User Kaden has sustained 1 HP damage.

Ow.

Getting longer time limits would definitely be a nice goal for the future. All the time I've spent at the dungeon isn't even a fraction as terrifying as being forced back like this! Thankfully all it takes is a singular use of Growth and the bent branching of my body mends and extends out to return my normal shaping. Bomber isn't hurt and actually seems more terrified... thankfully my minions don't snicker like the vermin back home, otherwise I'd probably put a thorn through his face.

Misplaced rage aside, that echowing healer is at least identifiable. I need to collect my bearings for a moment and use the information I've gathered appropriately.

First: regardless of whether or not they built these homes, my ghostly walk tells me that echowings are only similar to bats in that they fly. The few open doors let me see that all of their primitive furniture — made of twined-together wood — is focused around residing and relaxing on the ground. If they hang upside down, I'll know more when nightfall comes.

Secondly: there are multiple people with marked doors and similar professions, at a minimum and common number of two per job. If they're anything like bats and are nocturnally active, there may be absent or sleeping members who are responsible for nightly duties. Campfires and torches dot the town's walkways so they can easily illuminate the night if they even need it.

Thirdly and perhaps most important of all: the echowing settlement is rectangular or ovular in shape, with three of its sides meeting the woods.

Bomber might not be able to deduce the importance of this, but it's the coordination of these three facts that tell me something vital to the echowings and answering both questions about the prior. Echowings rely on their ears whenever they fly at night; although it's easy to approach the village from any direction during the day, the open field on the south end of town is wide enough so that moonlight can illuminate it and there's space to crashland without eating lumber.

Come on, Bomber. Stay close and walk on all fours for now, though.

The rambli looks toward the sky but I gently bonk him with my staff so he gets hopping.

I understand your concern but if they do spot you then you can rely on me. I've got plenty of mana to at least defend us.

... Saying that is honestly more of an assumption than a known reassurance and I think even he knows it. My yellow-and-red companion isn't in his element and neither am I; just facing off against the gemfawn had put us in a dangerous position, whilst the only reason we don't have issues with bonebacks is Bomber's affinity to best them. An echowing may be someone I can beat, yet a fight between them and Bomber would all but likely result in his defeat.

In short, attacking them simply isn't an option.

Withdrawing from them is possible using our teleport, but it's unlikely I'd get the distance to safely escape with Bomber without them seeing it. Dungeon Masters have a high death rate and all my prior research dictates that high fatalities like that plus a language with built-in hatred is setting me up to get identified if I slip that up. Creepers are magical but... I doubt they're able to teleport.

Bomber pads the ground whilst we walk, periodically gazing past at gliders returning; his speed on the ground is good but there isn't a way to know for sure just how much speed could help him against echowings in their natural territory. That's before even mentioning that there are hunters inside their village, no doubt well-versed in tracking ground game like him. Without natural camouflage, it'd be impossible for him to hide... or sneak inside himself.

So far, it looks as if my options are simple: I need to either sneak in myself, return to the dungeon and risk angering the system-talker so I can retrieve Ropert, or...

... Or...

... Or I can try another path! My understanding of Nata and Oldnat doesn't mention or include something about the ranbli. Plus ranbli are supposedly more evolved and, most likely, smarter than ranbi. With my ability to write would normally require a better means, but my Magosbone knife should aptly allow me to carve messages in the trees. If combined with my use of my True Form, I'd be able to witness their responses. But then I'd also need to figure out a way to lure them to it whilst keeping myself safe.

This will definitely take a formulaeic approach.

A trio of echowings flap noisily in the dusk lighting of the Grey Valley, one of them lower and in the lead whilst the other two hover high above him. The fading light lets them come in through the clearing... and spot my first tactic.

Stealthily-thorned-across-the-clearing-wood-plate.

And... they pass over it without even spotting it in the grass.

Bomber, shut up. It'll work.

Bomber sits with me in the tree only because I make him and no one can convince me otherwise; the whole time he keeps wanting flowers whilst we wait. But this time, the guard patrolling the outskirts will see my plate attached to the tree for... sure...

... Fuck, he walked past it!

These echowings are definitely night-blind or oblivious! I broke a bunch of branches using Thornshot and when they came to investigate they didn't even spot four of my wooden-carved message boards!

This is... this is... awful! Why does it feel like Grey Man cursed me with horrible misfortune!? It's impossible that they can't see them, right? They look at the carvings through the village and read the labels, so why don't they notice non-native signs?

