Chương 59: Chapter 52

Hakon found himself in a peculiar position. He was awake, but his body wouldn't move, and his eyes wouldn't open. They resisted his call for action after he had spent yet another day and night awake, even though he already felt like shit. But no matter how troublesome the lack of sleep had been, he was more than happy with the result. Staying awake this long had been more than worth it. Plans and promises had been made.

The map, as it turned out, showed the location of several Fractures that the tribehold hadn't known about. Some were in the forbidden lands, others in the lands of the other tribes, but two were actually located in Tribe Taskur's territory. They were well hidden, which the chieftain's people confirmed, all while father and son stayed in the hut planning Tribe Pearot's downfall.

Ten Fractures, labeled with marks and unique symbols, three of which had been crossed out, probably because they had been conquered already. That left seven Fractures intact, offering the perfect opportunity for young warriors to prove themselves. Seven Fractures, each probably being conquered as the chieftain and Hakon spoke, providing the means to gain the Ancestors' favor, to grow their younger generation, but also to collect the valuable minerals that could be found in Fractures.

Hakon hadn't known about that, but his father did, and he told him about all of it in the nights they spent together, leaning over the dirt-smudged map. The chieftain had a lot of guesses regarding the symbols etched around the marks for each of the Fractures, and why Tribe Pearot hadn't closed them yet. They had yet to confirm those guesses, but Hakon was more than ready to do so… as soon as he could move again. That took quite a while.

His eyes snapped open after what felt like an eon, but instead of regaining full control of his body shortly after, Hakon ended up staring at the wooden ceiling for quite a while. His ears perked up at the servants shuffling around the hut, yet he couldn't even call out to them. All he could do was check the Ancient Scripture and Skill improvements. [Fatigue Resistance Lv. 3 → Lv. 5 Natural Regeneration Lv. 17 → Lv. 18] Since he couldn't get up to start their plan, he ended up rummaging through his rather extensive Ancient Scripture, which reminded him of a few things he wanted to do. For one, he had to work on his mana constructs. Even though they didn't belong to the traditional ways of the Barbarians, Hakon considered them important. Crucial even, if he could improve his mana Skills enough to manifest all types of weapons. That, among other things, would help him fight in a versatile manner against all types of opponents.

It would also leverage his advantage with [Weapon Mastery]. But the mana constructs could also be manifested further away to conjure shields on the other side of the battlefield to protect his people from surprise attacks or possibly kill enemies from a distance. He'd thrown more than enough daggers and axes to know he could do the same with the equivalent made of mana. Thinking of the fight against the Pearot Barbarians, Hakon was reminded that he'd conjured and released constructs with bursts of mana before.

If he could leverage that, it would allow him to deal with a herd of Terror Deer alone. Easily at that. But the mana constructs were only one of many things he wanted to do in the next few moons. He also had a Skill Fusion to complete and a few Skills to upgrade if possible. That, as well as gaining a few more useful Skills, was quite crucial. Acquiring Skills… Hakon grimaced, his mind pedaling back to the constructs. His Ancient Power was going crazy whenever he conjured something made of mana.

Enhanced Comprehension clearly wanted something from him. It wanted him to do something specific, and Hakon had yet to fully grasp what it was. There was only one thing he was relatively certain about, and even that was only because his Power had tingled in the back of his mind when he got close to it. He didn't acquire the Skill at that time, but the sensation was still there. Thus, unable to move his body, Hakon tried something else. He reached out to his mana reserves with his will.

A sphere of mana materialized before him with some difficulty. Pushing it away was even harder, but it worked. The manifestation floated high enough to increase the difficulty of maintaining and manipulating it without making it too challenging to work with. He felt his control improve ever so slightly as he tweaked everything, following the prodding of wrongness from Enhanced Comprehension, but it wasn't long before he realized that 'Mana Control' was not a separate Skill.

[Mana Manipulation] incorporated control, and it improved as Hakon spread out his senses to keep the sphere contained. He infused more mana into the sphere but didn't allow it to grow. If anything, Hakon pushed the sphere inward, condensing it with as much willpower as he could muster. A headache crept up the back of his head, but it was nothing compared to the struggle he went through the last few nights.

Staying awake while both body and mind were on the verge of collapsing from exhaustion ought to be more challenging than pressing a little bit of mana together. If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. That was exactly what he did for a long time. At some point, his body responded to him once more, yet Hakon remained unmoving and fully focused on the sphere before him.

He felt that he was close, but whatever he was conjuring was not firm enough to warrant a message from the Ancestors. A little bit more. Come on, just a little! He chided himself, his mind feeling like it was falling apart. The veins at his temples were on the verge of bursting. However, the mana sphere levitating above him kept shrinking. It grew unstable and erupted outward, growing in size once more, yet it did not fall apart. Hakon barely managed to contain it before starting anew.

