Millan had always been overly excited when his granddaughter came back with something good from one of her trips. He would usually come and bother me with it... "Wait wait, it's not that... Have you checked the charts? I think something happend at the Expanse today" Millan's voice was hoarse from rushing all the way here. His face was steeped in excitement as he began to explain.

Jackob was currently looking at his old friend with harsh words stuck in his throat. As a court appointed senior researcher his sole job was keeping an eye out for any changes happening around Anbriot's forest and what was commonly known as The Great Anbriot Expanse that laid in the middle.

Opening one of his drawers he pulled out an spherical orb. After a injecting his mana into the orb a surpised expression formed on his face.

"Wait. How can this be? The mana..."

Millan looked at his old friend with a smirk plastered on his old worn face. Looking exceptionally pleased with himself.

"I knew it! I'm right? My granddaughter came back with some old good stuff today, and she asked me to appraise it for her as usual. But when I started working I immediatly felt the difference when I started using my appraisal magic. The mana flow is so steady! Something must have happened during these few days inside the Expanse!" Millan cut off his old friend in an attempt to move on. He quickly naratted what had happened earlier today. Afterwards he silently looked at his old friend seeking validation...