Time passed as the group of men moved deeper into the plains, towards the mountains. Several times, they were able to spot out groups of grass-beasts, but they had also been surprised by a group of them more than once. Injuries were slowly building, and they decided to clear a decent size region to take a short rest. After some consideration, Cillas decided he would give his men the same opportunity he had thought of. "Alright men, during this break i want no less than 3 men watching the area, while two can relax but can't meditate, while the remaining five should spend the first portion of the break to meditate and consolidate their mana gains, since I'm sure you've all notice the small bonus we get from each kill." Everyone responded to the affirmative and moved to do their duty, while Lord Cillas sat near the center to begin his meditations. At first, His soldiers activity was difficult to ignore, but soon the sounds of the wind, the smell of the earth, and the peaceful atmosphere pushed him into a trance. First, He made some observations on the mana in his body which he had allowed to do as it pleased. For a long time, it looked like nothing had happened, but he could feel that the density of the mana was slowly increasing throughout his body, almost but not quite evenly. It would be some time to tell for sure, but it seemed the bones and tendons were strengthened first, then the muscles, then the organs, then the skin and leftovers. It wasn't as if it strengthened one as much as possible and then moved to the next, however; It was imbuing them all at the same time, just at very slightly different rates. Perhaps they would each reach their 'maximum strength' at the same time, or perhaps each had it's own ability to absorb mana at a certain rate. Regardless, he was satisfied with this slow but stable gain in ability. Next, He dove deeper, back into the wellspring region. Upon entering, everything truly faded away, senses truly removed from his body rather than just muted and easily ignored. Looking over things, it all looked quite similar. The wellspring itself was unchanged as far as Cillas could tell, but the ring was very slightly thicker. He had left them feeding at the same rate, so how could the ring have strengthened? Perhaps it was a function of the beast kills, but Cillas Suspected this was not the case. Regardless of the why, he had little understanding of this region as of yet, so he flattened the ring a bit, making it wider, since it was so easy to mold there was little danger in minor alterations. With his brief explorations completed, he left the wellspring and ended his meditation, and after a few more minutes initiated a rotation in the men at watch so that everyone would have some time to use the bonus mana they had accumulated. "So Gillard, what insights do you have with the mana, and what have you been attempting? The more knowledge we can pool about this new energy, the more effectively we will be able to use it, and it will be the difference between success and failure, as I'm sure you noticed the injuries we had from the last surprise attack by the grass-beasts stopped bleeding quickly and have already begun to heal, as opposed the the unnatural bleeding they had against someone with no mana in their body." "Well, Milord, from what the rumors are going around, it seems Each person's Inner methods are a private matter, to be discussed with none. I think this will promote the talented without disadvantaging anyone too much, especially paired with the totally open mana technique sharing will allow hard work to overcome natural talent. Personally, I've decided to externalize the strength of my mana, both creating and strengthening any weapon I can use. This will allow my to make the most of my expertise in the field of many weapons. Others have decided to align their mana with parts of the natural world, such as fire, water, air, earth, I even heard the soothsayer had aligned her mana with sound. A few have shown signs of throwing their attuned mana about, balls of flame and spikes of earth beaing particularly popular. The second popular method is to imbue something directly with mana, like I have. This could be anything from a weapon to a oneself, such as the muscles, the skin, the bones, and I know that a seamstress has been imbuing her loom, which has given some interesting properties to the clothe she makes" "This is good, the strength of war is useful, but it is not what will propel our people into a thriving lifestyle; War can only ever hold off the death of it's allies, never granting life nor prosperity without debt." Cillas made a mental note to have the scholars begin recording such insights, and to attempt the creation of a categorization. Even with these new ideas about the use of mana, Cillas felt that allowing it to act freely would be the best fit for him, as he had not much time to ponder overmuch; the duties of lordship would always come first over personal strength for Cillas, though he recognized that personal strength would likely become necessary to lead, it would be some time before he was contested; He was well liked by his people, and constant effort on his part made internal discord a minimal risk. "It's time for us to move on, we've rested long enough. Kapricus's group made their way in this direction, and I'd like to find them before nightfall." The group gathered up and moved out, following the traces of the scouting team Kapricus had led through that morning. Hours passed and the sun quickly began to sink, and by now they would not be able to make it back to the city by nightfall unless they made all haste. On the verge of turning back, They found grim tidings. a particularly large group of grass-beasts had ambushed the scout group, and during the fight, it seemed two foxes had arrived and there were at least two dead, likely more with the blood trail leading away. "Make haste men, we must ensure no more deaths occur this day!" Following the blood, a new scent in the air quickly overtook the stench of battle, a strange sweetness, many would be tempted to say that it smelled like their favorite sweet, or a hearty meal. The trail had obviously diverted to follow this scent, such a risky move being exactly like Kapricus. Not fifteen minutes later, they found a small oasis in the plains, a pond perhaps twice as long as a man and half as wide, mostly quite shallow except for a small spring in the middle which barely bubbled fast enough to keep the pond from draining into the soil. A single small shrub grew at the pond's edge with perhaps a half-dozen bright red berries growing on it, and Kapricus lay nearby. "Kapricus, Report!"