Decision made, she began wandering downhill. It seemed as good a direction as any, and water would also follow that route. Since total area would decrease as she advanced down into the basin, assuming the name of this place wasn’t a trick, the likelihood of finding water would increase correspondingly. At least, that was her hope. Finding water was her first priority right now, followed closely by securing a source of food. It was true that she could purchase bottles of water from the shop if it became necessary, but that really was a final option. Purchasing food and water was an expensive prospect and would easily require her to spend three and a half hours Meditating per day if she purely relied on it. Considering what else she could do with the points, the extravagance of such an approach was even more stark. It was a possibility though, and better than dying of dehydration.

The other problem was that meditating for that long was also dangerous. If her experience in the Setup Stage was any indication, she wouldn’t even notice danger until it was far too late to do anything about it while deep within her Meditation. Then there was the insidious effect of the ability on her sense of time, which could be just as dangerous. What if she wasted entire days meditating only to awaken lost in the ash and too thirsty to continue? No, she wouldn’t Meditate until she knew it was safe to do so. Or the lack of points from not Meditating was more likely to kill her then being distracted and unresponsive for a few hours. Well, that’s a grim thought…

Mostly to avoid following that particular rabbit hole, she called out to her companion, “Hey Bob, is there any way to get Evolution Points besides meditating?”

“Of course, mistress. Meditation is but one of the three main ways inhabitants of Universe Version 7 may obtain Evolution Points. An individual will also gain Evolution Points through leveling up. This can be accomplished through numerous activities that provide Experience. Additionally, the third main way that an individual can gain Evolution Points, and the most dangerous, is through killing creatures. This will result in earning points based on the power of the creature killed and your own advancement.”

“Good to know Bob, good to know.”

#

Entering the ash cloud was a strange experience. She hadn’t known what, exactly, she had expected. Maybe a slight burning sensation or the discomfort of grime building on her skin? Definitely difficulty breathing. To her surprise, the ash was warm to the touch, but it didn’t build up on her or cause any pain. Instead, it seemed to disappear when it touched her. On contact, the flakes would burn away and leave slight singes on whatever it touched. It didn’t seem to do any harm to her skin, but enough time in the cloud would probably leave signs of wear on her clothes, the comfortable t-shirt and shorts she had been wearing when she apparently died.

For a second, that realization was enough to cause her to pause now that the emotional suppression from the Setup Stage had faded. Her final hours still weren’t entirely clear to her and it was difficult to remember exactly what happened. She shook her head and moved on with her thoughts. Now wasn’t the best time to try to work it out.

Back in the present Asher realized she had taken a deep breath to calm herself without thinking. Strangely, Asher didn’t start coughing or feel any discomfort in her lungs. It was like the ash refused to go near her mouth. She had started off walking as low as she could, like she had been taught in fire drills, but quickly switched to a more comfortable stance when she realized that getting fresh air wasn’t going to be a problem. Honestly, the cloud behaved more like fog then ash in most regards. It was fairly light, heavily obscured vision, but didn’t directly attack her body. No tears or hacking, just the light singing. If this place really had been designed by someone, it seemed that these were meant to limit vision and not directly harm the person traveling through them. As long as someone was careful where they placed their feet and didn’t try to move too quickly, the once threatening obstacle proved almost no danger.

She had been walking in the cloud for almost five minutes when something finally changed. The ash in one direction began to grow lighter, with a number of the ash particles appearing white rather than the gray that filled most of the cloud. She would have to detour from her current strictly downhill path to investigate it, but it wasn’t like she had a specific destination in mind. May as well check it out. Might be something interesting over there and wandering around without being able to see is starting to get boring.

She approached the lighter ash slowly, watching for anything that might indicate danger. The ash continued to lighten as she proceeded until the gray was almost entirely absent, then the cloud fell away and she found herself in another eye. The area was almost identical to what she had first woken up in, but without any cave or lava flow. Instead, at the center of this clearing was an ancient tree. The thing was clearly dead, lacking any leaves and bleached by the sun peering through the clear sky above them. Much of the dirt that it had originally been buried in had eroded away, creating what appeared to be a cage of roots beneath the plant. A clearly broken cage given that the tree had begun to topple over, ripping a number of the downhill roots out. A multitude of the large butterflies she had seen earlier sat among the roots and bare branches, and she noted none of the dragonflies were present in the clearing.

“What are those butterflies anyway Bob?”

“Those are Emberwing Lepidoptera mistress. They are a non-predatory species of insect. Unlike butterflies or moths these creatures have jaws and are known to consume fruit, vegetables, and other plant life. Like other lepidoptera, they have been known to drink blood from carrion they find.”

“Okay, that’s pretty cool. Good to know Bob.”

Deep within the roots she noted what appeared to be a large nest, or possibly a very short burrow, empty of any inhabitants. If the various dried branches and loose dirt were any indication, the nest was long abandoned. Unwilling to simply ignore something like this, Asher worked her way down toward the nest. As the Emberwings fluttered away, disturbed from their peaceful rest by her passing, she slowly crawled down into the depths of the roots. What she found among the various branches was a large number of yellowed egg shells. While most of the pieces were scattered from the hatching of their inhabitants, a single egg remained whole. The thing was huge, easily the size of an ostrich egg.

