Chương 49: Chapter 53: Unlikely Matchup (I)

Ezamin waved the dust off his attire, combing his shoulder-long hair into a presentable state. Although the battle hadn't been any more taxing than he had imagined, his hair and clothing had become quite dishevelled from facing the tyrannical wind power of the Oberon.

"Why did we stop?" asked Yaresh, their healer, who was also capable of weaving some useful combat spells.

"Victory was within our reach. We could have made those bitches from the Oberon clan pay for their audacity." Ezamin paid little attention to him as the group rounded the archway. It was true that he could have claimed victory against that Oberon girl, but it would come with a price. Then there were also their protectors lurking somewhere in the shadows. He had been mindful of them throughout the battle, though he hadn't noticed anything.

"Are you dumb, Yaresh?" said Shera, while maintaining her pace with him.

"Yes, we could have claimed victory. But what's the point in that? It would just allow their protectors to get involved."

"But we have our own protection, no?" Yaresh asked.

"Do you think their guardian is more powerful than ours?" Shera made a face as if merely explaining it to the blockhead would bring her Insight down.

"If the protectors are to be involved," Nerin supplied, "it would only become a confrontation between them. We might get some shoulder pats for the hard work, but that's it." Yaresh nodded, understanding finally dawning on him.

"Besides, the chief of Illclave will also expel us from the hunting zone if it comes to that." Nerin blinked and patted him on the shoulder.

"Aha, there's still hope for you after all."

"What does that supposed to mean?" the healer glared. Nerin gave no answer to that.

"If we really want to make them pay, though," Shera interjected, "we have to be more sneaky about our ways."

"Like what?" Nerin asked.

"You wouldn't be thinking of borrowing a sword to strike at the enemy are you?" Even Ezamin spared his attendant a glance, wondering what was cooking in that little clever head of hers.

"I have something even better in mind." She said, smiling meaningfully at him.

"But we might have to act a little more cautiously for it to work." The requirements for Tier 4 in Mana Foundations were: 30 mana apertures, 100% completion in the mana circuit, and only 80 breaths of mana. Ember had managed the first months ago, though there had been no further improvement in opening any more mana apertures after that. Thirty was supposedly the limit imposed on anyone without a class, whereas his breaths of mana had reached 110 over time. It was only his mana circuit that made him falter.

Already at 99. 2%, it seemed like he was very close to making it. Unfortunately, the progress had almost stalled since he had reached the 99% mark. It had been weeks since he had gained even a fraction of a point of improvement. Thinking on that, Ember brought out the only Intermediate Mana Elixir he had packed with him and poured it into his mouth without hesitation.

Mana elixirs were mostly used to boost Breaths of Mana, though they could still provide some benefit to the mana circuit and even help open new apertures. Of course, Ember would be unable to open any more apertures anytime soon, but the elixir could still improve his mana circuit, perhaps even allowing him to advance to Tier 4. Feeling the cool liquid travel through his throat and into his stomach, Ember immediately concentrated, circulating his mana to incorporate the elixir's pure mana.

His body warmed up in no time as a breath of mana formed within a couple of minutes. Even if it didn't bring his mana circuit to completion, a few more breaths of mana in his apertures would be more than welcome. Now that he had more ways to apply his mana, even that little boost would be useful, especially since conflict with the Asarii clan seemed impossible to avoid. With the Intermediate Mana Elixir, he was confident it could form another twelve to fifteen breaths of mana with ease.

Ember would find out after he was finished digesting the elixir. From the look of it, it would likely take all night for him to incorporate the essence into his breaths of mana. The first eight breaths formed within the first three hours. From there, it all slowed down. By dawn, Ember finally opened his eyes when a notification greeted his sight. Mana Foundation: Tier 3 Mana Aperture: 30 Mana Circuit: 99. 2% → 99. 7% Breath of Mana: 110 → 124 [Mana Shaping (Iron) +7 → 8] [+800 EPs.] He let out a forlorn sigh.

