Chương 114: B2 Chapter 33

Hakon was given a mission, but before he could move out with the others, it was necessary to rest a little longer. Recovery was of the essence. For the others, that is. They had to take a breather and consolidate their gains. At the same time, he did not want to give himself that luxury. Not when he finally found a clue regarding [Spirit Forging]. The first time he used the Skill, it knocked him out cold.

He had been unconscious for several nights and in pain that couldn't be healed even with [Natural Regeneration]. It had been a mess, one that resurfaced as soon as he used the Skill again. His spirit form unraveled when he activated [Spirit Forging], and he had to deactivate the Skill after a moment. Pain flared in his chest and raced down his body, but again, [Vitality Stream] did not heal him. The passive Skill's warmth didn't reach the pain to mend it. Instead, it was [Adaptive Resilience] that helped him.

"That is weird." He called out to himself, seated cross-legged on his bed.

"Why does it hurt so much?" Pain was weakness leaving the body. It was acceptable, yet Hakon would much rather know his weakness before it left his body. How else was he supposed to turn his weakness into a strength? It did not take long before the pain faded, and he activated [Spirit Forging] again. But this time his eyes were closed, and his focus was on the spirit form. The spirit energy is different.

Enhanced Comprehension picked up a faint shimmer of spirit energy, though it was weirdly difficult to sense and impossible to grasp. Hakon tried to reach out to it with his mind, but it slipped through unaffected. No matter how often he tried, the same scenery unfolded before him. And the longer he maintained [Spirit Forging], the more his spirit form unraveled. All except for the strand leading away from the Barbarian-like shape. That was his connection to Ulfar.

It was frail and looked like it was on the verge of falling apart. But as curious as the sight before him was, it didn't feel right. The unraveling, not the strand of [Ruler's Authority]. Did he need another Level to use [Spirit Forging] properly? Maybe [Spirit Forging] could only be used at the 3rd Ascension. No. Hakon shook his head. That didn't feel right either. The Skill had been truly dangerous when he first used it, and now he could activate it without facing any serious consequences.

Sure, it hurt, but pain was more than acceptable. As long as it stayed at pain. Enhanced Comprehension prompted Hakon. It urged him in several directions that felt illogical. Some suggestions made him wonder if they weren't the opposite of what he wanted to achieve or opposed to one another. Alas, it was not like he had much of a choice. He didn't understand enough of [Spirit Forging] to avoid researching. Experimenting. The Ancient Power worked on fumes as he activated it for the third time in quick succession.

The result was ever-increasing pressure. At first, it was easier to endure than the first two times, likely owing to [Adaptive Resilience] working wonders, but that changed within a few heartbeats as well. The pressure intensified enough to turn into what Hakon could only describe as spirit-burning pain. Still, even as his spirit form unraveled once more, nothing really changed. The Skill didn't do anything. Confused rather than frustrated, Hakon released his grasp of the Skill.

"Do I have to use the Blood Vial with [Spirit Forging] to make it work?" [Spirit Forging] had reacted to the Blood Vial, which could only mean that there was some sort of connection. Hakon experimented a little bit more. He used [Spirit Forging] a total of ten times. Each attempt required him to rest a little bit longer; however, the attempts also lasted longer. It was hard to see this as a victory, but something was changing.

There were some improvements even if the Skill did not do anything to him, nor did it gain a Level. Exhaustion consumed his mind and body, and his spirit, or whatever [Spirit Forging] tormented when active, but with Enhanced Comprehension active at all times, Hakon did learn a thing or two. First things first, [Spirit Forging] affected his spirit form. It was not obvious, nor was Hakon certain about the amount, but the Skill also used his weaves' spirit energy.

How much energy was being used was still unclear, but the spirit energy produced by his Skills was being pushed into his spirit form. The exact effect was still unclear, but something was somehow affected. [Spirit Forging] could technically use the energy to refine the spirit form. But that was more guesswork than fact, and even if it was any different, it was hard to tell how that would change anything. Maybe I have to use Behemoth Blood with spirit energy to do something?

His mind pedaled back to the same result as earlier, but what then? Would his spirit form expand if he refined it? Was that all?

"I won't do that." He shook his head. The Blood Vial was valuable, but it was just as dangerous. Ulfar fell victim to his Ancient Power, and Hakon did not want to become its next victim. He was not scared of the Behemoth Blood; however, he respected it enough to know that now was not the time to consume the droplet. He had to understand more about [Spirit Forging] before he could take that risk. If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

It took the rest of the day and most of the night of resting, eating, and using [Spirit Forging] as long as his spirit could handle to achieve something. Hakon could maintain the spirit form for no less than 100 heartbeats now, inducing a change of some sort. The spirit form did not unravel, but its shape no longer looked like Hakon. It twisted and distorted, and it sucked the spirit energy out of the weaves, forming a swirling vortex of some sort.

