Sitting in our nicely enlarged cave, I was trying to figure out how to proceed. The marsh and its inhabitants weren’t at a level that would grant me a lot of EXP, only Luna stood to gain any if we hunted in the area, but that was only for the creatures we had actually seen. The larger plant-creature in the water might have a higher level or it might have some special circumstances that granted it powers far above what its level would suggest. Either way, that particular creature was the only one I’d consider worthy prey, mostly because I had no idea how strong it actually was. But its ability to ignore my concealment was enough to make me wary, an ability it had demonstrated during our testing. Or maybe it was simply immune to it in the first place, which was quite possible as my concealment was focused on the senses I had, so the normal human senses plus the more exotic senses I had gained thanks to traits, like my ability to see magic and my extra-sensory perception for minds. If the plant was using some other method to detect its prey, it could largely ignore my magic and strike what I tried to hide with impunity.

Either way, I wasn’t sure how to continue forward, whether to simply ignore the area and travel back to the farm, giving it up as an area we had bad compatibility with or we could try to destroy as much as possible and leave then.

Only, I wasn’t sure just how much we could actually destroy. Most of my large-scale magical attacks didn’t really work against mobile targets in the open, the mist moved too slowly and the conjured blizzard wasn’t accurate enough, to say nothing about the insane amount of time I needed to conjure one up. So the only target I could strike efficiently was the plant, but it was hidden within the lake and given the algae, or whatever the Astral Power devouring creatures were, also inhabited the lake, I couldn’t really get at it either.

My best bet would be to freeze the lake, a fool’s errand if there ever was one. The last few days had been fairly hot and sunny, making the lake’s water fairly warm. While I might be able to muster the needed Astral Power to freeze the sheer amount of water, the algae in the water made that impossible. I’d only be feeding them unless I used an indirect attack but trying that route came with its own difficulties, mostly that it was summer and dry. If there were a lot of clouds, or if the weather was rainy, I might be able to channel my magic into the clouds, turning the rain to natural snow and hail, lowering the temperature in the lake that way, but it would need even more Astral Power than freezing the lake directly. Sure, the algae wouldn’t be able to feed on my Astral Power but I’d have to alter the weather in a fairly large area to accomplish anything. Something I’d need a Nexus for, leaving me back at step one.

Or rather, leaving me before taking step one, as I could see that step two was blocked off by a sturdy wall, thanks to the water and the algae inhabiting it. Hel, the algae were the real enemy here, they stopped me from using any magic to alter the water. My best bet would be to use Death Magic to kill them off, but sadly, I didn’t have the ability to channel large quantities of that particular magic, I’d be more likely to kill myself than to sterilise the entire lake.

And even if I managed to do so, it might destroy what made this area special. The water sample I had taken earlier and sterilised with Death Magic was now completely inert, with nothing to distinguish it from ordinary water. Either the exposure to Death Magic had neutralised the Water Astral Power within the water or the Astral Power came from the algae in the water and was only present as long as they were. By killing them, which I seemed to have accomplished with my Death Magic, the power they had emitted was gone, too. Leaving me with a few ideas but nothing to actually work with, nothing useable.

Letting out a huff, I decided to try going at the problem from a different direction. Namely, to study the local Astral River in an attempt to get a better idea of what was going on with the water. It might give me some insight into the situation, especially whether it was caused by the algae or if the algae were the product of a particularity within the Astral River, like a forming Nexus.

Opening up a small area underground, I conjured my throne. For once, I didn’t just use Ice to create the throne and the runic formation around it, instead, I decided to integrate the local geography, in this case, the plentiful water. Usually, I used Ice or Blood to form the circle, but this time, I pulled up water from the ground, creating a slow but steady flow through the runes, like a small river. It took me a bit of effort to make sure the water didn’t just overflow at the end, but it worked out. And interestingly, while the water didn’t feel like the lake water, there was some power within. But no algae, at least I was unable to detect any, and when I used my Water Magic to influence the water, it worked just fine. Forcing me to discard an earlier observation and leaving me with more questions. As if I hadn’t had enough of those already.

But there was nothing to it, so I sat down on my throne, letting my mind calm and settle into the meditative trance that allowed me to shift into the Astral River. I could immediately feel the difference to my normal method, the water gave an impulse, a flowing direction that tried to pull me along and into the stream of power within reality. It was an interesting experience, a seemingly physical dimension to the usually purely mental existence of the Astral River, but nothing I couldn’t withstand.

Feeling the Astral around me, I quickly realised that this wasn’t a nexus but it was fairly similar. Instead of multiple primary strands of the Astral River converging and spilling into physical reality, this was just a single strand, one dominated by Water Astral Power, that came close to the boundary of the physical plane, its proximity causing some spill. If there was another strand of the Astral River here, it would undoubtedly form a Nexus but a singular strand didn’t carry enough power. The effect was somewhat similar, due to the size of this strand and the proximity to reality, but it was far more limited. Wielding Water Magic here was easier than elsewhere, but the area lacked the sheer breadth of power I could draw from, compared to a true Nexus.

Still, it might be useful to create some sort of lair here, if only to train myself with Water Magic for some time, maybe invite Kevin to give him some field experience and specialised training, it might do him some good to do something other than watering flowers. I’d have to ask him, he might enjoy this area, at least if he managed to stay safe from the annoying plant life.

Sadly, this also meant that the area was fairly useless to me. We should find out how big the area affected by the Astral River was, what the plant creature in the lake actually was and how far the power-absorbing algae had spread but other than that, there didn’t seem to be anything of use. Maybe determine what the will-o-wisps were and where they came from. They seemed to be distinct from the Water Magic and more aligned to Death, but the primary cause that changed the area was the overflowing Water Astral Power from the Astral River.

Humming to myself, I slowly drew my mind back into my body, feeling the sensation of the Astral River fade around me as I went. There was a faint, creeping influence of Death, coming from upriver, but it was incredibly subtle, to the point that I had almost missed it. But luckily only almost and now, I had an area to investigate, one that might actually yield something.

Death Magic was always curious, especially as this didn’t feel like the static, sombre Death Magic of the grave but more akin to the more volatile Death Magic of a fresh carcass, not fully decayed but with some power to alter the world of the living still left.

There was a grin on my face when my eyes opened again, an eager smile of anticipation. I was looking forward to finding what caused that creeping influence, hopefully, it could make this whole trip worthwhile.