Chapter 61: Minionship (I & II)

The searing whirlwind of fire enveloped the assassin. No matter where he ran, the flames pursued him, burning him alive. Even as he rolled on the stony earth, there was no reprieve.

Ember was uncertain if his eyes were deceiving him, but there seemed to be a dozen strings of blistering letters swirling within the inferno to snap the burning man in place, rendering all his struggle futile. The characters were akin to those of the runic script of the System window, though completely unreadable.

Sunburst. This is definitely no ordinary spell.

Ember retreated on his hips, the heart-wrenching agony forgotten momentarily as his eyes stared at the unextinguishing flames. The intense heat alone was more than uncomfortable. His gaze shifted to the girl. She was younger than Elin, her face pale and illuminated by the burning Sunburst, the signs of her tender age evident in her round cheeks. However, there was nothing tender about the spell she had manifested.

Ember now questioned where exactly her expertise lay. This display alone suggested her firepower far outstripped her healing capabilities, even though that likely required a more careful hand.

While he stared at her in utter bafflement, Dawn's gaze lingered on the pillar of flame until finally the screams died down. It barely took a couple of seconds. Then, without warning, she collapsed onto the rigid earth; the spell had likely taken too much out of her.

[Enemy slain: Shadowstalker (Tier 6).]

[Advanced Swordsmanship (Copper) +8 → 9]

[+90 EPs.]

The great inferno dissipated, its intensity waning the moment the notification appeared. The air was still hot, crisp with the smell of burned flesh, even though there seemed to be nothing remaining of the assassin.

Ignoring the blistering pain and the notification confirming his complicity in the act, Ember swiftly rushed to her side. She appeared conscious, struggling to sit upright.

He steadied her, supporting her by the shoulders.

"Still too difficult..." Dawn mumbled, "Activating my bloodline power."

"Are you..." Ember was speechless.

"I'm fine," Dawn interjected, batting his arm away. "I'll need some rest to return to my fighting shape. That's the price I pay for using a restricted spell."

It was evident she was about to collapse again, but he managed to catch her in time.

"I don't know your definition of 'fine,' but you certainly don't seem like it."

Besides, she had just burned someone alive. Ignoring the fact that the man had been intent on killing her, this didn't seem like a common occurrence for her.

"I thought I told you to run away," she said, fixing him with a stern gaze. "As you can see, I could have dealt with him alone. Now look at you, getting yourself wounded for no reason." She heaved a breath. "I can't help you right now. Drink a potion already; even if you won't die, your situation will be far worse than mine."

Only then did Ember examine the deep, gushing wound on his chest. It ran from his torso to his midriff, bleeding profusely. Had it not been for the protection of his hunter's attire, the force might have already killed him.

I really am abusing healing potions now.

Smiling ruefully, he didn't hesitate to bring out two vials of healing potion. He poured one down his throat and sprayed the other over his chest. With that, he was left with only one more healing potion. Hopefully, this would be the last time he sustained such an injury.

"Although I could have dealt with the assassin alone," Dawn said once he had finished tending to his wound, "your help is appreciated."

Her voice was clear and direct, not shying away from speaking her mind. Ember, however, could not help but think she was unaccustomed to thanking people.

"It's nothing," Ember replied. "The least I can do with my minuscule ability."

She gestured, pointing towards what remained of the assassin.

"Your sword seems to have broken. See if there is anything salvageable."

A frown creased his brow as he swiftly took hold of his Tier 4 blade. It was still in one piece, but it would likely snap in half where it had made contact with the dark bladelight. Then there was the ruined rune formation; it would require an expert hand to restore it to its original form.

Returning it to its sheath, he crept towards the remains. If Ember had expected to feel repulsed by the sight, there was nothing left of the assassin for such a feeling to surge within him. As for the thought of assisting in an act of murder, he was unsure what to think. It did help that he was not the primary offender. Even so, it felt no different from dispatching packs of goblins.

