Andrew was back on his feet today, walking with the others. Sitting in the back of the wagon while everyone else walked felt wrong, despite Po assuring him he would be happy to pull it while he worked. He mostly walked to stay aware, though he wasn't doing a very good job of that at the moment. He often hyper focused on his work and lost all awareness of the world around him, a dangerous habit to engage in when crossing unknown and potentially dangerous territory. He wasn't pulling any wagons today, instead he walked with his palm up, mana coalescing into a cloud which trailed and bobbed slightly behind it as he focused on condensing it into various small shapes. It took significant concentration and a few seconds of time for him to form even the simplest of shapes, and doing it eyes open while walking across uneven ground was significantly more difficult than he had anticipated. He poured mana out into a cloud on his palm and had to steadily move it forward to match his pace as it floated free. Sometimes it shifted in random directions, like a traditional gas blown in the breeze, but it only matched the actual breeze around him about half the time. This happened constantly as they crossed a field of violently blue flowers, and Andrew stopped a moment to check his surroundings with Mana Sense. The blue flowers were steadily releasing small lines of water mana which streamed up into the air, joining and braiding together as they floated straight up into the grey clouds above. They swayed in strange and unpredictable ways as unevenly dense clouds of ambient air mana flowed through them, riding on the winds. Any time a thick pocket of air mana blew through, the pure mana would stick to it and throw off his attempts at condensing it properly. The streamers of water mana were denser and had a much more pronounced effect when he passed through them, though still far from dense enough to be visible without the skill. Mana Sense was far too disorienting and nauseating for Andrew to practice while maintaining a steady pace, so he had to blindly compensate for the random shifts in mana density as he walked.

It was excellent practice and he could feel his control over the mana increasing by leaps and bounds as he worked, but he was still limited to simple shapes formed over minutes, rather than seconds. If he wanted to make use of the skill in a fight, he would have to get a whole lot better at it. Andrew focused solely on practicing the fundamentals, muting his skill log as he practiced throughout the day. That’s all he did, the whole day. His mana regeneration was more than enough to handle the small shapes he was practicing with and the caravan itself was in high spirits. The looming political discussion was behind them for now, and the buzz of idle conversation was instead filled with observations on the eclectic mix of familiar and exotic plants and animals they passed. The giants were particularly good at picking unobtrusive animals out of the brush around them. They obviously had a lot of previous hunting and hiding experience. Andrew was sure he didn't want to meet whatever creatures they were accustom to hiding from back home, and they staunchly refused to elaborate. Mentioning them was some kind of superstition for them, and the humans were polite enough to avoid prying. Arges assured him that they would know if something like that was in the area long before it got anywhere close to them, which did not do much to ease his concerns about the mysterious creatures.

By the time they stopped to camp for the night Andrew could consistently form small cubes, spheres and sticks roughly two inches across in less than a minute while traveling. It took him about ten seconds to do the same while standing still, and he was capable of making larger and more complex shapes like forks, knives and cups just as quickly. He was quite proud of his progress, even more so when he checked his log.

[Mana Projection lvl 2 -> 3]

[+ 1 Wisdom for maintaining delicate mana control]

[Mana Projection lvl 3 -> 4]

[+ 1 Wisdom for maintaining delicate mana control]

[Rune Mage Level up]

[Mana Control lvl 11 -> 12]

[Mana Projection lvl 4 -> 5]

[Rune Mage Level up]

This skill growth is insane. Three levels in one day, four counting mana control, and two Rune Mage levels. We're around a day away from where Isaac ran into that survivor, and I almost wish it were further. Purely for the skills of course, nothing to do with how weird things might get over there, and how it'll be my problem to solve. Hopefully things go well so I can relax for a bit. I can't remember when I last did that, really relaxed, for more than a few minutes at a time. There's always something.

They hashed out their plans for the next day around the campfire that night. The forest ahead was dense, but it closely hugged the mountains which were now to the north-east. They would have plenty of clear ground to pull the wagons across along the plains between the forest and the increasingly steep cliffside to the south. They planned to stop a little ways short of where Isaac met the hunter before to make a temporary camp, regardless of the time of day. A small, competent group would continue ahead in search of the other survivors camp. Andrew was an obvious choice, but there was heated discussion as to who else would go. Isaac insisted on coming along, seeming eager to prove his skepticisms about the group were correct. He had a cool head and was one of their best fighters, Andrew was glad to have him. Shelby was quick to hop on board as well, she wanted to be there to bridge any ideological misunderstandings, though Andrew suspected it was in large part due to the growing competitive air between her and Isaac as well. Andrew wanted to take Kalan with him, but he was just under Andrew in the groups rough informal hierarchy and they would need someone experienced in charge while he was gone. Carter was built like a tank when he was first freed from captivity, and had only put on more muscle since. Standing nearly seven feet tall and garbed in scarred and bloodied armor, the man of few words was universally agreed on as an effective deterrent. He would come along as well. After quite a bit of back and forth they eventually settled on Nate as their fifth. He was quite competent with the air mana rifle and Andrew thought having the familiar weapon on display might do more to dissuade hostility than even Carter's intimidating form.

The actual giants, which easily towered over Carter, would stay behind. They had no idea what this group of survivors would make of them, and they were doing their best to err on the side of caution whenever possible. Once the negotiation party was finally finalized, they started having fun with it. The remainder of the evening was spent swapping ideas for innocuous code phrases and gestures to use when they made contact. Subtle solutions to simple sentences like: 'We need to leave', 'O.K.', 'Danger', and most importantly, 'shut the fuck up'. Before they went to bed for the night Andrew distributed most of his floating Attribute points, just in case.

Attribute points: 74 -> 0

Strength: 80 -> 100

Dexterity: 141 -> 150

Vitality: 124 -> 168

Intelligence: 160-> 160

Wisdom: 197 -> 198