Although he had imagined as much, he couldn't help but feel a little heartbroken, finding that he was still missing a few fractions of a point. Now he wondered if he would reach 160 breaths of mana first or complete his mana circuit first. More surprisingly, Ember couldn't believe he had made any progress in Mana Shaping so soon. Indeed, he had been utilising his mana non-stop throughout the expedition, but it was still a delightful surprise. He couldn't wait to add another mana art to his list of skills.

The fourteenth day of the expedition began with some light exercises. Although Ember hadn't made much money since he had to skip his nightly adventures, his progress hadn't stopped. Not all of it was evident on the status screen. After getting through his morning rituals, Ember once again sat down to condense more kinetic-attuned mana. His battle against Nerin had exhausted all that he had saved up the other day. Thankfully, it was much easier to fill apertures with kinetic mana than it was with mental mana.

He just had to impose more pressure with his Will. The greater the compression, the stronger the kinetic force would be upon release. Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. Kinetic force was like the next natural form of mana. On that thought, Ember could not help but wonder if he would be able to acquire fire attunement if he were to experiment through the laws of thermodynamics.

The kinetic force already created some sizzling energy in his mana apertures, though it was likely far from the threshold for the system to register a new attunement. Although he feared that anything more might be too risky for himself. Around nine o'clock, when both suns had risen fully, the group embarked to hunt some goblins. Even the recent brush-up with the Asarii clan didn't make them hesitate to venture into the gloomy subterranean region.

While the goblins did not bear any beast cores, and even the crude equipment they left behind was of little use, there was still something to be earned from them. The only thing Ember believed the pair from House Oberon were eyeing was the magical staff of a Goblin Shaman. Like how a class allowed an ascendant to form a soul relic, those shaman staffs were something like soul-bonded tools, born from the natural gift of a goblin shaman.

As far as Ember was concerned, only those Goblin Shamans could utilise the staff to its fullest capacity, though there were still some benefits for others as well. Ignoring the fact that even the more common lower-tier staffs sold for astronomical prices, the elemental stone embedded within the staff was something all magelings dreamed of having. Even Ember's own craving was no less than that of anyone else in the group, perhaps even stronger.

After all, those elemental stones could help boost one's elemental attunements, perhaps even awaken one if they were lucky. They were obviously not the most valuable items related to attunement. However, they were still quite rare, and the benefits they provided were enough that Ember didn't believe the Oberons would give him one if they came across any. Once again, they ventured into the subterranean regions, navigating through the paths they had already mapped out to reach that yawning chasm.

Elin had called him over throughout the journey to give him the crash course on attunement she had promised him. It was nothing more than what Ember was already aware of and had figured out intuitively, though she was able to correct some of his misconceptions. According to her, acquiring an attunement was rather easy. The difficulty came in improving those attunements. Ember stared at her dumbly.

To him, both seemed equally difficult, though acquiring one seemed more difficult, since he had already made some meaningful improvement in his attunements in a short time. Perhaps it was different for someone with a bloodline.

"You will see once you have reached Silver in your race," she said.

"Though the effect will become more prominent once your Mana Foundation matches your racial rank." He frowned. Like how skills became easier to improve at higher tiers, perhaps it was true for attunements as well. However, even if that was the case, Ember would still need an astronomical amount of time to reach Tier 7. Mana Foundation might be easier after he broke through the bottleneck of his mana circuit.

I just have to dunk in more of those mana elixirs and use higher-grade mana chambers, and there will be no problems reaching Tier 6 in mana. The barrier for Tier 7 might be more hazardous, though before that he'd have to see if his clan offered him any elixirs simply on the merit of being someone gifted.

"The point is not to awaken dozens of various attunements," Elin explained, "but to acquire a couple of them, perhaps three if you want to become more versatile, and train them to the fullest. Diverging your time and essence into more paths will only make it more arduous for you." Ember nodded his head and thanked her before returning to his position.