It seems Mind Wall is still dulling my emotions.

There was little to nothing left of the cloak or anything else on the assassin's person. Everything had been burned to a crisp. All that lay before him was burnt charcoal and ashes.

Only his sabre lay to the side, not completely unaffected, but still in a usable condition.

"It's a Tier 6 item," Dawn said. "Clearly not one of the superior ones, but it's suitable compensation for your sword."

Ember held it up, feeling it weigh in his palm. The dark sabre was a few inches shorter than his sword, lighter too, but the weight seemed to increase as he poured mana into it. After a few test swings, Ember was more than satisfied, though he still turned towards her as a little shame welled up in his heart.

"This is too great a compensation. I can't take it."

She stretched out her arms to collect the staff that had fallen from her grasp. "You seem to like it, though."

"Well, I like your staff too, but that doesn't mean I will take it away if I could."

Dawn narrowed her eyes, then snorted a laugh. "The staff will be useless to you, even if I give it to you. Just take the blade. Although you won't be able to use its enchantment to the fullest, it will still be useful to you."

"Are you sure?" Ember asked tentatively. Although he was grateful for her offering it, it was still her bounty. "It could still fetch a considerable sum of coins."

"Do I look like someone who lacks wealth?" she shot him a pointed look, eyes filled with disapproval. Holding the staff aloft, she continued, "Do you know how much this thing costs?"

Ember inclined his head. A shit ton, that I'm sure.

"I don't know the actual price," Dawn said, "but I'm certain it's worth more than dozens of those flimsy swords combined."

"Still..."

"Take it or leave it. Even arguing with you is giving me a headache."

"I'll keep it for now."

"Whatever." Dawn rolled her eyes while sitting upright, supporting herself with her staff. "We should leave now. Although my spell was more localised, the fight created a disturbance in the ambient mana for high-rank creatures to take notice."

Ember shuddered. "Yeah, let's depart before the basilisk gets wind of us."

He offered his arm to pull her up while awkwardly holding the sabre in his other hand. The sheath had melted with the assassin, leaving Ember with nowhere to stow his newly acquired sabre.

"Use the sheath on your back," Dawn said, noting his dilemma.

"Then where would I keep my own blade?"

"Just leave it behind. It's unusable anyway."

Ember stared at her flatly. He wished he could be as irresponsible with wealth as she was.

"I don't see the problem."

"The sword..." he sighed. "It's a gift from my sister."

She cocked an eyebrow. "Will your sister make a fuss about it if you explain the situation to her?"

Powerless or not, she definitely had her reasoning straight. Ember wouldn't win an argument here. Still, he was reluctant to give up on the blade. It had kept him company through so many training sessions, not to mention it was still repairable. Even if he grew out of it, he could still give it to one of his siblings.

Noticing him dither, she clicked her tongue. "Give it to me. I will keep it safe for now."

Ember peered at her in confusion.

"See this." She wiggled the staff in her palm when a dark light emanated from nowhere. As the aura receded, the staff was nowhere to be found.

"You... you have a System inventory?"

"Something like that," she said. "Now give it to me already."

He accepted, and his old sword vanished into her spatial storage as well. A moment later, the staff returned to her arms as Dawn used it to support herself on the walk.

"Let's go."

Ember joined her, though he couldn't help but turn his head to shoot a last glance at the remains.

"By the way, if you don't mind me asking," he asked, "who was that man, and why was he after you?"

"I have no idea who he is," she said. "I only met him by chance a few days ago." She bowed her head, pausing. "As for the reason he targeted me, he might just be an opportunist looking to score some high-tier equipment."

"Damn. I have heard of Ascendants robbing and killing each other for riches, but how did he get in here?"

"That's not something I would concern myself with right now," Dawn said. Then her lips curled into a grin. "But now that I have no pressing danger to worry about, I have no problem taking you as my underling."

