Hightide Hermit

Some triggered abilities that state that you "may pay" a certain amount of energy describe an effect that happens "If you do." In that case, no player may take actions to try to stop the ability's effect after you make your choice. If the payment is followed by the phrase "When you do," then you'll choose any targets for that reflexive triggered ability and put it on the stack before players can take actions.

If an effect says you get one or more energy , you get that many energy counters. To pay one or more energy , you lose that many energy counters. You can't pay more energy counters than you have. Any effects that interact with counters a player gets, has, or loses can interact with energy counters.

Energy counters are a kind of counter that a player may have. They're not associated with any specific permanents.