Focusing on his magic with the help of [Meditation] was enough for Ajax to get a much deeper understanding of his Mana. It also helped that standing so perfectly still made it much easier for one to enter the shadows. As he started focusing on that feeling Ajax could feel a pull from the shadows that surrounded him, it was gentle only slightly stronger than gravity but his body wouldn’t enter the shadows, it was like he was being pulled against a wall.
This was where Fluffy’s help ended, the shadow cat could naturally enter the shadows since she was a kit, there was nothing Ajax could learn there as the feline faced no opposition to entering the shadows. The same could not be said about the humanoids he spoke to that could use their spells to shadow travel.
Unlike Fluffy who slipped into the shadows gently, everyone else broke in, their spells being based on finding a way to shatter that wall to allow them entrance into the shadows. This same approach was also why Ajax theorised there were no spells for shadow jump, Whisker being the only one he suspected had found a way around it but just hadn’t shown it off yet but it certainly shouldn’t require his level of power to do so considering Fluffy could do it for a long time.
But now wasn’t the time to experiment with anything, Ajax instead focused on recuperating the Stamina and Mana he spent throughout his journey here as well as getting a good look at the wall doing his best to get a good feel for the shadows.
Ajax’s concentration was broken by a wayward beam of light piercing the darkness, something that had him instantly on the defensive. He knew where the openings to his little underground pocket were and there was no way the morning rays should come through.
“I guess it’s a little past morning.” Ajax fought back a yawn as he looked up at the sun after exiting his hidey hole. “Seems like I need to add something to help me keep track of time without having me focus on it.”
The sun was up near the middle of the sky. Ajax hadn’t realized it before but while he could keep track of his surroundings in a general sense during his bouts of intense [Meditation] the Skill affected much more than just his need for sleep. It pushed everything he wasn’t focusing on into the background, easy to reach for should something happen but something as trivial as tracking the passage of time wasn’t something he would be able to focus on. He would instead need to set up some alarms to draw his attention.
That was something he could focus on later. For now Ajax knew he had time to make up for, so he started running in the general direction of the dungeon. He very much expected the first day or two to be nearly boring, after all there were plenty of expeditions going into the Wild Lands so anything dangerous near the border would have already been killed a long time ago.
This meant that Ajax spent the whole day just running while taking in the sights and ensuring he was going in the correct general direction. That wasn’t to say he didn’t find any animals, some of them were even starting to get closer to him in terms of levels but there was nothing here that could even pose a threat to him.
Despite the safety Ajax’s speed slowed down to under half of what it had been the day before. The simple fact was that being on guard and traveling through a forest simply took a lot longer than a straight forward run across a rock wasteland. One night set however Ajax was sure to turn in for the night.
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There were multiple reasons why Ajax decided not to simply push through the night. The first and main reason was he needed to rest if he didn’t want to be running on fumes by day five. The reason why he chose to rest at night was what he remembered from watching National Geographic back on Earth.
While he had no way of knowing just what differences Mana had made to the ecosystem it was widely accepted that nocturnal creatures were weaker in a straight up fight but they made up for it with odd specializations. More than that most of those specializations focused more on stealth, combined with the lack of light for sight it meant a lot of ambushers were waking up right now.
Ajax’s night time routine followed something similar to his first night in the Wild Lands. He found the sturdiest looking tree he could and he tunneled underneath to build a small pocket where he would [Meditate]. Before that however Ajax had to eat.
“This is so good.” Ajax mumbled through a mouth full of food as he took a bite of the food that he had packed in his spacial rings. “I will have to stop and catch something though, I might have enough food to last me a long time out here but chances are this food is also going to be the best bridge I can make between myself and any Ascended creature I come across.”
Having finished his food and washing it down with some refreshing cold water, Ajax took the time to make a makeshift hourglass before he started his meditation. He had made sure to also add some small stones and a piece of metal at the bottom, the stones were spread out in such a way that one should fall through every hour, striking the metal and drawing his attention. It wasn’t accurate by any means but it was enough to ensure he didn’t get lost down the rabbit hole again.
That night Ajax could feel that he made some progress as he got more comfortable with the shadows. One of the issues he had however was his own hourglass, after the first three stones fell he found himself trying to anticipate them so that they wouldn’t break his concentration again, that led to an odd few hours where he would keep waiting for the stone to drop only for it to be about halfway there or a stone dropping out of nowhere as he had gotten absorbed in the Shadow Mana.
“I’ll need to come up with something better.” Ajax grumbled as he stretched in the morning, this time the sun was barely peaking over the horizon as Ajax exited his night time abode. While his hourglass had ended up working it was also too distracting.
“It would be best if I just used fire but that would just defeat the purpose of hiding myself down there.” Ajax grew a little frustrated as he tried to find a solution but quickly gave up and started his run for today. He was only a few days away from the dungeon and the closer he got the more likely he was to run into something truly interesting. “The smoke or the heat would draw too much attention and if I seal it all with me I’ll just be suffocating myself.”
Watching the forest come alive during his run was a completely new experience compared to simply running through it during the day. During his first hour Ajax got to see how the animals started their day, there was no sleeping in, with the exception of the sloth-like animal Ajax saw just hanging on a tree.
Judging by the sharp claws he saw on the creature however Ajax was sure the sloth looking creature wasn’t going to be easy prey for predators, and that was if they got through it’s primary defense, one that was even somewhat effective against Ajax. The creature smelled like something, ate it whole, died and then it had to carve its way out of the corpse. It wouldn’t be the first time Ajax wasn’t glad for his high Perception but this time it was clearly worse. Since the smell was weaponised defense the creature clearly had Skills that helped it bypass the safety that came from high Perception to sensory overload.
“YEEP.” Ajax had to admit he felt slightly bad when the creature suddenly gave out a guilty and terrified yelp as it felt Ajax’s Aura and the unmistakable displeasure he felt for its presence. That lasted until his next inhale as he picked up the pace hoping to put some distance between them.
Ajax was glad for the small detour he took to avoid the area where more of the sloth like creatures lived, it had led him to a small stream not even a foot wide but the fresh water had attracted a lot of animals this early in the morning. Among them was the first wild creature above level one hundred Ajax had seen outside of a dungeon.
The boar was minding his own business, seeming unbothered by the other animals gathered at the stream to have their morning drink, despite that being twice the level of any other creature he was given his own space as a sign of respect.