Chương 68: Chapter 69: Happy Hunting (IV)

"You know them?" Dawn asked, noticing the surprise in his gaze.

"Don't worry. The veil blocks sound as well." Reassured, Ember wasted no time telling her the truth.

"It's the same group I told you about. That bastard over there, the one wearing the dark cloak, is the one who stole the basilisk's egg." She inclined her head.

"I've read about the Asaraii Clan, but they don't seem as impressive as the historical records suggest." To you, they're not, Ember thought inwardly.

"Perhaps it was merely the author embellishing the figures of their times." She shook her head.

"Either way, they should know how to work together and make full use of their numbers. If you want to settle the score, I'm afraid you'll have to wait." Ember raised an eyebrow. The thought hadn't even surfaced in his mind.

"Don't worry. I'm not planning to fight them here." Not with my current strength at least, nor with a maddened basilisk and an army of goblins surrounding the area. Just as he and Dawn had settled into the vantage point overlooking the battle, the group from Whitehorn did the same, quietly observing the clash between the colossal serpent and the vile spawns with deep exuberance. They were clearly scheming to extract every possible benefit from the predicament.

After all, a basilisk was a draconic creature, its core unique, not to mention the scales that could be used to make quality artifacts.

"It could become troublesome," Dawn continued, having the same opinion.

"I'd wager they came here with the same objective as us, to steal the Goblin Shamans' staffs, or anything else valuable they can get their hands on." Hearing her, he couldn't help but wonder where his own group was. Had the guardians finally shown up and taken everyone out of the Underground Lair? Were they even looking for him? It had already been two days since he went missing. He let out a forlorn sigh and glanced towards the bracelet on her wrist, the item which had created the veil.

With the shroud of darkness blocking his sight, Ember couldn't peer into the battlefield several hundred metres away. As Dawn had predicted, the conflict showed no signs of ending soon. Unlike him, she had no difficulty observing the battle. Her eyes shone in a silvery radiance as she leaned forward to peer through the veil. More than the battle itself, however, Ember found himself worrying about the presence of the Asaraii Clan.

Even though there had never been a personal grudge between their two groups, they had deliberately driven the enraged basilisk towards them merely on a small conflict of interest. Well, the conflict between their factions had persisted for over a thousand years. Even the younger generations who had no clue what exactly happened in those chaotic times had inherited the grudge. If that wasn't generational hatred, Ember didn't know what was. His thoughts turned to the Huan siblings.

Similarly to the Asarii clan, he had held no conflict with them. There might have been some hostility between their respective clans, but Ember never knew it was big enough that they'd throw him to death's door without any qualms. After all, both of their houses served the same master. Unfortunately, just like the youths of the Asaraii Clan, they too seemed to have inherited that animosity towards the Blackstones. Ember refused to believe they had acted solely for their own survival.

"Looks like the basilisk is trying to retreat," Dawn remarked after some time, a slight frown forming between her brows.

"Your friends are going after it." Ember immediately straightened.

"Should we follow as well?"

"We should," she answered before correcting herself.

"What I mean is, I should. You stay here."

"But—""You'll only slow me down," she said calmly.

"Besides, I'm just going to skulk around and see if I can steal one of those staff." Ember still wasn't willing to let her go alone. Whatever she said about him might be true, that he would only be a burden against the basilisk or the Asaraii Clan. Still, it didn't sit well with him to let her take such risks for his sake.

"Let's withdraw for now," he proposed.

"I only need one more spell. I learned five in a day. What's one more?" Dawn smiled, the dimple appearing on her cheek.

"Don't be foolish." She patted his shoulder, removed the bracelet from her wrist, and handed it to him.

"Like I said, I'm not planning to fight anyone. Use this while I'm gone and keep practising." Before Ember could protest any further, her figure slipped through the veil and faded into the gloomy darkness.

"Let me come with you!" He called after her. There was no response. For a brief moment, Ember considered chasing after her. After hesitating for a moment, he shook his head. Whether he liked it or not, Dawn was right. He would only make things more difficult for her. He might have learned a few spells in a short time, but the fact remained unchanged. Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. He was still too weak.

His struggle against the basilisk had proven that. Hell, even against that assassin, he could only buy her a moment, putting his body on the line. Unknowingly, he clenched his fists, biting down on his lower lip. Unfortunately, there were no shortcuts. If there were, they weren't available to him. Only by grinding his skills, mana, and racial tier tirelessly would he gain enough strength to confront opponents like those. Taking several slow, deliberate breaths, Ember calmed himself.

He settled into a meditative posture and resumed cultivating his Mind Mana. His upgraded Walking Meditation made entering a flow state significantly easier. Not only that, he found it far easier to maintain inner calm, to the point where he no longer relied so heavily upon Mind Wall to suppress his emotions. However, the true magic of Walking Meditation lay in more strenuous activity like combat, movement skills, and such. Hence the walking part.

He hadn't fought enough battles since upgrading the skill to notice how much it affected his combat. Which was to say, it did little to improve his Mind Attunement beyond allowing him to focus more.