They fought a couple of large packs of goblins that day and came across a couple of other chasms as deep as the ones they had discovered yesterday, though they still refrained from diving in right away on Elin's command. Many in the group dissented, but Elin held firmly to her belief. In her opinion, they needed more preparation before diving deeper, especially after the conflict with the party from the Asarii clan. Besides, there was still no shortage of goblins out there.

If they were to venture down there, there were likely more high-level ones lying in wait for them. Ember agreed with her wholeheartedly, and not just because he was splitting his focus to condense more kinetic force in his apertures. His fight against Nerin left him with much to consider. He wasn't simply lacking raw power. While that was certainly the case, that dark-skinned youth seemed to have an elusive grasp of his movements.

It wasn't quite as ethereal as the couple of times he had seen his father display it, but Ember was certain it wasn't entirely due to the movement skill. It could be something like Battle Trance, or he might just be reading too much into it. There had been no improvements in Split Focus for over a couple of months either. But the skill was as effective as ever. He could now split his mind into four streams of thought.

He could go further, but splitting his mind any further would only yield diminishing returns in effectiveness. He might do some experiments on that in his spare time, as that might be the way to improve the skill further. Nowadays, his breathing art barely required any focus to run. Even during rest, Ember could keep up a slow circulation of it constantly without paying any attention.

It was almost second nature, but it still seemed a little way from becoming a natural process within his body, like the functioning of his internal organs. Breathing Art was one of his oldest skills. He had possessed it for over five years, and it seemed to be the slowest to master. Its mere Copper rank didn't do it justice purely on the merit of how difficult it was. I wonder if getting chased by a mirewood toad will help? The day almost came to an end as their party finished with the last group of goblins.

There were no shamans among any of the packs they hunted that day, though there were more than a few tough hobgoblins among their ranks. Ember awaited the notification window. Sadly, there was no skill gain accompanying the kill merits. Well, if there was no skill gain, he decided to procure more of those goblin slingshots. Although they seemed rather crudely made, Ember dissected one and found that there was some runework involved. He hadn't known goblins were capable of runesmithing.

"You came again trying to pick spoils?" Erling eyed him, quickly sifting through the corpses to take her picks.

"Go on, there still might be some good stuff among them." Ember paid her no attention, stooping down to pick up a club when, abruptly, a slight tremor ran through the earth. It was barely noticeable, but it seemed a few others in the group picked up on it as well.

"Pick up your stuff quickly," Elin commanded.

"We'll leave immediately."

"Why so quick to leave, miss Oberon?" an unfamiliar voice said from the darkness. Ember turned towards the source of the voice. Elin even pointed her torch in the direction, but found nothing until the owner of the voice decided to emerge from the shroud of darkness. A dark cloak draped over him completely, plumes of shadowy tendrils swaying along with the fabric. His complexion wasn't visible, but Ember believed he was likely the leader of the group from the Asarii Clan, Ezamin.

"At least receive what we procured for you." Saying that, he brought a hand out from beneath the dark cloak, which seemed to be holding a large stone bead.

"Here, take it." He tossed it to Elin, who didn't even try to catch it, letting it crash onto the stone floor. It cracked before rolling to her feet, some slimy liquid oozing out of the fracture. An egg?

"What are you intend—" She didn't even finish when another tremor ran through the earth.

"Enjoy my gift." Once again, the shadowy cloak shrouded him completely as Ezamin's figure faded into the darkness.

"It had been quite difficult to obtain." Only his voice echoed through the expanse, followed by a piercing screech from something unholy This chapter might feel a little wordy, and now that I think about it, the whole expedition is a bit wordy. I'm quite blind to what im writing, I can only hope to trim it down once it's finished. I'll try to maintain an MWF schedule for a month or two while I build up a Patreon and personal backlog. Thank you.