Ember shot her an unimpressed gaze. Even though it seemed to take a great deal of effort, she still raised her free arm to pat him on the shoulder.

"Isn't that what you wanted?"

"Ha, ha. Very funny." He clapped his palms in a very dispirited manner.

"We need to find someplace I can take a nap."

"There might be a crevice like the lair you found around here, though it's better if we move further."

"Mhmm, you have to protect me like a good henchman once we find one."

With unsteady feet, she carried on, but her legs wobbled every once in a while. Ember crept behind her, providing support whenever she was about to collapse again.

"What kind of spell did you use for you to be so powerless?"

"Didn't I mention? It's a bloodline power. Using it once in a while wasn't so draining, but not so much when I use it twice within a day."

"Are there any injuries?"

"None. I'll be back to fighting shape in about an hour or two."

Ember didn't doubt that. Even if she couldn't muster her full strength, after that display, he was sure even a fraction of her power could match his.

He considered offering to carry her, but seeing her so determined, he continued to pace behind her.

"Would drinking a potion or something help?"

She shook her head, then retrieved a waterskin from her inventory. After quenching her thirst, she passed it to him. The water, although warmer than usual, was more satisfying than anything he had had in a long while.

"Thanks."

"I'm not injured in any way that would require a healing potion. Drinking any kind of rejuvenation potion would be like forcing my body to recover. They might rejuvenate me temporarily, but after their effects wear off, I'll crash harder. There's no point risking that when we're not in danger."

He nodded.

"Still, that's quite some bloodline power."

"It's alright," Dawn shrugged.

"I'm no expert in magic," he hesitated to ask, "but I couldn't help but notice some runic scripts were swirling around the spell."

"There were," she affirmed. "It's just how some bloodline spells work."

Ember's understanding of bloodlines was minuscule. He took her word for it, though casting that spell might be more complicated than it seemed to the naked eye. After all, she could cast Tier 5 or even Tier 6 spells without much fanfare, whereas Sunburst took a while and left her in such a vulnerable state.

"Do you already have a class?" he asked, unable to contain his curiosity.

Dawn merely smiled. "Why? Do you think what I displayed is impossible without a class?"

"Well, it might be impossible for me."

"It might just be, yeah." She spared him a glance, deliberating. "Your mana foundation seems adequate for your age. But your racial tier..."

She didn't complete her sentence, but that insinuation alone gave Ember all the information he needed.

His shoulders slumped. "Not every one of us is born at a high tier or with superior talent." He shook his head. He was not going to fall into depression once again because of his initial starting point. "Well, I'm only a couple of thousand points shy of making it to Tier 6."

A momentary silence fell between them. While Tier 6 might be remarkable among his clansmen, Dawn's expression barely shifted. It was nothing extraordinary in her eyes.

"That's good," she said after a while. "With some dedicated training, you can easily make it to Tier 7 before your trial."

"You make it sound like Tier 7 is nothing impressive."

She paused. "Hmm, it might be because I'm used to everyone my age being Tier 7."

"Where exactly are you from?" Ember asked. He had already dismissed the possibility of her being a Killjoy after her display against the assassin. "To have everyone your age at Tier 7, it must be some place."

"Suncrest City."

Ember blinked.

"You haven't heard of it, have you?" Dawn smiled. "How about Songrise Academy? I've been studying there for a few months."

"Who hasn't heard of Songrise Academy?" Then he suddenly froze in his tracks. "I thought Songrise didn't admit anyone without a class."

"Wrong. They don't admit anyone weak or unimpressive."

And most unclassed Ascendants usually were weak and unimpressive in comparison. But Dawn was surely an exception. Ember believed that with her healing alone, she might have gained admittance, classed or not.

"Also, my family might or might not have pulled some strings to get me into the academy ahead of time."