"I guess I need to suffer a bit more mental trauma for mind attunement," he muttered. After all, he had awakened the attunement under extreme mental strain. Looking back, every noticeable spike he had gotten on the percentage occurred during moments when horrifying monsters surrounded him or when he was mentally stressed. At first, he had believed it was simply gradual growth. Now, he wasn't so certain. If that were true, Mind was certainly not a healthy Attunement. Well, health is overrated anyway.

Dawn still hadn't returned by the time he had recovered enough Mind Mana to continue experimenting. With the shadow veil surrounding him, he couldn't perceive much of anything. He could only experience the tremors running down the earth and the raucous disturbance the packs of goblins were causing. Shaking away the thought, Ember returned his attention to the bracelet she had entrusted to him. Once again, he formed three strands of Mind Mana and guided them into the artifact.

He allowed the mana to permeate every part of the silver bracelet, paying particular attention to the purple gemstone embedded at its centre. Whatever runes lay within the item were hidden behind an intricate layer of camouflage, preventing him from uncovering their secrets. Even so, he managed to perceive a faint outline of the shadowy power resonating throughout the Rune formation. Ember meditated upon every sensation he got as feedback.

With eyes closed, a cool feeling spread through his consciousness as he focused upon the temperature his Mind Mana perceived. As he moved his attention towards the gemstone exuding the shadowy wisps, an uncanny sensation spread across his thoughts. He couldn't quite place it. The longer he observed, however, the more suffocating the feeling became. Still, he endured, forcing himself through sheer willpower. To his dismay, he gained nothing further and had to shift his attention elsewhere.

This time, he examined the bronze bracelet around his own wrist. Compared to Dawn's, this one felt warmer beneath the touch of his Mind Mana. He could study the runes far more clearly than he ever could with his mana sense alone. Moreover, Dawn hadn't hidden the runes she had engraved into it when she repaired it. Beyond the mana itself, however, he sensed something else woven into the runes. A mana signature of some form. A lingering Will, that made the runes what they were.

Whenever his strands of mana touched the engravings, the residual will instinctively repelled it. Curiously, the bracelet seemed to grow warmer the longer he continued his inspection. Unfortunately, his little reservoir of Mind Mana was exhausted before he could continue further study. Ember gritted his teeth and pressed on. He would hold on for another moment, to stress his mind if not to gain something. A sharp pain suddenly impaled his skull.

"Bloody hell!" He wiped a bead of sweat from his forehead. [Walking Meditation (Iron) Lv. 1 → Lv. 2] [+200 EP]"At least I got something..." To his surprise, it wasn't the end of the notification. [Spell Learned: Sensate (Tier 1)] A line formed between his brows. It wasn't Analyse, as he had hoped, but... Ember didn't care anymore as more notifications flashed on his face. [Congratulations! You have fulfilled the requirements for a Title.] [Title Acquired: Magic Apprentice] [+3 Skill Slots per Mana Foundation Tier] Like the phrase, a mantis stalks the cicada unaware of the oriole behind, the goblins were oblivious of the group of young hunters trailing them while they raged their assault on the retreating basilisk. Dawn maintained a good 100 metres from the youths of the Asaraii clan. With the disturbance the basilisk and the goblins were making, she wouldn't even need to use her high perception to find their track.

She shifted from one spot to another, each step carrying her over a dozen metres, hardly causing a disturbance.

For how long the goblins were taking to finish off the basilisk, she even considered lending them a hand. She had already been trailing them for quite some time, covering a couple of miles. Given how far the great serpent had fallen, she wouldn't even need to activate her bloodline to end it. It was certainly tempting, considering a dead basilisk was worth its weight in gold.

If its demon core were of any use in cultivating an attunement for the new minion/apprentice she had unexpectedly taken, she might have gone through with it. Sadly, the core was highly incompatible with a human. Not to mention, it could be too high a level for her protégé. Ember's natural magic aptitude didn't seem high. That was an understatement. From what she could peer, it was only average. However, the boy was extremely sharp. He definitely hadn't slacked off in his practice.

Dawn had thought about sending him on his way after she had given him a primer on a few spells. She certainly hadn't imagined him picking up the spells right off the bat. For someone at Tier 5, his Will application was quite remarkable and could even be comparable to a mageling at Tier 7. Hell, most ascendants couldn't even grasp their Will properly before reaching the silver tier. The corner of her lips twitched as she remembered what he had told her when she asked about it.

"I make two robust hands with my Will and clutch into my mana like I'm catching a mudskipper." As if that metaphor made any sense, but she understood what he was getting at. Ember had such a profound understanding of his Will that he could manipulate it as he liked. The only thing he lacked was more of it. Well, he might have a skill for it, she thought, which was no less remarkable for someone of his tier. Of course, she hadn't told him all that, much less praised him, lest he get a big head.

Dawn knew too many youths far more talented than him barely rising to half of their potential because they grew up learning the world was theirs for the taking. Ember's talent lay in his single-minded focus and that obsession he had with mana. He also seemed to lack critical knowledge on the subject. I have to do something about that before I leave. If only she had some of her notes on her person. If not that, she could always point him in the right direction.

So far, she had done exactly that, and it had worked remarkably. Then again, he mentioned admitting him into a local academy. He shouldn't have a problem getting the knowledge he required from there. Currently, the most important thing for him was a couple more attunements. Dawn was going to give him exactly that.