Shada worked with his grandparents to create a personal ward. He also got a crash course on spiritual predators and other dangers he might encounter. He was told to essentially run from anything threatening.

  Freedom, such a strange concept. It was something he had stopped taking for granted when he became bedridden in his past life. Here on Sierrallas, with the new tricks he had learned, just how far did that freedom extend? Shada was ready to find out.

  Shada rose above the cottage. Then above the wards where he cast his new personal ward. From there he continued going up. Slowly at first, no faster than most could walk in fact, but he wasn't bound by physical limits so rose faster and faster. He moved faster than he thought possible. He soared into the sky like a rocket. He only slowed when he realized his Essence was very slowly being depleted. Apparently his movement wasn't free and the Essence thinned the higher he went.

  The land stretched out beneath him in all directions. Waves of green forest covered mountains and hills as far as his ‘eyes’ could see. He could see the boundary between the normal forest and the Wyldwood in the west. The Wyldwood seemed to stretch across the Western horizon. An endless sea of green so vibrant it became almost surreal.

  For a time Shada floated high in the sky. He watched birds flying blow him. Clouds drifted around him. He traced rivers with his sight and could see more settled lands in the far east. He even saw the curve of the planet that seemed, somehow, too gradual. How big was Sierrallas he wondered? He had just assumed it was Earth sized, but he never asked. Could it be larger? It was another question to explore one day.

  From this perspective he could also use Essence Perception to see the great flows of power criss crossing the land. Below and a little east, above the city of Westlin, he saw currents of Essence flowing like a whirlpool, deep into the ground, where he knew the Dungeon resided. To the west was a great upswell of Essence centered on the Glade. It seemed that the Essence of the world formed currents like those in atmospheres and oceans. Though instead of hot and cold the Essence had a negative or positive property. Negative Essence sank while positive Essence rose. It was beautiful.

  He rose higher into the sky. So high the sky lost its bright blue hue and stars became visible, but his upper ward motion slowed as he approached the edge of the planet's atmosphere. The Essence was getting too thin. His retention was becoming negative.

  Rather than drift back down he decided to test another idea he had done some experiments with as he worked on his personal ward. He Willed himself not through the air, but through the plane his tether now ran through. One moment he was high above the planet and the next he was in the nursery where Luca was playing. He could essentially teleport to Luca from wherever he went.

  Having ventured into the heavens Shada's next goal was to see how far underground he could go. He moved beyond the city and into the forested land surrounding it. Once there he began to sink into the earth. His normal sight became limited as he moved through the soil of the forest floor. He could sense the dirt around him and the bits of life and Essence in a small bubble of awareness around his Spirit form.

  It was a novel experience. Moving through solid matter as if it were mere illusion was always strange. He could sense when the loamy soil turned into plain dirt, then into clay, and finally bedrock. He was moving slowly. He wasn't expecting to find a vast cavern nearly a mile down.

  As he breached the roof of a large cavern and was shocked at what he could see. Far from the barren cavern he expected there was a stunning abundance of life. An underground river flowed through an underground forest. How were plants growing underground? There wasn't nearly enough light to support photosynthesis as far as he understood the process. It wasn't dark, but all the light seemed to come from bioluminescence and small clumps of glowing crystals in a rainbow of colors.

  He drifted close to the bottom of the cavern near a clear pond. He turned Analyze on one of the bioluminescent flowers near the shore. It glowed a pale blue.

  [Unnamed Flowering Plant

  -Essentroph

  -Bioluminescent

  -Potential Alchemical Ingredient

  Warning: Requires high ambient Essence levels to survive]

  It was a plant that lived on Essence alone. The Analyze Skill showed that all the plants near him did the same thing. He used Psychokinesis and his Inventory to gather a couple samples to show Shinobin.

  There were animals and insects in this underground oasis of life. Had he stumbled on something unique or was there an entire world of life living underground? When he noticed an animal staring at him he got spooked and decided he needed to return to the surface. Anything that could sense him was dangerous. So he did as Vanestra suggested and ran away.

  —

  His next goal was to get a better look at the city of Westlin. The entire city sat on a plateau that rose above the eastern plains and sloped down to the western forest. It did look like a tree. Shada suspected magic was used to improve the shape, but he couldn't see evidence of it.

  On the western side were the Roots. Among the Roots five wavy main Root roads eventually met at the Trunk. On the eastern side Five symmetrical Branch roads curved towards the edge of the plateau from the Trunk. Many smaller roads created an organic grid among the Roots and a symmetrical grid among the Branches.

  Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

  The architecture of the Branches differed greatly from the Roots. The buildings were block angular, but still had decorative embellishments. It vaguely reminded Shada of Roman and Egyptian architecture. The Roots of course seemed to try to maintain a more natural aesthetic.

  There was very little farmland near the city. Indeed the nearest seemed to be in the East. However, as Shada had first noticed, when entering Westlin, non-ornamental vertical gardens were quite common.

  There were almost no structures outside the walls of the city. The buildings were tightly packed and many reached five stories. From this vantage point Shada realized the city must be far more populous than he had realized from the ground.

  The high walls of the city seemed to grow from the natural cliffs of the plateau. On the southern side, below the cliffs of the plateau on which the city sat, there was a broad river whose origins appeared to be the hills of the Wyldwood.