They continued along the path, stopping to converse now and then. Dawn even seemed more talkative now that there were no threats weighing on her mind. Even after moving for half an hour, they still found nowhere to take shelter. Well, at their pace, they hadn't even covered a mile.

"That reminds me," Ember said. "You were talking about my mental skill before the assassin assaulted us."

"Oh, the reason you might have acquired the skill unintentionally." Dawn paused.

"You said there can be two reasons I have gotten it."

"There could be more, but I can only think of two. The more convincing one is that you have a great affinity with mental skills, an Empath of some kind. The psionic attack you faced is likely the necessary catalyst to awaken the skill."

Ember shook his head. "I don't think I have much talent in this regard. I've barely managed to get it to +6 in all these years."

"Mhm, the other reason is much more... extraordinary?" She contemplated for a moment. "There are times when, under certain situations and a great deal of stress, when their mental faculty is unavailable, some Ascendants tend to acquire skills without knowing it themselves. There are various theories, though the more accepted one is that the Ascendant's unawakened soul briefly stirs into wakefulness to accept or awaken the skill."

A frown creased his brow. "What do you mean by an unawakened soul?"

"An unawakened soul is..." Dawn tilted her head. "A soul that's not awakened."

Ember gave her a flat stare.

"Believe me, that's as apt an answer as I could give you," she said, smiling. "I'm not an expert on this topic by any means."

"That I can see."

"Hush, you. It hasn't been a minute since I have taken you as my underling, and you're already mocking me. No, I can't let you look down on me for something so simple." She contemplated for a moment. "To explain an awakened soul... You know that anything that exists has spirituality to it? For inanimate objects, it's minuscule, barely noticeable even to a necromancer's gaze. For living things like us, it's a wee bit higher, but not so high that we can sense it. Does this make sense?"

"A little."

"So, when you can sense your soul, visualise it properly, it means your soul has awakened. But that day might be far away. It's usually impossible to build a Soul Foundation in the lower nine tiers."

Ember hummed. That gave him so much to think about. I got prompts for two soul-related skills. Doesn't that allude to something?

He wanted to inquire about them immediately, to get his hands on any explanation he could. Dawn said it herself: she was no expert, but she was more knowledgeable than him, perhaps even more than some of the elders in his clan. She also seemed trustworthy enough, though he barely knew her.

After hesitating for a while, he still decided to keep the information about Gold skills to himself. After all, Gold skills were considered the pinnacle below the Ascension Realm. Someone his age and station didn't usually get prompts for such skills for no reason.

"You shouldn't worry about all that," she advised. "At your age, you should put all your effort into training your skills."

"Unfortunately, I will have to." Ember let out a sigh. "I mean, the few skill slots I saved up for a Silver skill are now wasted because I had to survive that blasted basilisk's toxins."

"Eh, that's gotta hurt."

"Tell me about it. Just for two skill slots, I may have to wait until I reach Tier 7 or beg someone for the Magic Apprentice title to rectify the mistake."

"You haven't become a Magic Apprentice yet?" Dawn cocked her head. "Your mana tiers seem to meet the requirement. Don't tell me you've abused your foundation with elixirs and other experimental potions."

"No, nothing like that." Ember was quick to correct her. "I simply haven't found a mage who'd like to take me under their wing."

"You need someone to take you as their apprentice to receive the title?" Dawn faltered in her stride, turning her head to shoot him a piercing gaze. "Oh right, I forgot the mentor-apprentice culture around here."

"What do you mean?" Ember gazed at her quizzically. "Is there any other way to get the title?"

She snorted. "Of course there is. Why else did you think the first mages came to be? Or how someone reached the station of a mage without a mentor?"

From confusion, Ember immediately became alert. Even with her allusion, he dared not hope, because the conditions might be too high for someone like him to meet in any acceptable amount of time. "I always thought it was the class that aided one in becoming a mage."

