Chapter 63: Spell Weaving (II)
Ember thrust the blade into the cursed mouth of one of the last goblins. It had been quite a chase, dispatching the goblin archers on the wall. Ultimately, he had to let a few of their numbers withdraw while he focused on spellcasting.
[Spell acquired: Kinetic Pull (Tier 2).][Kinetic Push Tier 3 → Tier 4]
New skill available:- [Mana Weaving (Iron). Required skill slot: 9]
He blinked at the notification window. Despite knowing what he had achieved throughout the assault, he still couldn't believe it. Finally, something was going his way, and all this was thanks to a little advice from Dawn.
He returned her to her feet, a huge smile curling on his lips. "I forgot to ask," he said. "What exactly do I need to do as your henchman?"
She seemed a little startled by his comment and rolled her eyes. "Nurse your wound, you dumbo."
"Right."
He found the arrow still lodged in his calf. Probably because it was only larger than a dart and weighed nothing. Ember was about to pull it out but faltered, anticipating the pain. With a thought, he strengthened his Mind Wall just as a palm clasped over his.
"Let me do it," Dawn offered. "At least one of us is trained for this."
She scooted down. A faint trace of mana swirled about her index finger as she pointed at the arrow.
"Seems to have grazed your bone," she mumbled after scanning it with her Mana Perception. She used the bit of mana to pull the arrow out slowly as blood dripped down his leg. Working carefully at first, she then yanked it out without a trace of hesitation. Ember didn't even flinch throughout the entire process. It wasn't the worst one he had gotten so far. not by a long shot.
She showed him the pointy end before tossing it aside.
"Strip off your trousers."
"Hmm?" He shot her a quizzical look. "I don't think the wound is that deep." He demonstrated by pacing around. "See? I have no problem walking around. I won't even need a potion for this."
"Remove them."
Ember sighed. If she was simply insisting, he might be able to get away with it, but she was practically ordering him. So strip off he did.
Dawn examined it with another careful look. "It isn't as grievous as the ones you've come up with in the beginning, but leaving it open like that isn't the right choice, either."
"Mhm. I've drunk too many healing potions already. Drinking more—"
"Sit down."
"Yes, ma'am."
The look in her eyes indicated she wasn't requesting it. It was similar to how Rain treated him whenever she healed him. There was no point arguing with a healer.
Soon, a silver light bloomed in her palm as a few tendrils of mana danced out from her fingers.
"You don't have to," Ember interjected. "You've already overextended yourself using your bloodline power. Let it just rest for a while and..."
He didn't have to continue, as her mana was already working its magic. A warm feeling spread into his wounded shin, Ember could feel it despite his mental Wall, for some reason. The wound stitched back together before his naked eyes, leaving only a reddish patch.
He gazed up at her, her eyes fully concentrated on the spell, a thin line forming between her brows.
Are all healers like that? Well, she seemed different from when she was fighting, though she was as single-mindedly focused back then as well.
"That should do it," she said and looked up. Instantly, their gazes met. Dawn was the first to look away, a trace of something flashing in her eyes.
Ember frowned. "Are you feeling guilty for some reason?"
"NoOoo," she intoned, drawing out the word. It didn't sound convincing.
"There is no need to be. You have helped me before, so it's only right I return the favour." He looked around at the mangled corpses strewn across the stone floor. "Besides, these goblins are nothing."
"Yeah, of course," she said, brushing the dust off her magic gown. "Goblins are nothing, but let's leave here before more of them arrive."
Ember agreed, though he still asked her for a moment to collect anything of value from the corpses.
"For your information," Dawn said, shaking her head, "I won't be filling my inventory with those rubbish."
"Don't worry, I won't ask you for that," He said, feeling a little regret as he tossed aside an axe. Although its craftsmanship was crude, the metal alloy alone would perhaps fetch a few good iron chips. But alas, he couldn't carry them with him. He had to be satisfied with a couple of explosives.
"They're not even that useful," Dawn said as he joined her.
"They sure helped against your assassin, though," he mumbled.
"Did you say something?"
"No, just..." He hesitated. "Do you want me to carry you?"
The concerned inquiry only got him a glower in return.
"You know I'm fast on my feet," he insisted. "With a few of the goblins escaping, they'll be on our tails if I have to move slowly."
"No, thanks. I'd rather risk that than piggyback on your back."
"Why? I didn't do anything inappropriate."
"No, you didn't, but you reek of filth." She carried on ahead.
"What? No." Ember was offended. "I don't reek of nothing."
Faltering, he sniffed his underarms and almost vomited, smelling the filth on him.
