“Why is a C rank this close to shore!” Geistig screamed.

“Why wouldn't there be! Do you have any idea how unlucky I am?” I shouted back.

I grabbed one of the ores with my tentacles, and the others did the same. We rowed the boat as fast as we could back towards shore, but the Filii Spatium Polypus was gaining on us. We couldn't make it in time.

"Kaz! Get those two out of here! Now!" Geistig ordered.

"What about you—"

"Just go! I'll draw its attention!"

Kaz wrapped us both in his new tentacles and rapidly flapped his wings, just barely able to keep us aloft. A horrifying shriek sounded behind us as the Polypus cried out. One of its tentacles extended far above the surface, and crashed down onto the boat. Geistig managed to construct an ice wall spell moments before impact, blunting the blow. Several more tentacles followed after the first, and were repelled by water bolts, ice shields, and wind walls.

Geistig kept casting with one hand, and touched his other to the gem on his forehead. "Urgent! We are alone, and on unsteady ground against a C rank Filii Spatium Polypus. Immediate assistance is requested."

Fractions of a second later, a reply came in "Please wait while we process our request. Our call is very important to us. We apologize for any inconvenience."

"Vorfar's hairy balls!"Geistig swore.

The Polypus suddenly manifested numerous portals, and thrusted its tentacles through them. Ahead of us, purple tears opened in the sky, and a veritable sea of tentacles exploded out of them.

Kaz had too much weight to maneuver around them, but Tishina manifested her armor and used her shadow-whips to smack against one of them as it got close. She didn’t have enough force to stop the tentacle, but she was able to grab onto it and push us out of the way. She stopped the first tentacle from crushing us, but she won’t be able to keep up with all of them. Another one struck at us, then another, with pinpoint accuracy. Dozens more would follow suit.

How is it attacking us so accurately from underwater? Octopi don’t have pinpoint senses of smell, sight, or hearing, and if it did, they wouldn't work this well from water to air. What is it using to sense us, then?

“Kaz, drop me!”

“What? No, we can make it!”

“No, we won’t. It can detect space mana. It’s using me to pinpoint our location. Drop me, now!”

“No Sylas, I won’t sacrifice you to save myself.”

“I will!” Tishina cheered through the mind-bridge as she slid her shadow between Kaz’s tentacles, prying them open. I dropped back to the sea as Kaz swore at her.

“Sylas, no!” Kaz screamed.

“I’ll remember this sacrifice in your next life!” Tishina called out.

The tentacles pivoted after me as I fell. I crashed into the water and tried to swim away. I didn’t get far before the Polypus’s tentacles wrapped around me and pulled me back through a portal.

As I came out the other end, I half expected the Polypus to crush or swallow me whole. Instead, it pulled me deep into the water, through another portal, and further away from shore before letting go.

Was this Polypus… Did I take the form of its child? Is that why it attacked our party? This shore was its breeding ground, and it saw us as a threat to its offspring?

“I’m alright. Geistig, get out of there!”

“I’m trying, I just need a few more seconds!”

I swam back to the surface, and watched as the Polypus grabbed hold of the boat. It may have been trying to save me initially, but now it’s just out for blood. Or food, maybe.

The Polypus suddenly crushed the boat into a tight ball and threw it all into its gaping maw. It crunched down on the wreckage, Geistig along with it.

“No!” I screamed.

“It’s alright, Sylas.” Kaz consoled me after a short pause.

“No it’s not. We wouldn’t even be here if it weren’t for me. He died saving us! It should have been me!” I cried.

“Sylas, you dummy.” Tishina scolded me… Wait.

“Why is the mental link still working? Geistig was—”

“An illusion, lad. But it’s nice to see you care. Maybe wait a few seconds before breaking down next time, okay?” He answered.

“... I take it back. Next time a monster tries to eat us, feel free to skip the fight and hop right in its mouth.”

---

We rowed back towards town without much fuss. I had to transform back into the owl for scouting purposes, but I didn’t mind. It gave me more time to make preparations for the terrariums. Rhannu still needs literal tons of dirt, clay, and water.

There is also the issue of fish, both to populate the river for Rhannu once it’s ready, and to feed the Filii Spatium Polypi. I won't be keeping any fish in the Polypus terrarium, as I don't trust them with the concept of moderation. Making a fish ecosystem will take time, though. I’ll have to get at least some food for the Polypus tonight, lest they resort to cannibalism.

I also need to feed the Spiderilla, though it’s already killed enough food to last it a while. I’ll need a good deal of insects for the flytrap, and that will take some time to gather enough.

And I still need to research mana wells, artificial powers, etc. at the library. All of this together will take a lot of time. Time which I won’t have between training and research. But maybe I can purchase some of this stuff to make it quicker.

“Geistig, how do I crystalize mana? I’m a bit strapped for gold at the moment.”

“It’s quite simple, assuming you know how to detect your own mana. All you have to do is direct and condense your mana, materialize it into a single spot just outside of your body, and stabilize it in that form. Just like casting a spell. So long as it’s dense enough, and stable enough not to explode, it should remain a crystal. You told me you can create a portal to enter your subspace. Portal is a space aligned spell, so I’m guessing you’ve detected your own mana at least once before, right?”