For a moment, the vortex resembled a Fracture portal, but that resemblance disappeared as quickly as it appeared in his mind. The energy within the weaves flowed toward the vortex, which opened up to form an… image? Enhanced Comprehension screamed at Hakon. It told him that whatever he was doing was wrong and possibly dangerous. Pain flared up once again, and this time it was augmented by the sense of wrongness of his Ancient Power. It was almost like he did something [Spirit Forging] was never supposed to do.

Yet, now that it was happening, Hakon leaned into it, and Enhanced Comprehension caved in and guided him rather than leaving him to cripple himself. The sense of wrongness grew stronger, but rather than making the pain in his head and heart worse, it pulled him in a direction that did not feel wrong. It helped him comprehend what was going on and what the blurry image forming within the vortex was. A tribe… No, whatever he was looking at was not a tribe. At least, it did not appear like the tribes he knew.

Before he understood what he was looking at, Hakon thought it was a tribe. Then it looked like a mountain that refused to make sense. But it was too even and polished to have been shaped by wind or rain. He stood atop a hill covered in white powder – or was that a low-hanging cloud? – and stared down at something that did not make any sense. His eyes were narrowed in a failed attempt to see more clearly, while his instincts urged caution. Nothing in the dark forest looked like that odd mountain. Stones.

That was what he saw. A lot of them. Not scattered boulders, but thousands upon thousands of blocks, each cut into nearly identical shapes. Walls made of those identical stones had been stacked with impossible precision, and they rivaled ancient cliffs, each section fitting so neatly that he could barely distinguish where one stone ended and another began. But maybe that too was the image's fault. It was simply too unclear to determine much, and it only became more unclear as time pressed on.

With every heartbeat, Hakon's vision grew a little worse. So did the pain. Nonetheless, it was impossible to look away as the huts placed beyond the stone wall caught his attention. The huts were just as neatly built of polished stone, but there was more to it than Hakon first realized. Enhanced Comprehension helped him understand that he was not looking at huts in the first place.

Unlike the sprawling tribeholds of the Barbarians, where every hut found its place naturally over generations, the unique structures from that image were polished and placed with purpose. Everything built across the tribehold, because that was what it had to be, had been built with a plan in mind. And the more he looked at it, the more stone there was. The unique huts' roofs varied in color, but beneath them all rested sturdy walls of fitted stone or carefully placed wooden logs. Even the ground looked different.

The road was not covered in mud or dried blood. Gray paths crossed the tribehold in deliberate patterns. Every street – there were more than the two pathways he was used to – split into even smaller roads before joining larger avenues once more, weaving through the tribehold like rivers of stone. Massive. At last, Hakon realized that the tribehold of the image was nothing like Tribe Taskur. It was so much more, and it could house thousands of his kind, if not more.

But instead of Barbarians, Hakon saw smaller, much frailer creatures. He did not pay much heed to them at first, but as the pain of his spirit and head grew less and less bearable, he saw them too.

"Humans." He mouthed to himself, eyes squinted in pain. Was that what Ava had mentioned? An Academy? No, that was something else. A settlement… a town or city. Was that what he was looking at? Hakon was not sure, but he did not have much time to study everything. He also failed to understand why he was seeing that image. All he saw before [Spirit Forging] finally deactivated was silver hair. While everything else was unclear and difficult to decipher, the silver hair was clear as day.

And the face belonging to it was blank. Why can't I see? I should be able to see. I should know. He screamed in his head, but before the thought could settle, the world around him went dark. The next thing he remembered was waking up in his bed, his face covered in sticky blood. His head hurt as if Ulfar had come back from the dead to smash it several times with his mace, and his spirit had been ripped to shreds. At least, that was how it felt as he entered his spirit form.

His weaves' spirit energy was still empty, though he could feel them starting to recover, but the pain of overextending his spirit was still there. It was excruciating, and he deserved every heartbeat of it.

"Worth it." He groaned and glanced at his Scripture. [Spirit Forging Lv. 1 → Lv. 2] It wasn't much, but if there was one thing Hakon learned, then it was that Skills, no matter what kind, grew more powerful as their Level increased. To be precise, the Ancestors strengthened the Skills as their Level improved, providing boons that were not provided if the Skill hadn't been rewarded previously.

And that led Hakon back to yet another conclusion: the Ancestors did not necessarily decide if he was worthy of a specific Skill. However, even if they did not decide such a matter, they tested him and his people to see if they knew enough about a Skill to be deserving of it. They also provided additional boons the further a warrior understood a specific Skill. Hakon could conjure mana bolts without any Skills. However, by conjuring [Mana Bolt] with the Skill, it was much stronger and drained much less mana.

The stronger the Skill, [Arcane Manifestation] being much greater than [Mana Bolt], the greater the boost in power. All of that was something Hakon had understood before, but now it made so much more sense. What did not make sense, on the other hand, was the vision manifested through [Spirit Forging]. Hakon did not doubt the vision. But he was curious about that silver-haired woman. Woman? He hadn't seen her face, but she was a woman, probably. And she was important, somehow, though he didn't know how.

All he knew was that he saw a woman in a human settlement, and the reason behind either eluded him.

"I am mad, like the Shaman." Hakon grumbled, his eyes lingering on [Spirit Forging]'s Scripture.