“As convenient as life these days might get, it just wasn’t right for some people. For these people, they might find that their lives were ones of boredom, and they often went a long way to find the excitement they lacked. Some took this search of theirs to destructive ends, while others did it in a constructive manner, depending on the person in question.

It was for these reasons that you sometimes see well-off scions becoming adventurers or mercenaries even if they could have lived easily without resorting to such dangerous work. For these people, the call of adventure, of the wild, unrestrained life beyond the rigors of civilization, were just what they had sought after all their lives.” - Saying attributed to the Silver Maiden.

Many seasons passed - Aideen had not kept count - as she lived off the land and observed the beasts that lived in the prairie. She had noted down everything she saw in that period of time in over a dozen notebooks, as she wrote her observations in detail within. Most of the beasts that lived in the prairie were larger ones, as they made use of the wide open area to go about unhindered.

Some were massive, predatory lizards much like ones she had seen in Elmaiya and the northern nations, with some specimens so large they could have easily devoured her whole. There were theories she had read that the landmasses of Alcidea and Ur-Teros used to be one in the past but had split apart over time, and the fact that many kinds of beasts were present on both continents seemed to support that hypothesis.

Aideen also noticed how the beasts were very territorial as a whole. Herbivorous horned lizards and thunder lizards joined forces with tyrant lizards that often preyed on them when packs of new beasts tried to move to the prairie and fought them together. The newcomers were either driven off, or devoured as a result.

It was as if the prairie’s inhabitants thought of the place as “theirs” as a whole, a sort of cooperation Aideen had not seen before. She had increased the amount of forces they would likely require to subjugate the prairie a few notches in her mind, and kept up her observation.

As a single human, it was relatively easy for her to sneak around the prairie. The grass alone was tall enough to hide her presence, so most creatures had not noticed her going around most of the time. That made her observations easier.

Aideen also noted how frequent it was for groups of beasts to charge into the prairie and fought against the inhabitants, almost as if there was something there that attracted them. It was also the main reason why so many large predatory beasts could sustain themselves, as they would have eaten all the prey before long otherwise.

With the constant influx of new prey that delivered themselves on a platter, the predatory beasts grew large and strong, and slowly Aideen noticed a pattern. It was all related to the mana vein. The largest of the predatory beasts, a tyrant lizard easily twelve meters tall, with plenty of scars on its scaly skin, had claimed the area closest to the mana vein as its domain, and often fought off contenders for it.

She had heard from grandpa Aarin before how mana veins would tend to attract beasts and monsters to it, the presence almost like a beacon to wild beasts. It was one reason why Ptolodecca kept guards against wild beasts despite having cleared the region long ago, as the mana vein Tohrmutgent was built on kept attracting more.

Now that she had seen it herself though, she noticed that the benefits of the mana vein - namely the richer mana content in the air and soil of its vicinity - had a really noticeable drawback as well. If they built a city on the mana vein, they would likely have to deal with beast incursions all the time as well.

It might be hard to swallow for most nations, with the benefits less than the drawbacks. Mana-enriched soil meant that the produce grown in the land would also be richer with mana, which also made them a higher quality, and the mana-heavy air would be preferable to mages, but they were more of a minor benefit overall.

On the other hand, such land was practically a paradise for the unliving like Aideen, a place where they could live without worry, and the beast incursions were also less of an issue for them. After all, they had no need to risk their lives to deal with such things.

Aideen kept up her observation until there was nothing more to observe, dozens of notebooks in her storage filled to the brim with what she discovered over the seasons. Finally, one winter day on the prairie, she gave a remorseful sigh, and decided to return. There was nothing more for her to learn or observe.

Slowly, she made her way back out through the Forest of Despair once more. The trek itself took her a couple seasons at the least, as she could only proceed slowly due to the terrain and all the beasts that kept slowing her down.

When she finally approached civilization once more, she recognized the region as the outskirts of Jonkver, not far from where she first entered the Forest of Despair. Aideen first cleaned herself up in a nearby river and changed to one of her remaining sets of spare tunics and trousers, to make herself look more presentable and not like a savage just out from the wilds.

She slowly made her way to the village, with her hood up to somewhat hide her identity. The village was noticeably larger than how it used to be when she left back then, more prosperous too from what she could tell.

Inwardly, Aideen wondered how long she had spent in the forest in her search. She had lost track of time after many seasons, and had no idea of the current time. She resolved that one of the first things she would ask in the village would be to ask for the current date.