“A few times. I’m not sure how to do it consistently, but I’m usually in a near-sleep state when it happens. I haven’t been able to detect anything fully awake yet.”

“That’s not surprising. Most people need some time to learn how to consistently activate their detection. If you’ve got a trigger for it, that makes it quicker. Sleep in particular is something I may be able to help with. Why don’t you fly back over, and I’ll try something.”

I obliged, perching on the side of the canoe.

“Alright, I’m going to cast a sleep spell. Don’t resist it, or this will take a lot longer than it needs to. Oh wait, I suppose you don't know how to resist spells yet, either. That will be important, but this comes first. Let me know when you feel something, or at least try to remember the last number I call before you fall asleep.”

Geistig manifested a dense fog of purple and green light around my head, and began counting.

“One… two… three…” My eyelids grew heavy, and I closed them.

“Four… five… six…” My body slouched.

“Seven… eight… nine…” The outside world grew faint, and his actual voice faded from my hearing. Only the mental connection remained.

“Ten… eleven… twelve” I started to feel something. Faint, blurry, and far more opaque than when I was in Rhannu’s or the Polypus’s form, but still there.

“Hoot” I called as sleep finally took me. Geistig stopped the spell, and I fell backwards into the river. The freezing cold of it and my own drowning jolted me awake. I splashed around in the water, and Kaz fished me out with one of his new tentacles. Tishina just laughed silently.

“Twelve it is. Next step, let’s try to sustain that feeling. This time, once I reach twelve, try your best to stay awake. I’ll slowly lower the power of the spell, and you tell me if you stop feeling anything.”

Geistig cast the spell once more, again reaching twelve before I felt anything. I tried to stay awake, just barely succeeding.

I felt it, and continued to feel my mana within me. For the first time since Gweledydd’s magic, the feeling remained for more than a few seconds.

“Still awake?”

“Hoout” I groggily affirmed.

“Eleve—” The feeling faded.

It took an hour to get the feeling down enough to hold it at eleven. Another two to get down to ten, and another three to get down to nine. At that point, we reached the mana well.

“Alright Sylas, that’s enough for today. I have to conserve my mana now that we’re in the well. You should be able to have some leeway to do it on your own now. Why don’t you practice on your own? I’ve spent the past two days on you, so it’s the others’ turns tomorrow. You won’t be much help with their training, so take tomorrow off and spend some time on it. We’ll meet the day after at the docks at sunrise. Oh, and make sure not to crystalize your mana until I say you’re ready.”

I took his advice and spent the rest of the boat ride on mana detection practice. When we arrived at the docks, we went our separate ways for the night. Geistig went to the guild to collect his “mentorship fee”, and the other two went — well, I don’t actually know. I didn’t follow them, instead staying by the docks.

My first priority right now is fish. The Spiderilla has its food, Rhannu has herbivores to feed on, and everything else is low priority. But the Polypus need food as soon as possible.

I walked down-river, making sure not to be too close to the city when I shifted. I don’t want to deal with any “heroes” today, thank you very much. A mile away, I dove into the water, and shifted into the Polypus again.

My night vision was a little… odd. My eyes barely worked a few feet in front of me, but I could almost see through my skin, which changed color to match the river floor. It was a weird sensation, but interesting nonetheless.

My vision gradually blackened all around me, removing even my sight. That is, until I moved, and realized I was spewing an ink cloud. Right, the whole “monsters always on” thing. I’ll need to work on that when the collective gets back to Geistig.

I kept moving until I spotted a fish, and swam after it with my four working tentacles. Alas, it was too fast to catch, even with my mana enhanced limbs. Perhaps I need to get accustom to them, or perhaps I need a change in target.

I dove down to the river floor, and crawled along it. After a few minutes, I felt a tentacle brush against something smooth and multi-legged. I immediately wrapped it in my tentacles, and when I felt resistance, bit down into it with my beak. Venom oozed out with my saliva, gradually snuffing out the crustacean.

In about two hours, I went through thirty crabs, transferring each of them to the Polypus terrarium. They wouldn’t likely survive long in saltwater, but they weren’t meant to.

Next up, it’s time for insects. The owl needs food, and so does the Ostean Giant Flytrap. The first too useful to neglect, and the second is my first ever form. I feel too sentimental about that to let it die needlessly.

I left the water, dug my tentacles into the soil, and transformed into the Ostean Giant Flytrap. I opened my mouth, and started producing saliva again. For some reason, the bugs were flying in significantly faster than the last time I was in this form. Oh well, the less time wasted in this form, the better. Though, since I don’t have anything to do until my mouth fills, I might as well try working on mana detection again.

I meditated for several minutes, trying to block out the feeling of everything crawling within me. The harder I concentrated, the more clear it became to me. I could feel the same blurry, opaque subspace within me that I had felt earlier, but there was something else too. Not within me, but just outside. In my mouth mostly, but also in the air. There were pockets where I could feel nothing within this substance. The pockets varied in size and location, mostly moving towards me. This substance felt — no, smelled sweet.

Why can I smell? What is this feeling? It seems familiar, but I can’t quite put my root on it. The air feels like what I felt when I was in barbarian form, and I can almost hear something whispering in the back of my mind…

Oh.

Oh no.