Chương 46: Chapter 50: Down Underground (III)

Dawn's eyes darted about to find her attacker when a few silhouettes emerged from the darkness. There were three boys, only a little older than her: one bearing a sword and shield, another with a staff, while the last one carried a bow and arrows.

"Sorry about that," the archer said this time.

"You had left one goblin alive. It was about to attack you just now, so I had to swiftly end it." Dawn didn't believe him. The arrow did strike one of the goblins lying on the floor and exploded, eviscerating its form beyond recognition, but even if it was feigning death, it was in no position to attack her. She kept her mana in her grasp, ready to bend it to her will at a moment's notice. The three youths were nothing to stress about, even if they were planning to ambush her.

After all, all three of them were classless. She had no fear of any unclassed ascendants. It was the shady man lurking behind them who made her more cautious. Although she didn't have the system-provided identification ability yet, she could tell the man was well into his Iron class. His level might be around seventy, with some kind of assassin class. Under the cover of the looming darkness present in the expanse, it would be terrible if they were to fall into a scuffle.

Yes, no more than a minute ago, she had dealt with goblins around level fifty with ease. But there was a huge difference between the level of an abyssal creature and that of an ascendant, especially in the lower ranks. Then there was human cunning, training, and class skills. All of it made a classed ascendant a far greater enemy than a regular goblin of the same station.

"Young lady," the older man said, his form approaching the youths, "you seem to have gotten quite some spoils. Why don't you leave behind a couple of them for us poor folks?" Her mind eased a little after hearing him. Before, she hadn't known why they had attacked her. They had no prior enmity. Now that the man had presented her with a reason, Dawn didn't have to be alarmed by his presence.

"You want the spoils?" she said, gesturing towards the few pieces of crude equipment lying on the floor.

"Go get them. I have no need for them." Her spatial ring could only carry so much. She wasn't going to fill her storage with any garbage, anyhow. If they could buy her out of this trouble, Dawn had no problem parting with them. The boy with the sword seemed ready to seize the spoils at her invitation, but the man swiftly stopped him, clasping a hand on his shoulder.

"What about the staff in your hand, little lady?" he asked.

"You want this too?" Dawn almost tossed it to him, only stopping midway as a thought struck her.

"After I give you this staff, you wouldn't be asking for my wand or necklace, would you?" The rogue's pupils contracted. With some skill, he seemed to gauge the rank of her equipment. Whatever he saw, he seemed to like it, as evidenced by the blatant greed in his eyes. However, the man had more control over his emotions and swiftly restrained himself.

"No, of course not," the man said with a laugh, waving his hand nonchalantly.

"We are all law-abiding citizens. We aren't shameless enough to rob such a nice lady. We only asked for the spoils because you seem to have no use for them." That seemed reasonable enough, though she thought twice about believing him. After all, they were the ones who had attacked without warning.

"Miss, you do seem to have quite some good equipment," the man said tentatively. He had an easy smile on his lips, which didn't reassure her at all.

"But I don't think it would be enough for you to venture into such a dangerous place all alone. You might not be aware, but there are some creatures deep in these regions that are already nearing level 100, if not over it."

"Master," said the mageling, "perhaps she has drifted away from your party?" If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

"Is that so?" the master asked.

"How about you join my boys for the time being? They can use your help, and I can also protect you from anything beyond your capabilities." Dawn narrowed her eyes. More than giving away her spoils, she really wouldn't want to mingle with this lot at all, even if she was missing some human interaction after the last few days.

"No need," she said.

"If there's nothing else, I'm on my way." She didn't wait for the man to speak up and used her Light Steps to dart out of their line of sight. ◈◈◈ The first thing Ember did after returning to camp was prepare their meal. The second thing was, obviously, to experiment with his new attunement. After all, not all attunements worked the same way, and the difference between Kinetic Force and Mind was pretty evident considering their respective aspects.