At last, sometime after midday, the head-sized sphere transformed into a much smaller sphere the size of a fist, all while holding on to more than three times the amount of mana. [Mana Manipulation Lv. 10 → Lv. 13 Compression (New) Lv. 1] [Compression] was nothing like [Reinforcement], but the sensation from both Skills was somewhat similar. Curious, Hakon tested his new Skill, creating a sphere made of compressed mana.

It cost much more mana to manifest the construct than it would have without [Compression], but there was a physical weight to it. That weight wasn't even as ethereal as it had been with [Reinforcement]. It was just there, and it would not leave him until he deactivated the Skill. Conjuring a construct was relatively expensive, but maintaining it was not. And as soon as he held the sphere in his hands, his mana reserves barely registered any difference.

That changed as soon as he willed the sphere to float around, and it increased exponentially the moment he released it with a burst of mana. The sphere hissed through the air with surprising speed, and even more shocking power as it impacted the ceiling, drilling a hole the size of his pinky's fingernail before fading. The sphere's power caught his attention. He leaped to his feet and inspected the damage for a moment before rushing straight to the backyard.

His father was nowhere to be seen, and neither were the servants, but that was expected from their ghostly nature. Once in the backyard, Hakon studied a series of training dummies that hadn't been there before. They were equipped with white plated armor, the kind he had never seen before. That made him stop in his tracks. The armor pieces were way too small to be worn by a Barbarian. Maybe if they were smaller and not as wide, it would fit somehow, but there was no Barbarian like that.

His enhanced senses perked up, and his head yanked toward the ghostly servants. They stared at the armor in a mixture of emotions. Some appeared afraid of what the armor signified rather than the piece of metal, whereas others appeared almost angry, scared shitless, and… curious? Ignoring the servants, Hakon turned to one of the dummies. He conjured a compressed sphere with some difficulty and pointed at his target before releasing it. Alas, his first projectile didn't quite hit the target.

It crossed the first few meters easily enough with the same speed he had seen earlier, but it didn't take long before the projectile plummeted to the ground. An annoyed grunt and some curses later, Hakon tried again – from up closer. He wasn't too far from the target now and released the first projectile. When it hit where he wanted it to hit, he stepped back and tried again. He repeated that for quite a while, until his mind drifted back to his last fight.

To the fight where his constructs had failed not only to harm his enemies but also to protect his people. That said, he materialized a mana shield. He pumped it full of mana before compressing it as much as he could. When the shield was only the size of his fist, he nearly lost control of it, but by using [Reinforcement], he managed to stabilize the torrents of mana within the construct temporarily. A few heartbeats were all Hakon needed to get hold of a few bone daggers to throw lightly at the shield.

The first try started off with a success. His bone dagger whirled through the air and struck the mana shield, and instead of piercing through it, the dagger was repelled. Excited, Hakon threw the second dagger a little harder, cutting through [Reinforcement]'s layer effortlessly. As soon as the layer dispersed, the mana shield burst apart.

"Again," he grunted to himself, conjuring yet another shield. This time, he did not compress it as much as the first time. It was probably not necessary, but [Reinforcement] was invoked nonetheless. What followed was a series of daggers thrown at a magical shield floating a few meters in front of Hakon. And it prevailed, as long as he didn't throw too hard. While that was not perfect, it was a good start.

"Magic?" Hakon heard a feeble voice to his right, and he didn't even have to turn to know that it was one of the servants.

"Since when can these brutes use magic?" a second voice, gruff and belonging to the older male servant, asked in shock.

"So crude. No ounce of delicacy. Just raw, brute force…" the third servant of the trio that had watched the white armored dummies before said quietly.

"These brutes even destroy the magic's beauty." Hakon narrowed his eyes at the last comment. He felt like spinning around and glaring at them, but that wouldn't help anyone. If anything, it might make matters worse the more he thought about it. The servants never really talked much in his or his father's presence. If anything, they tried to avoid them as much as possible. But now they were chatting nearby, close enough for him to hear. Magic. Is that what I'm doing? Wait… they know what that is?

Hakon thought about it for a moment, his lips curling into a smile. If the human servants knew what he was doing, they could surely help him. Not knowingly, of course. They wouldn't help him grow stronger even if he threatened them–not that he planned to dishonor his father's trophies like that in the first place. Still… As long as they didn't know he was listening, they would continue to talk about magic. And, listening to them, he could improve further. Potentially. Probably. It was certainly worth a try.