Chapter 67: Happy Hunting (II)

Chapter 67: Happy Hunting (II)

Hours flew by. The two of them fought more goblins while making their way through the lair, and Dawn continued to offer tips on his skills and spells. Even when he was not fighting those green, vile-mouthed spawns, Ember stuck to his practice without rest.

The new method of applying mana augmentation, as it turned out, revolved around a form of mana weaving. Instead of simply allowing his mana to boost his physical prowess, Dawn taught him how to weave thin strands of mana throughout his muscles and tendons to strengthen his body. Not just strengthen; it could even make his body more flexible, tenacious and able to endure more.

The system hadn't notified him of a skill gain, but within minutes, he began to see noticeable changes. Not only had his might reached another notch, but weaving mana as she taught him was also more efficient, eventually allowing him to keep the skill active for a longer period.

I need to acquire mana weaving at any cost, Ember had decided. And as soon as possible.

Not only was mana weaving an essential skill for spells, but it could also change how he utilised many of his other skills.

Ember had been practising Mana Bolt when an idea came to him. What if he wove strands of mana with mind-attuned mana? Of course, that was likely much harder than it sounded, since mind mana tended to work internally. But even if the likelihood of him gaining a spell was too low, it still didn't hurt to try.

Or does it? he mused, eyeing the meditative figure sitting across from him.

Ember didn't fear experimenting with his mana. He was more cautious than people gave him credit for, but remembering all the rebukes he had received so far, he decided it best to get her approval first.

He didn't disturb her meditation, however. He waited while continuing to practise spellcrafting.

Mana Bolt, although only an elementary spell, was unusually harder in comparison to its counterparts. The reason being that it required him to weave two separate weaves at the same time before connecting them into one. While one weave built up the force, which was no different from Kinetic Push, albeit more concentrated, the other one needed to work on the accelerating force at which the bolt would shoot at. Ember had been faltering on the latter most of the time.

He grasped the basics quite easily after Dawn explained it to him. Even the system registered it after a few tries. However, even after he had cast it over a hundred times, the spell remained at Tier 1. The same was true with Force Shield, but he hadn't been practising it as much now that Dawn had repaired his protective ward.

The reason why he was so insistent on Mana Bolt was that it could become a truly lethal spell. A true Tier 4 Mana Bolt would be no less powerful than a Wind Blade aided by his wand, while costing barely a fifth of the mana. But from the look of things, it seemed it would take him weeks, if not months, to get there.

Yes, he was being unreasonably critical of himself, but being so close to a threshold he required to be so.

His only consolation was that his kinetic attunement was growing fast as he trained it further.

[Kinetic Force (Minor – 11.2% → 16.1%)]

His base affinity might be incomparable to someone from a bloodline clan, but it had not even been a week since he had awakened the attunement, and it had already grown to such a degree. While mind attunement, on the other hand... Ember couldn't help but shake his head. He really might not have any affinity for it, unlike what Dawn had hypothesised.

"Well, aren't you persistent?" Dawn said, peeking open an eye, a smile tugging at the corner of her lips.

"You seem to be in a good mood."

"Why wouldn't I be?" She jumped to her feet and stretched her limbs in a very unladylike manner. "I am finally recovered from the backlash. Now if only I can leave this dirty cave behind me."

"Eager to return home?"

"My home is too far for me to return anytime soon," Dawn said with a sigh and scooted down next to him. Her eyes lingered on the markings he had made on the wall with his Mana Bolts, and she smiled approvingly. "For now, I will be happy to be under the sun."

The way she intended to leave would likely still take a couple more days. And they would probably have to traverse through more goblin camps and perhaps even their villages to find a way out on the other side. In comparison, the way they came in would take more time, even if there was no resistance from the goblins.

"But don't you worry, my sweet little minion," she said, patting his shoulder. "I won't leave without teaching you the way."

"Aye aye, Sensei."

She arched an eyebrow. "What was that? It seemed to mean teacher, but I do not recognise the tongue."

Ember blinked. Now it was his turn to be surprised. He rarely used any lingo from Earth, but it was the first time someone had managed to figure out what it meant.

The likelihood of another person reincarnating from Earth and meeting him seemed slim, if not impossible. Still, he couldn't help but look at her with an unwavering gaze.

"Why? Are you struck dumb once again by my brilliance?"

"How do you know what it meant when you don't know the language?"

"That is a secret only privy to all the Ascendants who have climbed as far as I have." She patted him on the shoulder. "Don't worry, little apprentice. I will direct you to the right path soon enough; you need not drown in the sea of ignorance."