Good thing Kinetic Force was supposedly easier to get hold of compared to the rare Mind attunement. It had taken Ember weeks before he could finally figure out how to store his mental mana in an aperture. Of course, his capabilities had been far more limited back then. But now, with a Tier 5 race and his mana foundation at the threshold of Tier 4, handling Kinetic Force should be much easier. At least, he hoped so.

The first thing in order was to figure out how to convert pure Breath of Mana into essence attuned to Kinetic Force. To his astonishment, it came to him naturally. He hadn't even finished roasting their meal, and he had already managed to liquefy one Breath of Mana into kinetic-attuned mana. Perhaps it was due to how painstakingly he had trained with Kinetic Force despite lacking the skill. Ember simply had to create pressure in his Breath of Mana, pushing it towards an aperture of his choosing to make it work.

He picked one on his left wrist, thinking it would give him easier access when releasing it. It would perhaps take a couple of hours to fill that aperture completely. After that, he could move on to his other limbs. On that thought, wouldn't Kinetic Force let him fly once he attained a certain amount of mastery over it? Ember was certain it would cost a lot of mana. But in an emergency, he could aid his Blitz Steps by releasing a wild amount of kinetic charge. That was a consideration for the future.

Currently, he was more eager to apply that kinetic attunement to practical spells. He had had the Mind attunement for almost a couple of years now. Unfortunately, mind-related spells weren't common, nor were they something that could be learned intuitively. Ember, however, was far more knowledgeable about Kinetic Force. Not only had he perused a great deal of notes about it, but he had also experienced its utilisation through those kinetic wands numerous times.

Of course, a spell aided by a wand and a spell completely shaped by a mage were two different things, even if the result might be the same. Now Ember had to figure out a way to reverse-engineer spells like Mana Bolt and Kinetic Push. I seem to have a great affinity with Kinetic Force, so it shouldn't be too difficult, no? ◈◈◈ A couple of days passed, and Dawn was at her wits' end.

No, she hadn't suffered any injuries, and her mana was still abundant, flowing in torrents, only there was still no progress in her quest. She wasn't particularly concerned about that. What hurt her more were the dwindling meals she had packed for the expedition. There were still many fasting potions, but Dawn hated drinking them. At least the bogland did not lack delectable game. She hunted a rabbit and two wild geese, whose combined weight came to almost ten kilograms.

She might have gone a little overboard with it. For better or worse, that turned out to be a sensible decision once she began cooking her meal. Dawn had already lost a sizeable chunk of the meat while plucking and skinning the game. As for the roasting, she hadn't gone overboard there. Perhaps that was why it tasted like raw flesh. She seared it further over the flame. A delectable smell even wafted from it. But when she tasted it again, it was overcooked, even burnt in places.

"I should have taken the cooking skill," she cried while looking at the starry sky. Little tears flowed from her eyes as she munched through her scorched meal. At least it filled her stomach. After implementing wards and alarms around her makeshift camp, Dawn fell into a meditative rest, waiting for the sun to rise again. Alas, she had to wake from her rest in the middle of the night, as it appeared some wild creatures had attempted to break into her camp. I hate this bogland, Grandpa.

By morning, she was already making her way through the underground archways. Her luck seemed to be at its worst, as she was once again harassed by pack after pack of goblins. There was even a nasty slime that exploded on her, bursting into acidic liquid. She wasn't meek in dispatching them either, though it came at a high cost to her mana. Nothing a good night's rest couldn't solve. Wiping the disgusting blood and grime from her face, she eyed the dozens of mutilated corpses strewn across the stone floor.

There were twenty-seven of them, and this time Dawn hadn't held back even a little in dispatching them all. Sadly, it seemed she wasn't completely done with them, as abruptly, an explosion crashed against her, blinding her and flinging her several metres away. She coughed hysterically, tears streaming from her eyes. But before she could even check her injuries, she lurched upright and took a fighting stance.

"We meet again, young lady," a slightly familiar voice said as four silhouettes came into view. It was no pack of goblins, but the other party she had encountered a couple of days ago.