Chapter 164
The march to Ankaila Town passed without any major incidents.
Apart from the ironhide boar Rayne's squad had brought down during training, the warband also managed to hunt a blackbolt deer along the way. Despite its intimidating name, the creature wasn't significantly stronger than the boar. Its greatest strength lay in its speed, as it could release short bursts of mana through its legs to sprint like a bolt of lightning for a few seconds.
Against an entire squad surrounding it, however, speed alone wasn't enough to ensure survival.
By the time they finally reached Ankaila Town, the creature had already become another meal shared around the campfires.
The town itself served as one of the kingdom's larger trade markets, and the entire expedition was accommodated inside its longhouse for two days before continuing the journey deeper toward the frontier.
Those two days weren't meant as a holiday.
Instead, they were used to prepare everyone for the next stage of the expedition and get used to their horses.
The army didn't possess enough mounts for every individual soldier, so many would have to share them with each other. Even so, having horses available would greatly improve the speed of the expedition once they left Ankaila behind and began traveling through the wider roads connecting the kingdom's northern settlements.
Rayne received a sturdy brown gelding that appeared remarkably calm.
The horse accepted the unfamiliar rider without much complaint, though Rayne quickly discovered it possessed a rather obvious weakness.
It loved apples and carrots.
Whenever he managed to get hold of either, the horse eagerly accepted the treats, becoming noticeably more cooperative afterward. Rayne certainly didn't mind feeding it whenever the opportunity arose. A content horse was considerably less likely to throw its rider onto the ground.
Even so, he deliberately kept a certain distance.
The mount would only accompany him for part of the journey before being left at another longhouse. There was little point becoming emotionally attached to an animal he knew he would soon have to leave behind.
Instead, Rayne devoted nearly all of his free time in Ankaila toward another goal.
Growing stronger.
The town wasn't close enough to any of the monster nests Casper had told him about earlier, meaning there were no worthwhile opportunities to hunt creatures for additional skills.
That didn't mean his time had to be wasted.
If anything, Rayne had slowly come to realize he wasn't making full use of the abilities he already possessed.
Ever since obtaining [Mana Manipulation], controlling mana had become almost second nature. His efficiency had increased dramatically, but there was still one part of his abilities he felt he barely understood.
His death aspect.
Whenever he used it, the power responded almost instinctively, yet Rayne couldn't shake the feeling that he was merely scratching the surface of what it could truly accomplish.
Then there was another problem entirely. The berserker skill he had stolen from the alpha lycan.
Since acquiring it, the skill had remained practically untouched.
Not because it lacked power, but because Rayne didn't trust himself to use it.
Berserker skills were infamous for a reason. Without proper control, they enhanced aggression as much as physical strength, making allies almost as vulnerable as enemies. The last thing Rayne wanted was to lose himself in the middle of training and become a danger to his own squad.
Unfortunately, the Godless Ruins weren't a place where he could afford to ignore useful abilities.
If he intended to survive, every advantage mattered.
As luck would have it, learning more about one of those abilities proved surprisingly straightforward.
With only a handful of spellswords and mages accompanying the expedition, they naturally gravitated toward one another during their stay in the longhouse, spending their two evenings discussing mana, classes and magic over simple meals.
Rayne found himself sitting beside Casper, mostly because nearly every member of Prince Caelan's escort who possessed magical talent had witnessed Rayne's duel with Atticus.
Now, they wanted to know more about him.
Rayne also had a feeling that at least some of Prince Caelan's personal retainers knew the real purpose behind the expedition.
He doubted people in his inner circle remained unaware that the true objective lay far deeper within the ruins. Because of that, he couldn't help but think they were quietly sizing him up, trying to determine whether he truly deserved the amount of trust Prince Caelan had placed in him.
Lyra was the most obvious about it.
Although she never questioned him directly, she kept subtly steering conversations toward his abilities, his spells and the duel against Atticus. Rayne answered where necessary, but he also used the opportunity to gradually shift the discussion toward a subject he was far more interested in.
Mana aspects. More specifically, the death aspect.
Casper had tried to help him in the past, but her knowledge wax limited. Death-aspected mana was exceptionally rare, and although not outlawed, there wasn't a lot of studies of it outside of learning about it to hunt necromancers and other death aspected classes.
Surprisingly, Lyra proved to be the complete opposite in knowledge.
She possessed an extensive understanding of mana aspects, and once someone showed genuine interest, her naturally blunt personality worked in Rayne's favor.
She simply kept explaining everything she knew without bothering to hold back information or simplify it. The conversations wandered across different aspects, magical affinities and spell construction before eventually spending a considerable amount of time on death-aspected mana itself, discussing both its strengths and the many misconceptions surrounding it.
By the end of the discussions, Lyra even agreed to lend Rayne several books from her personal collection that focused entirely on mana aspects and magical theory.
She had brought a lot of them for revisions apparently. Those books ended up helping him more than anything else during their stay in Ankaila.
For the remaining two days, Rayne devoted nearly every free moment to reading, absorbing as much information as he possibly could before the warband resumed its march toward the Godless Ruins.
What Rayne learned from those books proved to be more valuable than he had expected.
As it turned out, many of the conclusions he had reached about the Death Aspect weren't entirely wrong.
Until now, he had mostly viewed death-aspected mana as something inherently destructive. After all, [Death Strike] focused on dealing damage and overwhelming an opponent through sheer force. However, after reading through Lyra's books, he realized that destruction was merely one of the many properties associated with the aspect.
After all, if death-aspected mana could be used to animate corpses through necromancy, then it was only logical that it possessed characteristics beyond simple destruction.
The books confirmed exactly that.
Death mana naturally carried concepts such as decay, entropy, corruption and the gradual weakening of life. Different classes made use of those properties in different ways, with necromancers merely representing one branch of a much broader aspect.