  Just under the cliffs, between the river and the city, was a smaller dock town. It sat in an alcove created by the tree shaped plateau.

  It sat on a series of curved terraces. It took Shada a minute to recognize what it resembled. It seemed the city planners had taken the tree/nature theme to heart. The dock terraces looked like shelf fungus. He had heard people talk about the ‘Shelves’, but hadn't made the connection to the docks and warehouse region. He hadn't even known it existed until he viewed it from above.

  The most eye-catching thing about the dock area wasn’t its fungal themed layout. It was the barges floating from the Shelves to the city above. Shada had no idea how he hadn't learned about the city essentially having flying ships, but it did. He spent some time watching ships move up and down the river only to float out of the water to dock among the Shelves. Cargo would then be transferred to smaller floating platforms that carried goods and people up the cliffs. It was fascinating.

  He spent quite a bit of time examining the city and its regions in more detail. The level of activity and magical engineering on display was mesmerizing.

  —

  Later that evening he was talking with Shinobin and Vanestra about his day's adventures. Their reactions proved interesting.

  “So where do you go today? A few people asked after you at the Clinic, but nothing needed your attention that the Clergy couldn't help with.” Shinobin asked.

  “I was seeing how far I could push Spirit Walking. It turned out better than I could have imagined. I went high enough that the Essence in the air became thin and I could see the forests below like a green carpet. It was beautiful.” Shada began describing his experience.

  “I have seen such views via scrying, but I doubt it compared to seeing it directly.” Vanestra commented.

  “I spent a lot of time watching the city. No one ever mentioned the floating barges and sky ships that swarmed the docks of the Shelves or that the Shelves were modeled off fungus. I watched them for quite a bit of time. We had machines that could fly on Earth, but they looked much different. So magical air vehicles are just so…well magical. There is a lot of mystique in our fiction about skyships.” Shada tried to explain why they interested him.

  “I have traveled via skyship often in my more active days. They are a great experience. Hopefully you and Luca can travel using one in the future.” Vanestra said wistfully.

  “Another interesting sight were the Essence flows. I could see the Essence rising from the Glade and sinking into the Dungeon and the currents crossing the land. It was spectacular.” Shada continued.

  “Your Essence Perception lets you see the leylines directly? That is an unexpected effect of your ability. There are artefacts used for that. I will have to have you create a map at some point. There are mages that map the lines to locate places of Power like Glades and Dungeons, but I would imagine your method is more accurate. It would be valuable knowledge to the right people.” Vanestra said thoughtfully.

  “I can see that, but the strangest thing I found was underground, not in the sky. Did you know there are caverns filled with plants that feed off Essence deep underground?” Shada asked both women.

  “Shada, you ventured into the Depths!?” Shinobin exclaimed.

  “If that is what you call those caverns then yes I did. I even brought some samples for you to look at.” Shada replied casually.

  Shinobin's eyes grew wide in excitement. She looked at Vanestra then Shada. Her mouth opened and closed several times before she was finally able to articulate her thoughts.

  “Shada! The Depths are extremely dangerous. The Essence is too high for most people to venture there. Only high level individuals can reach deep enough to find the Essence Flora and Fauna. Regular people would develop Essence poisoning. You just went down there on a whim!?” Shinobin said excitedly.

  “Yes? I don't think I can get Essence poisoning as a Spirit. What are the Depths, how do they even exist?” Was Shada's confused response.

  “The Depths are a vast network of Essence dense underground structures that formed when the planet grew after Sierrallas Awakened.” Vanestra began to explain before Shada interrupted.

  “Wait, hold up. What do you mean by the planet grew? Planets don't grow…do Awakened planets grow?” Shada asked in confusion.

  “Of course they grow, they are alive after all.” Vanestra said as if it was common knowledge.

  “That’s not possible? Where would they get new mass to grow? Wouldn't gravity be affected?” Shada had a million questions to ask.

  “Why wouldn't it be possible? As for mass? I am not sure what you mean. Gravity just is. What would it have to do with the size of the planet?” Shinobin asked curiously.

  Shada realized there was a significant gap between what he knew was possible scientifically and what was possible with Essence. So he went into a detailed explanation of his understanding of how planets formed and how gravity worked.

  “I don't know. Base physics are not a well understood or studied phenomenon. All I know is this, the planet is alive, like all living things it grows and changes overtime, when in doubt the explanation probably involves Essence in some manner.” Shinobin shrugged as if that was all she needed to know on the subject.

  “Ok, I got sidetracked. Back to the Depths. Please explain.” Shada ordered.

  “Grandmother, I think you would know more than me.” Shinobin said with another shrug.

  “The Depths are part of the world’s Essence circulation system. They encompass the entire planet. The Dungeons connect the surface and the Depths. Only truly strong Delvers ever reach them and the resources there can be invaluable. There are even entire civilizations down there. Harsh, unyielding civilizations, but civilizations nonetheless.” Vanestra lectured.

  Shada was left stunned by the implications. There was an entire other world beneath the one he knew as Sierrallas. Not only that, both were apparently growing. It was terrifying and exhilarating to consider.

  “So mother, how interested would you be in the plant samples I collected from below?” Shada asked.

  Shinobin actually made a wide eyed excited squeal. “Herb room now!” She said while leaning to her feet.

  Vanestra looked on in bemusement.