"A class surely helps, but we are merely talking about Magic Apprentice. It isn't like Knight Squire, which needs to be handed down from a proper knight. The conditions aren't even..." She froze, blinking. "They aren't too high. Your Mana tier is more than enough. You merely need to learn a few spells. Well, six, to be exact."

"Are you speaking the truth?" Ember asked. Why had nobody told him about it? Or had he simply never happened to read anything like this?

If what she said were correct, he needed to leave everything behind to earn himself an apprenticeship, because the skill slots the title would give him would not only save him from his predicament, they would even leave him with a surplus to acquire an Iron skill.

Dawn nodded. "Of course, you need to have the necessary mana skills like Mana Shaping, Mana Weaving, Spellcrafting, or the like."

Ember couldn't control himself anymore. "I have Mana Shaping and even learned a Tier 3 spell."

"And it is?"

"Kinetic Push. I also tried to learn Mana Bolt, but haven't figured out the acceleration yet."

"What about Kinetic Pull, Force Shield, or Haste?"

"I haven't awakened the Kinetic Attunement for long," he said, his face flushed in embarrassment.

"Force Shield should be easier than Mana Bolt," Dawn continued. "So is Kinetic Pull. It's a different story for Haste, though."

"Do you know all these spells?"

"What do you think?" she said with a smile. Dawn was about to surge up her mana to display them, but then a groan escaped her lips, reminding her of the backlash.

"Abyss devour me. I can't even show off an elementary spell."

"I believe you."

So far, from what he had seen, it wasn't difficult to believe she knew some more kinetic spells as well. Still, Ember hesitated to ask her for some pointers. After all, the path of magic was one of the most closely guarded secrets. He already owed her for healing him and lending him the Tier 6 sword; adding more favours might not sit comfortably with his conscience.

Yet, to his astonishment, Dawn spoke up. "I can teach you, you know. You just have to agree to one thing."

"What is it? You're not going to sign me into lifelong servitude, are you?"

Dawn shot him a meaningful glance, her lips curling into a grin. He even glimpsed a dimple on her right cheek that he had not noticed before.

"What do you think of my proposal from before? About becoming my minion."

He merely stared at her, completely stupefied.

"Just think about it, if you become my henchman, I can't keep you so weak and adorable, can I?"

Ember was still speechless.

"Still not agreeing?" She sniffed. "Since you have helped me, I'll do you one better. How about you become my apprentice? You seem younger than me, so it's only right."

"Not going to lie, you had me at minion."

"Then it's settled," Dawn said. "I will teach you some elementary spells, and in return, you will become my henchman. My very first one. Wow, Grandpa would be so proud of me."

"For how long exactly?"

She hummed, continuing ahead of him. "How about... hmm... forever?"

"Forever seems a little too long," Ember played along. "What if I grow stronger than you in that time?"

"Then wouldn't that be a whole lot better?" She snickered. "I will have such a powerful minion so cheaply."

Dawn really was too carefree for someone with her power. It was also to be noted that she was from a bloodline clan, a high noble, and her nobility was no lower than that of Oberon, Killjoy, the Sha'azar, or the others.

Ember had never talked to a high noble so freely. Well, there was Lady Evelyn, but he had always maintained a respectful distance from her. But with Dawn, he felt like he could converse unguardedly.

"Still reluctant?" Dawn asked. "How about this? I will only accept you as my underling if you become stronger than I. I'll give you two centuries, no, three centuries, to close the gap."

Well, she sure was confident. Why wouldn't she be? After all, not long ago, Ember had seen her burn a Tier 6 classed Ascendant to ashes.

"So, what do you think?"

He burst out laughing. "You certainly know how to make it enticing. But I'm thinking, is there any benefit in becoming your minion?"

"Of course, there is. Who do you take me for?"

Ember was just about to quip when she abruptly perked up, her eyes darting around, a line forming between her brows.

"Looks like we have to leave the negotiation for later. We have company."

As soon as she finished speaking, a pack of goblins burst towards them.