That immediately gave Rayne an idea.
Rather than simply using [Death Strike] to throw an opponent backward through explosive force or cutting through them, there was a possibility of weaving the decaying property into the attack itself. Even if an enemy managed to withstand the initial impact, the lingering death mana could continue affecting the wound afterward, slowly decaying flesh, weakening muscles or making recovery considerably more difficult during an extended fight.
In close battles where victory was often decided by a single opening, such an improvement could become invaluable.
The books described several other applications of the death aspect as well, but Rayne didn't spend much time dwelling on them. Most required years of study, specialized spells or classes built specifically around death mana. Trying to imitate those techniques now would only distract him from something he could realistically achieve before entering the Godless Ruins.
Even incorporating the decaying property into [Death Strike] would require extensive experimentation.
Still, it gave him a clear direction.
The books also broadened his understanding of mana aspects as a whole.
Contrary to what many ordinary people believed, a mage or spellsword wasn't necessarily limited to a single aspect. It wasn't uncommon for experienced practitioners to possess proficiency in multiple aspects, provided they had the necessary affinity, skills and knowledge to cultivate them.
An aspect also wasn't automatically determined by one's class.
Rather, classes specifically centered around a particular aspect gradually reshaped their users over time. The more they relied upon that aspect, the more their mana pathways adapted, making manipulation increasingly natural while simultaneously making opposing aspects harder to control.
Rayne found that realization particularly reassuring.
Although [Death Strike] had become one of his signature abilities and he had undoubtedly developed a stronger affinity toward death mana than any other aspect, his class itself wasn't fundamentally tied to it.
That meant he wasn't locked into a single path.
If anything, his circumstances placed him in a uniquely advantageous position.
Unlike nearly every other mage or spellsword, Rayne possessed [Skill Stealer].
If he could acquire skills belonging to different aspects, there was little reason he couldn't gradually learn to manipulate those aspects as well. Most of his current abilities were undoubtedly powerful, but the majority relied on largely unaspected mana rather than specialized affinities. After finishing Lyra's books, he became convinced that this was something he needed to change.
His greatest strength had always been adaptability.
Ignoring that advantage simply because mastering multiple aspects demanded additional effort would be foolish.
By the time the expedition departed Ankaila, much of Rayne's stay in the town had been spent reflecting on those possibilities.
The road ahead would carry them through a series of small villages before they reached a mining town. From there, the expedition would continue toward Biarla City, the final major settlement before the frontier surrounding the Godless Ruins.
During the journey between the villages, Rayne decided to alternate his time between several different things.
Whenever an opportunity presented itself, he continued leading his squad against monsters roaming near the roads. The encounters served less as genuine threats and more as practical training, allowing the recruits to gain valuable experience while reinforcing the discipline and formations he had spent weeks drilling into them. At the same time, he continued reading through the books Lyra had lent him whenever they stopped for the night, repeatedly going over the sections discussing mana aspects and refining his understanding of the death aspect.
Other than that, he also focused on [Wolf Frenzy], his berserker skill.
Its description was brutally straightforward. It granted a substantial increase to his physical abilities at the cost of his reason. That alone had been enough for Rayne to avoid relying on it.
Still, ignoring it forever wasn't an option.
Rather than attempting to activate the skill immediately, Rayne adopted a far more cautious approach to train for it. He had always possessed an awareness of the skills within his soul. By focusing his thoughts entirely upon [Wolf Frenzy], he found he could gradually gain a better sense of it without actually triggering its effects.
Using that sensation as a focal point, he began meditating on the skill whenever he found a quiet moment during the journey and grew bored of reading.
From what little he had managed to gather, berserker skills were notoriously difficult to master. Raw willpower alone couldn't completely suppress their influence, but a disciplined and resilient mind was said to greatly improve one's chances of maintaining control.
That became Rayne's goal.
Day after day, he quietly repeated the same exercise, familiarizing himself with the skill without crossing the line into actually using it. Whether the meditation was accomplishing anything remained impossible to tell. After several attempts, he couldn't notice any obvious changes, but he also understood that such things rarely produced immediate results.
Perhaps it was simply too early. Or perhaps he would eventually need guidance from someone experienced with berserker skills or any books discussing the subject.
Until then, patience would have to suffice.
Most of his attention nevertheless remained on preparing the people who mattered most.
His party.
Unlike the ordinary recruits, they would be following him far deeper into the Godless Ruins than anyone else. Every member understood exactly what awaited them, and that knowledge alone pushed them to train with remarkable determination. During every halt, they practiced formations, refined their teamwork and discussed monsters they might encounter once they entered the ruins. Even their conversations around the campfire gradually shifted toward tactics, survival and ways to improve themselves.
Their attitude spread throughout the squad.
Seeing Rayne's core party treating every break as another opportunity to train made the newer recruits take their own preparations far more seriously.
Rayne also made one decision he knew could easily earn the prince's displeasure if discovered.
Bran had continued cultivating every day using the basic cultivation manual Prince Caelan had provided him. After thinking about it a lot, Rayne instructed Bran to secretly share the manual with the rest of the party. He also ordered them to practice only when no one was watching.
Technically, the manual wasn't theirs to use.
From Prince Caelan's perspective, only Bran and Rayne were probably going to survive while finding the ruins. The rest of the party were, in all likelihood, expected to fall somewhere along the way.
Rayne refused to accept that outcome, hence he also let them open up their pathways.
Either way, once they entered the Godless Ruins, they could search for cultivation manuals of their own. The ruins were known to have these manuals scattered everywhere, and if they succeeded to find one, they could cover up how they had mana.
With all these things occupying his attention, the expedition continued its steady march north until, at long last, they reached the first area where Rayne intended to begin hunting for new skills.