In fact, I am even feeling full of energy, so I play a game of tag with Nala before breakfast. Once we wear ourselves out we eat breakfast and then I take another nap. Even Nala doesn't nap as much as I do, then again she isn't an infant anymore.

Animals tend to mature pretty fast, at least compared to humans who can take up to forty years to reach maturity. Hopefully, my new race is one of the ones that reaches adulthood quickly. Although, a couple of days just eating, playing, and sleeping has done wonders for my mental state.

To be honest I was feeling fairly exhausted ever since the portal brought me here. Getting trapped on the other side of the world was a huge mistake and completely my own fault. I have been feeling guilty and pressured ever since, but now it isn't as bad.

Saving the elves is a good thing, but that alone wasn't enough to ease the guilt I was feeling. However, I am now getting the feeling that running into the gem was a good thing. While I hate the fact that I was dropped down to a rank one mana beast, it might just be worth it.

This whole alpha beast thing might just be exactly what I need to get stronger. At least that is what I am hoping, and this random unexplained feeling supports that. I guess I will just have to wait and see what happens next with my new body.

After my nap the three of us go exploring again for a few hours before dinner. However, we don't find anything we haven't already seen and return to camp for dinner. It looks like the volcano and the gem are the only things of interest on this island.

It does worry me a little how removing the gem is going to affect all the beasts. After all, without the mass amount of fire mana from the gem, this is just an ordinary island. It probably took the beasts a long time to adapt to the mana and become as they are now.

The current generation of beasts should be fine, but future generations will suffer. I feel bad about it, but just leaving the gem here isn't really an option. So I will just have to live with having altered the future of this little island.

Then again, I already did that before I took the gem, by adding sacred beasts. Those two tigers will be able to dominate the entire island if they decide to. In fact, I have messed up a whole bunch of ecosystems by helping mana beasts evolve.

So, I guess I really shouldn't worry about it at this point, it is far too late to try and fix things. I will just trust in mother nature to restore the balance at some point. Either that, or the various gods and goddesses of this world will have to fix things.

Brightfire saves me from my thoughts by serving lunch and then we all go exploring for a few hours. This time we follow the beach so that we can pinpoint other islands that we need to explore. We have pretty much covered all of the island that we are on, but we aren't leaving yet.

Maybe in a couple more days, once my new body has developed a but more. Right now, as best I can judge, I am about twice the size I was when I hatched. I've gone from the size of a house cat to about the size of a medium sized dog.

However, since I have no idea how big my new body will grow, I can't tell if that is good progress. For all I know I could end up being as big as a drake, or I could stop at the size of a tiger. I simply don't have any information to base a guess on, it is frustrating.

Rather than continuing to dwell on things I start paying attention to the other islands. Those that we can see from this island are mostly tiny islands, not worth exploring. There is one other large island close by with more off in the distance.

The large island close by is the one I was planning to explore next, before all this happened. It is covered by jungle and doesn't have a volcano so I am not expecting to find much. However, now that shapeshifting isn't available, getting over there is a problem.

Although, I could probably shapeshift long enough to fly over there, it would just mean dealing with a headache. Then again, it isn't too far away, a canoe would work and isn't hard to make. Especially on this island, it has been shrouded in mana for a long time so the trees are mana rich.

Once we get back to camp I shapeshift long enough to chat with Brightfire about it. She agrees that it is worth a shot and we plan on making the canoe tomorrow. Then we have a nice big dinner and all go to sleep for the night.

After breakfast and a short nap, we set out to find a suitable tree to make the canoe out of. Once I find the one I want to use, Brightfire helps me cut it down. Then the three of us drag it to the beach near our camp and I get to work.

The first thing I do is cut off the branches and shape a couple of them into oars. Then I hollow out the tree by using the mana to compress the insides into the shape I want. This makes the hull denser and should make the canoe harder to sink.

For stability I add pontoons on either side, kind of practicing what I have planned for the ship. Then I go back to shaping and streamlining the hull so that it will cut through the water. I am doing everything I can to make it easier for Brightfire, since she will be doing the rowing.

*DING*

Congratulations! Skill Mana Manipulation has progressed to level 6!

Mana Manipulation

Level: 6

MP Cost: 20/10 minutes

The ability to manipulate mana easily.

The canoe quickly takes the shape I want, but it still takes a couple of hours. Especially since we take a break for lunch and my normal after-lunch nap. Still I am satisfied that I manage to complete the canoe before dinnertime.

Brightfire says "So, should we head over to the other island tomorrow?"

I stop eating for a second to nod my head in answer and then go back to eating. After we finish eating, we all curl up and go to sleep together, as usual. In the morning we have breakfast and then clean up the camp before we leave.

Once that is done we push the canoe down into the water and all jump in. Brightfire starts rowing towards the next island while Nala and I just enjoy ourselves. Nala is all excited, but that is to be expected since she has never left the island before.