“Anything you can tell me about this?”

“It is an unknown egg. You lack the Analyze skill and I can tell you no more at this time.”

“Well good to know that the Analyze skill exists I suppose.”

A tap on the shell reminded her just how durable these things could get, but yielded no other information. Nothing else of note was present in the nest, and she began to haul the egg back out from under the tree with her. Hopefully I just found dinner. Then again, the thing didn’t hatch. Could it really be safe to eat? Well, it’s not that heavy, so there is no reason not to take it.” Decision made, she stuck the egg in her bag and headed back into the ash cloud.

#

Throughout the afternoon, Asher came across several more clearings. Each was a perfect circle, but none of these other clearing had anything of note within them. Just a clear sky, cracked earth, bugs, and plants. She had, however, been getting steadily closer to the orange glow she had first noted. The heat had begun to increase, though not to dangerous levels. The temperature had risen slowly from an early summer day to something more like those late July scorchers. The ones where just stepping outside began to drain you of the will to do anything but lay down in the shade. Slightly disappointingly, nothing else had really changed from earlier in the day.

She had been in the latest bit of cloud for something like fifteen minutes when it happened. A loud, echoing chuff like that of a big cat broke the relative silence of bug song. Chuffing that mutated into a long, whistling hoot. The call was quickly answered by other identical calls, until a whole group trumpeted their way downhill to her left, and all Asher to could do was pause and hope whatever it was didn’t notice her. Wait, what am I doing? I have magic now! I actually can do something to prepare.

Acting quickly, she pulled a rock from the ground beneath her and activated Thundertrap. The surging energy tried to leap out of her, but she wrestled it under control and forced it to go into the rock. It was like riding a horse she figured. You could tell it what you wanted it to do and force it to look in the right direction, but you had to let it sort out the details itself. Micromanaging would just end with an angry horse and a bad time for the rider. As the energy flowed into the rock it began to take on a faint purple glow that quickly resolved into a strange rune. It was shaped something like a capital “K” turned ninety degrees. A vertical line extended from the base of the rune, superimposing an upside down “T” over the “K” and a circle floated above, bisected by the leg of the “T”. Instinctively she knew the name for the rune, The Sky’s Eye.

No time to get caught up looking at that Asher, gotta move. Acting fast Asher created three more stones carrying her Thundertrap rune, all while the hooting steadily got closer. It sounded like they had moved below her and weren’t likely to run into her. Just to be safe though, she quickly scattered these four rocks left and slightly downhill from her. Then she began charging a Thunderbolt spell.

Charging a spell was different. It felt like she was trying to hold a cat as it struggled to escape her arms. Specifically a cat because somehow the entire ball of energy would flip itself over, or roll, or somehow change from solid to almost liquid. She felt the energy’s urge to escape. To achieve freedom and fly out of her body. Both keeping the energy under control and maintaining a rough idea of the source of the cry took everything she had, but she felt infinitely safer than she had a moment ago.

Soon she heard something beneath the whistles, the sound of hooves striking the hard ground. Moving quickly, the hooved creature swiftly made it past her location and the sources of the hoots eagerly followed behind. She heard the scrambling of claws on rock and hard dirt, more loud hunting cries, and the sound of snapping jaws. Thankfully whatever they were, these things were already chasing prey and apparently had almost no interest in their surroundings. It also showed that she was right, there was some kind of larger prey creature in the area that she hadn’t seen yet. And some kind of pack predator apparently.

As the cries of their hunt faded into the distance, she slowly reabsorbed the power she had sent into the Thunderbolt spell. The energy was reluctant to return to what she had come to call her core. It kept trying to force its way free and tingled as it fed back through the energy veins in her body, rebelling right up until the moment it returned to the pool at the center of her being. Absorption complete, she briefly debated recollecting the Thundertrap rocks she had prepped, but she had no way to reclaim the energy she had put into them and the risk of them accidentally going off in her backpack was just too high.

The entire experience had happened far too fast, and she spent a moment replaying the entire thing in her head. The creatures had sounded small, or at least smaller than the Certilia skeleton she had seen earlier. That or the things were way lighter on their feet then she had expected. Whatever they had been chasing definitely seemed larger than them, and even it hadn’t seemed huge.

Asher shot a question to her invisible assistant, “Anything you can tell me about what that was Bob?”

“Some form of pack hunter chasing some form of prey mistress,” came the dry response.

“Thanks Bob, don’t know what I’d do without you.”

“You’re welcome mistress.” It was probably imagined, but she swore she detected a slight grin in that final response.

Huffing at Bob’s attitude, but unable to find a good way to address it, she decided to move on, “Well, let’s get going before they come back.”

She would have to continue downhill despite the experience. Her initial rationale had not changed and the creatures had continued running perpendicular to her own path. She doubted she had to worry much about running into them. Besides, the shade of the ash down the slope from her was lightening and that meant a clearing. A clearing might mean water, or some proof of what this prey creature had been.