Waking up around midnight Ashwin rubbed his eyes and looked around, he had fallen asleep in the top of the baobab tree.
After getting up and stretching Ashwin felt a powerful craving for another fruit pod, at first, he shrugged it off, but the craving came back stronger, more insistent, more intrusive.
Without realizing it his hand reached over and snapped another fruit pod off, cracking it open he drank the pleasing water within, and felt a rush of mental clarity.
Closing his eyes Ashwin used the ”inner sight” technique to observe his level of growth or cultivation.
Inspecting his meager pond of Animus, he found that it had not grown much since the last time he checked it.
But suddenly and inexplicably Ashwin had the sudden inclination to check his mental energy pool.
Looking beside the ember-colored Animus pond, he focused his intent and suddenly a new pond began to grow beside the Animus pond, and it kept growing, and growing, and growing, until it had completely engulfed Ashwin’s Animus Pond!
The liquid blue, azure mental energy flooded around Ashwin as he watched in stun disbelief, his mental energy had grown into a lake around his Animus.
“The potential”
A thunder bolt went off inside Ashwin’s skull.
That’s what mental energy was.
“Potential force.”
Standing on the Azure Lake with a pond of fire in the middle was breath taking, and in this sudden rush of knowledge Ashwin continued his thread of thinking.
“Okay so mental energy is potential force, but force to do what?”
Thinking back to the stone gazer he remembered how its mental energy attack had thrust up the landscape, without multiplying the element.
Another flash of realization hit him, mental energy could be extended out of the body to directly interact with the environment.
That’s what Ashwin had witnessed, and that’s why he was puzzled.
Animus was a multiplying force, it could make you stronger, faster, jump higher, if you focused it into a beast crystal or some other item containing essence it would multiply the essence inside and create a fireball or water jet.
Animus could not interact with the world around it in the direct manner that mental energy.
“It’s not just potential force!
It’s also a manipulative force!
Mental energy can manipulate the environment around it!”
“HA-HAH-HA!” This chapter was taken from g.com without permission.
Ashwin laughed and pranced around the tree, “I figured it out, I figured it out.” Like a little kid.
Letting a trickle of Animus flow he vaulted down the tree, he was feeling particularly exuberant and accomplished.
“Okay, I admit I’m happy.”
Pecking at some of the left-over crab meat Ashwin ate the scraps and burped.
His gear and belongings were in good order, and it was around mid-night, the moon was out once again in her full glory and there was more than enough light to operate.
Just as Ashwin was about to set off, he felt a pull again…for another fruit pod.
“That’s…odd.
I’m not even thirsty.”
Fishing the water drop crystal out of his oversized hide pocket he held it in his hand, “Besides I’ve got this now.”
But his decision left him feeling strangely upset with himself.
“Weird, so weird.
I’m not mad, I’m happy.”
Shrugging it off Ashwin walked down the coast of the lake, he felt great mental clarity and focus, but there was something else, something just outside his ability to grasp.
“Somethings off.”
But he couldn’t feel any danger.
And that was the problem.
It was always so quite by the lake.
No beasts came here.
Since his arrival at what he named ”Baobab” lake Ashwin had not observed any wild beast life.
It was strange.
Especially since he was so apprehensive about coming down here in the first place, he was in fear of powerful beasts coming to slate their thirst and finding him out.
Since fossilized bones were a natural part of the landscape of the Death Valley Zone Ashwin had not noticed it before, but paying closer attention he started to observe a troubling pattern.
There were extra ordinary amounts of bones around the baobab trees in particular.
Slowly, Ashwin started to feel a creeping sense of dread, but he didn’t know why.
In his brightened mental clarity, a connection clicked, and he whispered the words as he searched the bone heads; “I’m…in danger”
But from what?
Extending his spiritual senses, he made a full perimeter sweep, but he detected nothing, which was partially the problem.
“I’m at a water hole, there shouldn’t be nothing done here at night, it should be packed with thirsty beasts.”
It was all wrong, from what he had experienced in his hunts back in his home zone of beast fang, but he didn’t have time to concentrate on it, besides in another eighteen hours he would be out of this region of the Death Valley Zone, so it didn’t matter.
“Get your bow made Ashwin and get the hell away from this creepy lake.”
Making his mind up Ashwin selected a large rib bone infused with lightening essence and returned to his camp.
Sitting down at his campfire Ashwin had to first consider what kind of bow he wanted.
“Long or short.” He said out loud as he stirred the coalbed stirring up sparks and flame.
A long bow would grant greater power but would require more space to fire and would be harder to maneuver in tight spaces.
A short bow would be fast and agile, but less powerful and had less range.
Thinking about it for a moment Ashwin stirred the fire, “Neither bow actually suits me.”
But a third bow style did exist, and it combined both the strengths of the long and short bow with none of their weaknesses.
“A recurve bow.”
A recurve bow had tips that curved away from the archer, giving it the power of the long bow, while at the same time being as compact as the short bow.
The recurve bow had both the power and speed that Ashwin would need to stay alive in the wilds.
Ashwin spent the night crafting the lightening rib bone into a recurve bow.