In the days following his battle against the bear, Arran found himself unexpectedly busy.
Between purifying Essence, studying the seal on his forbidden Realm, and studying Snowcloud's Memory Amulet, he already had a hefty workload. But now, even more had been added to it.
He had decided not to let the bear meat go to waste, and absorbing its Natural Essence took hours of Body Refinement a day, followed by more hours doing the same with Shadow Essence to balance the effects.
And then, there was his Shadowsight. The technique was too useful to ignore, and practicing it was also useful practice for developing his Sense — even if it was his own Essence, he spread it in a mist so thin that Sensing it still posed a challenge.
Unlike his other activities, however, practicing Shadowsight required him to leave the cave. Despite the risk, he did so gladly — even if he could not see his surroundings, being in the cave for days on end felt too much like being in a dungeon cell for his liking.
At first, he only traveled to the creek and back, using his Shadowsight to help guide the way. Although it was difficult at first, it quickly became easier, and soon, he could reliably find his way back from the creek without getting lost.
As he grew more comfortable relying on the Shadowsight technique, he began to explore the area around the cave, each day going slightly farther. After just over a week, he had scouted the entire area a full mile around the cave, and any worries he had about losing his way had all but disappeared.
By the end of the second week, however, he discovered that the Shadowsight technique brought an unforeseen benefit.
With Shadowsight, he could Sense the mist of Shadow Essence he created around him, with any solid objects leaving gaps that were easy to recognize.
Yet as his Sense improved, he could now tell that the Natural Essence that had previously seemed to come from everywhere actually came from those same gaps. And now that he knew where to focus his attention, it was far easier to learn to Sense Natural Essence.
He began to reduce the amount of Shadow Essence he used for his Shadowsight, instead gradually relying more and more on the Natural Essence he could Sense in the gaps.
After just two more weeks, he reached the point where he could find his way solely by Sensing Natural Essence, and he could not help but feel pleased — with the aid of his Shadowsight technique, his progress had been far faster than it would have been otherwise.
Still, he did not stop practicing Shadowsight altogether — even if he no longer strictly needed it, in some ways, it was a more accurate way than Sensing Natural Essence to discern his surroundings. And when he used both together, the combination was vastly superior to either method by itself.
So instead, he alternated between relying on his Sense and his Shadowsight whenever he was exploring the region, making sure he practiced both equally.
But his surroundings weren't all he could Sense.
As he became more accustomed to Sensing Natural Essence and recognizing where it came from, he also discovered an unexpected source of it — himself.
Previously, the Natural Essence from his own body had blended in with his surroundings, and he was so used to it that he had dismissed it as little more than background noise.
Yet now, he could Sense a constant stream of Natural Essence emanating from his body — almost as if his body was leaking the stuff.
The amount wasn't large enough to have much of an impact on his strength — although he felt annoyance at having even a sliver of his hard-won power slip away — but he realized that to others, he would be laughably easy to Sense.
Now, he understood the true reason Amaya and Stoneheart had recognized his power so easily. It hadn't been subtle clues from his movements, as he had believed — to them, he had probably been like a lit beacon, announcing his power to all whose Sense was strong enough.
As he considered the implications, he was filled with discomfort. All this time, he had walked around thinking he could go unnoticed, while many of the Shadowflame novices had likely known about his strength the moment he came within a hundred paces of them.
He briefly thought about the novice he had faced in Eremont, and he wondered whether it had been the young man's overconfidence that had saved his life, or just the good luck of facing a novice whose Sense wasn't fully developed yet. Either way, he knew, he had come closer to death than he had realized.
Now that he understood the situation, there was no way he could allow it to continue — being this exposed was something he would not accept.
Unfortunately, when he began to search for a way to stop his body's Natural Essence from leaking, he soon realized that preventing it was easier said than done.
If he focused his attention on controlling it, he could reduce the amount that came out of his body by about half. But that required constant concentration, and even then, the amount that escaped was still unacceptably large.
He spent several days in the cave, struggling with the problem as he ignored his other duties, but to little effect. Desperate for a solution though he might be, it seemed his wishes weren't granted that easily.
Yet halfway through his third day of trying to find a way to overcome the issue, a voice suddenly sounded from the cave's entrance. "It seems you've progressed faster than I expected."
Arran nearly jumped up in surprise. The voice was Snowcloud's, and nearly a month earlier than she was supposed to return. Yet that wasn't what startled him — rather, it was the fact that he could Sense absolutely no Natural Essence from her. As far as his Sense was concerned, it was as if there wasn't anybody there.
He quickly used his Shadowsight, and now, he could make out her shape — a gap in the mist, emanating not even the slightest bit of Natural Essence. At once, he understood that she could somehow block it from leaking.
"How did you—" he began.
"Conceal myself?" she asked. "You'll find out soon enough."
"But why did you return so soon?" he asked. She wasn't supposed to return for another month, yet somehow, she had appeared right when he had reached a problem he couldn't overcome.
"Because I saw you try to control your Natural Essence," she said. "Which means your Sense is now strong enough to recognize the problem."
"Weren't you searching for herbs?"
"I was," she replied. "But the herbs I was searching for grow in this region. During the past month, I've been camped just over a mile from here — you nearly stumbled upon my camp a week ago."
"You were here the whole time?!"
"I checked on you several times a day," she said. "When that bear attacked, I nearly stepped in to save you — but it seems you found a way to deal with it yourself." After a moment, she added, "And you'll have to tell me how you did that."
"So I wasn't in any real danger?" Arran asked flatly, unsure whether to feel grateful that she had been looking out for him or angry for being deceived.
"Of course not," she said in an amused tone. "I could hardly let you die in my care."
Arran sighed. "So will you give me the antidote now?" Even if his Sense had progressed greatly, he was still anxious to regain his vision.
"I will," she said. "And then, I'll teach you to conceal your Natural Essence."
"So there's a technique for that?" Arran asked eagerly.
"Of course," Snowcloud replied. "And it's one you'll have to learn quickly, because a week from now, we're going to kill some novices."