His brows furrowed. "You know some kind of translation spell, don't you?"

Dawn clicked her tongue. "I wish you were a little dumber."

"How does it work?" he asked. He could imagine a spell doing a great many things, perhaps even destroying a world. But to translate something from a wholly different plane of existence? Either he was missing something, or his knowledge of mana and how spells worked was minuscule compared to what lay before him.

"I have no clue," she answered, shrugging her shoulders. "It's a system boon that did the magic. I'm but an ignorant recipient of the gift."

Ember didn't press further about the boon. He didn't even know what grade of System Access it would require for the system to grant something like universal translation, but she already had a System Inventory, which came at System Access III, which was as far as his father had reached.

"We learn new things every day," Ember mumbled. For all he knew, the system might even have downloaded the bits of Japanese he knew straight from his head.

"So, to teach you your sixth spell... since you won't be learning Haste anytime soon, perhaps it would be best to move on to the next best thing."

Ember perked up. "I was just thinking about that. What do you think—"

"If I hadn't lost that fire crystal to that shady assassin," Dawn mumbled, "it could perhaps help you acquire another element. Bah, I bet we can still get something useful out of the goblins."

"What are you talking about?"

"Come on, let's go." She patted his shoulder, rising to her feet. "There is still time. We can get one or two of those elemental crystals from the goblins before making our way out of this hellhole."

"You mean the crystals in the Goblin Shamans' staffs?" As far as he was aware, that was the only thing here that could help one awaken an attunement, or improve an attunement.

"What else? These diminutive spawns have nothing useful."

Ember simply stared at her, speechless.

"Why are you hesitating?" Dawn almost pulled him to his feet. "I know you aren't guaranteed to gain an attunement even if you use those crystals. But with your mana foundation and skills, there's a high chance you will gain one."

His eyes never left hers, still baffled by her statement.

"Are you sure about all this?"

As far as he knew, whoever got hold of an elemental crystal usually used it on themselves or their family, or sold it at a high price to an auction house. Nobody in their right mind would want to give it away for free.

Dawn met his gaze with a flat stare. "You know, I wish for you to be a little dumber, but not this stupid."

"I... the crystal, it's something precious. How can you--"

"It might be," she interjected, "if we can get something rarer or something of a higher grade. There is only a slim chance of either of us being that lucky."

That's for sure, he thought. With his luck, the Goblin Shamans might have already lost their staffs by now.

"Hurry, or your friends will take it for themselves."

And so they were once again on the run, heading straight towards the dwelling of those goblins. With her spider constructs, Dawn had already mapped out a good part of the surrounding region over the last few hours. Finding another camp wouldn't be a difficult task, but finding one with a Goblin Shaman among its ranks might prove to be a rarer case.

"By the way," Ember said, jogging beside her, "do you think I should experiment with mind mana?"

She spared him a look. "You don't seem like someone who would ask before trying."

"I have experimented before," he admitted, "but none of those attempts provided me with anything useful. Now, I am thinking of weaving mind mana into strands to see if anything sticks. Who knows? I might be able to learn a perception-based spell or something."

Dawn faltered in her stride, swearing something incoherent. "Abyss devour me, how haven't I thought of that?"

"Is it plausible?" Ember dared not hope.

"You can probably learn a whole bunch of spells like Analyse, Appraisal, or even something like Life Sense."

"Truly?" He straightened, eagerness evident in his tone.

She hesitated and nodded, though not with great confidence. "It's possible, but..." She sighed. "Mind spells are more intuitive. Since I cannot guide you on this path, you'll likely need to go through a lot of experimentation, trial and error to find something useful. Considering how difficult you find it to condense mind-attuned mana, I am not sure if it will be any faster than acquiring Haste or another attunement."

And just like that, his hope and eagerness drained away. What Dawn mentioned was no small concern. He hadn't even fully recovered the two apertures' worth of mind mana he had lost against the basilisk. With his current reserve, he might be able to cast two little weaves of mind mana.

"But it is uncanny that you have awakened mind attunement," Dawn quickly added, noticing his dejection. "Perhaps you have talent in learning mind spells as well. But I warn you, though. Stay away from learning any of the disturbing spells like mind control, compulsion, and such. No apprentice of mine shall fall into the dark arts."

"Oh, it's apprentice now?" Ember cocked an eyebrow.

"Minion," she snorted. "Henchman or apprentice, I see no difference."

They continued along the path once again. Ember multi-tasked, storing up more mind mana while he walked. Unfortunately, that had to stop when both of them froze, hearing a blood-chilling shriek echo through the tunnels.

"That bastard snake of yours seems to have no manners."