Bomber is in good spirits but I think it's because he can eat and relax while I frustrate myself with finding the right solution. Bringing him was the right choice but... I feel so useless like this. Ropert is agile and could be cut into smaller sizes to easily sneak around, but without teleporting back and trying to find the village, I can't rely on that. There's no telling what will set-off the one behind the system, either, so risking offending them isn't something I can do. It isn't talking or giving me hints, yet I can feel that omniscient gaze over my shoulder. It isn't impatient but... expectant.

It's like having an actual god with some measure of due diligence watching over me instead of that card-issuing RNG goon.

But that's precisely why I think I feel worse about this currently working. Back at the dungeon, I have a large grasp and control over my environment but... out here, that sense of control keeps coming and then getting yanked out of my hands.

I think I'm going to use my True Form again.

I set my staff down beside Bomber, tilting it so the wood helps better hide the semi-burrowed bunny-kid and props the mana-rich crystals into the dirt so the bonebacks hopefully don't smell it. Even if they show up it won't be an issue for Bomber, though.

But before I go... I have one last trick to try. Back at the base, I was able to manipulate my dungeon items with my True form albeit in a poor way. Part of it relies on my attachment to the dungeon for a constant flow of mana, yet it ultimately is a similar practice to using mana to flow through or form something. So that leaves my final experimental option: attempting to devise a way to use my dungeon-built and dungeon-owned items... but without my dungeon, purely relying on my mana supply.

Alright... freeform.

No slapping the ground this time, I'm not repeating my mistakes! Lowering my "camera"-like vision actually sets me on the ground, so going forward I'll have to account for it exactly the same way.

As for this knife... something feels off. Just being near it while outside of the dungeon feels like it's trying to reach out to me. It's just a knife but it makes me uncomfortable even in its sheath. This sort of pressure is close to my first encounter with bonebacks: I know there's danger but I can't place exactly what kind it is.

Maybe it's because it's a magic weapon; does that mean it can hurt me? I don't intend to test it out, either, unless I'm safely within the dungeon. I created its sheath so I could easily carry it with my shrub body or have one of the others carry it, but now I find myself just... transfixing on its hilt. My body's ghostly nature and connection to my Manifested form seem to link to mana, so logically that could make me made of mana.

I don't know how much mana I'm made of if that's the case... but what happens if I touch the mana crystal on my knife?

...

Hmph. Fuck it. I have to lose my caution for some things if I hope to progress, right?

Bomber, sit there and-

My hand slips around the hilt, shockingly grabbing it and feeling sensation for the first time in my new life. Actual TOUCHING! This discovery is fantastic! Is it because the bone is magic resistant!? If that's the case, I could use magic-resisting material to make armor for myself and-

Wait this- ow! OW OW OW!

The knife falls out of my grip but that doesn't stop the pain; my pinky touched the crystal affixed to its end storing mana, yet there's nothing left of it to suggest I even had a pinky in the first place. The whole finger is simply gone; right down to the knuckle, my energetic body flickers and my eyes blur with tears of agony.

But for how much it hurts, I don't... no, I can't cry. It's just in my head. Bomber is watching me with concern but that's because he can only hear me in our minds expressing pain.

Losing my digit didn't alert me of damage... does that mean that this form is outside of the system more than I thought? Or... maybe it's because I didn't take damage but instead lost mana? Is my MP actually my HP whilst in this form?

Grey God, you bastard! Why didn't you warn me!? Now I'm some nine-fingered dumbass and- huh?

My pinky finger is regrowing! Oh fuck, what the hell is going on here?

Wait, I'm a dumbass! The crystal drew my finger inside, but I'm constantly regenerating mana! But that shouldn't be the case; I don't have status bars when I'm in this state, so-

I get it now. This is connected to why I can handle the knife but I don't interact with my environment! I phase through walls and trees because they're more or less objects, but the ground of Grey Valley is so enriched with mana that the grass even glows with the stuff! That's why I faceplanted before; rather than phasing through the ground, I smacked a line of mana. Similarly, I'm made of mana but I have no stats.

So isn't it logical to assume that my body isn't made of my Manifested Form's mana but my stored mana back at the dungeon? If that's the case, it explains why I feel pain from this body being absorbed, whilst also explaining how I can be sucked up into a crystal! As long as a weapon doesn't deal or resist magical damage, I don't interact with it. That's why my dungeon's walls block me but not trees or stone walls.

Bomber! Do you know what this means!? If I made a sort of bodysuit - stay with me here - out of the mana-enriched grasses, I could actually touch that batgirl!

... Don't look at me like that you little bouncy bastard.

More importantly, this means that I should be able to use the mana-enriched grasses to make some fibrous cords. From there, I can carry one of my signs!

This is how I'll communicate! I'll be a spooky, knife-wielding sign that carves questions!