Darn it, now I'm disgusted with myself.
Much of the strength seemed to have returned to her, as Dawn had darted off a dozen paces by then. He swiftly chased after her, shouting, "But what about the goblins?"
"As you mentioned, the goblins are nothing," Dawn said it without sparing him a glance. "You will fight them off as you did, won't you?"
Ember had no problem doing that. Unfortunately, the battle had already burned a large reserve of his mana. His new sabre was startlingly powerful, though it ate away mana three or even four times as fast as well.
Thankfully, she wasn't finished. "Although you can dispatch them, it's best we avoid those filth for the time being."
With a gesture of her palm, an item flashed into her hand from her inventory. A spider construct, its form far smaller than the one he had, but Ember could tell it was much more extravagant, its build monumentally more complex.
"With this," she said, displaying it before him, "I can oversee their comings and goings. It won't be too difficult to avoid a few of their groups."
With one command, the construct flew off her palm to the wall and departed in the direction the goblins had fled.
***
Half an hour later, they had once again found themselves another creek to hide in, the little spider construct still out on its mission.
"Before you rest," Dawn said, seeing him sitting cross-legged, "I need to talk to you about something serious."
"I'm all ears."
"The spell you pulled against those goblins. You need to be more careful about spell weaving."
Ember looked up at her.
"If you had gone even a little more heavy-handed with the Kinetic Pull, you would have faced a backlash on your Will."
His eyes widened, stupefied at her words. Is she trying to scare me?
"It might not have been powerful enough to knock you down," she continued, "but it would have deteriorated your mana shaping and perhaps even deviated the flow of mana inside your channels. You know what happens then, no?"
It would have affected his blood vessels, raising his blood pressure and so on. Perhaps even burst through his veins and cause internal bleeding, if it became too serious.
"Thank you for your reminder," he said. Although the mana lessons in his clan didn't amount to much, the instructor had repeatedly advised them on backlashes. The one at fault here was he alone for being a little reckless and too curious about what he could achieve with his mana. "I will be careful from now on."
Dawn's gaze lingered on him for a moment before she flopped down opposite him. "You better be, or I won't waste my time teaching you anything."
Ember perked up once again, hearing the word teaching. "Oh, right! If you teach me all about spell crafting, I won't be making those foolish mistakes ever again."
She snorted. "Rest up now, my minion. Your lesson will begin after I have a nap."
She seemed to have no trouble falling into a meditative trance as soon as she closed her eyes. Ember followed suit, though he didn't immediately go into meditation. There was still some soul-searching to do.
He wasn't being metaphorical. Ember truly needed to search for his soul. After the skill prompt and what he had learned from Dawn, he should not delay it. Hopefully, with the Soul Sense skill prompt lying in his system log, he should not be completely hopeless in the endeavour.
Ember was simply unsure where to begin.
It took only a couple of minutes, and he was ready to disturb Dawn to learn more about souls. But he suppressed that urge, peering at her pale face.
"For someone born into a bloodline clan, isn't she a little too decent?" he mumbled and shook his head.
Closing his eyes once again, he meditated on the skill, or so he tried.
Ember was unsure how long it took. Unbeknownst to himself, he too fell into a trance-like state, his mind wandering into an empty black void.
There, he saw a small candle flame kindling.
His attention was drawn towards it immediately. Unfortunately, he couldn't reach it no matter what he tried. It only seemed to make him more uncomfortable.
Is that my soul?
He concentrated, trying to manifest some of his Will, shape them into the form of his arms. It was how he had first learned to manipulate mana. However, the challenge here was of a completely different breed.
The kindling flame rose in intensity the harder he focused on it, as a wave of nausea spread throughout his being. An impaling pain struck his head. He left no expense at fortifying his mind wall, but nothing seemed to quell the suffocating pain.
Ember lingered in the void for a moment more.
Then abruptly, he awoke from the trance, his chest heaving up and down in unrest, throat perched as a deep icy coldness pulsed through his chest. Even with his breathing art merging into an Iron-ranked skill, it still took him a whole two minutes to calm his heart.
"You are being weird," a voice said. Only then did he notice Dawn standing before him, her eyes staring down at him with concern.
"It's nothing," he huffed. "How long was I out?"
"Not too long," she said, her eyes darting to the opening of the creek. "Just a little over six hours."
"Six hours?" He repeated in disbelief. "It had only felt like a couple of minutes."
"Perhaps you are more exhausted than you imagined," Dawn said. "Either way, you seem rested enough for the lessons. But before that, go clean yourself of the filth. I will conjure up all the water you need."