Chương 61: Chapter 54

At first, the young woman was hesitant. That was odd. If she was not okay with helping him, the servant shouldn't have made the offer. Maybe she did not expect Hakon to agree this easily to her request for freedom, but was it really that much of a problem? It took the other two servants, whose names Hakon never learned, to bump into her and call her name, which was how he learned her name was Ava, for her to regain her senses. Then again, she looked like she didn't trust Hakon.

That was both understandable and not at the same time. It wasn't like he had ever stooped so low as to hit the servants. If anything, he barely paid attention to them most of the time. Since they were his father's spoils of war, they ought to be treated respectfully, and that was exactly what Hakon did. Not everyone behaved accordingly, but the chieftain made sure to punish those who disrespected the Ancestors. One way or another, Ava met Hakon in the backyard.

She avoided his eyes, and her voice was barely a whisper in his ear, but he listened to her even if his mind told him to dismiss the voice of those too weak and frail to stand up for themselves. The young woman looked too fragile, too afraid, to be of any use. However, Hakon crushed the doubts coalescing in his mind whenever they rose to distract him. The humans' beliefs were laughable, if not outright wrong, but that was of no importance at this moment.

They were clearly more experienced in the way of mana, magic or whatever, and they could help him in ways no Barbarian could. Other than the Shaman, probably, yet it was not like anyone really knew the paths the Shaman trod. He was wherever the Ancestors wanted him to be. As for his talk with the chieftain regarding the deal he struck with the young servant, that was an issue for later. In the worst case, he would have to pay the price.

That thought made him shudder inwardly, but he was determined to try anyway, as long as Ava's help was worthwhile.

"M-Meditation…" Ava muttered quietly, looking up momentarily, only to cast her gaze down to the ground once again.

"[Mana Meditation]. D-do you know what that is?"

"Meditation? Never heard of it." Hakon spoke truthfully, trying hard not to sound snarky. Keeping his emotions under tight control, he tried to accept that the human woman, while being scared, weak and pathetic at times, could help him grow stronger. That she was a worthy teacher. That… turned out a little difficult when the words coming out of her mouth were swallowed by the rustling tree nearby.

"Repeat that. The tree's rustling was louder than your voice." He grunted, taking deep breaths when Ava flinched. He tuned out the noises around him and activated [Sensory Expansion] while focusing solely on the fragile human.

"M-Mana Meditation is a Skill, f-for some, b-but many use it as a practice. A technique to train their attention and awareness to achieve a calm, focused, and clear state of mind. It… it should help you let go of your thoughts jumping around and to observe your mind, slow your thoughts, and focus on yourself and the surroundings to sense your Core, pathways, and the streams of mana around you." Hakon considered learning the Skill of meditation right away.

Not to sense his body or surroundings, but to gain better control of his emotions. He was much better at that than most Barbarians, but Ava made him feel like he was an angry, little fledgling.

"I already know about pathways. They're the tunnels that spread through the entire body like a cobweb, right? The Ancestors told me about them when I cleansed them. So, you humans know what pathways are." Hakon spoke up when the young woman stopped speaking.

"Do you cleanse them as well? If so, do you know the Skills [Flow Control] or [Circulation]?" The older servant back in the hut gasped and called out something unintelligible, but he was more focused on Ava's reaction. She looked up, her eyes wide, but quickly turned away when they made eye contact. Ignoring her weird antics, Hakon waited until she nodded slowly.

"Do all humans know about those Skills? Is that what you call magic?" he inquired curiously, his frustration forgotten when she shook her head at the first question. Does that mean they're special? Hakon wondered, glancing up to stare at the older servant and the others, sensing that they all had heard about [Circulation] and [Flow Control]. They may have been impressed with his improvement of 'magic' or his [Mana Sense]'s Level, but that was mostly because he was a Barbarian, wasn't it?

For he was a brute who shouldn't be learning all those Skills… right? Rummaging through his mind and memories for a bit, he recalled that Ava and the others belonged to an army. Ava didn't look old, but she had always looked like this, even when he was still wet behind the ears. Maybe that was a human thing, or he was simply too bad at guessing a human's age. All he knew for sure was that the old man was old and that Ava had to be a little older than he was.

And that they had all been part of the humans attacking Tribe Taskur and the surrounding tribes. They were the only survivors, but did that really mean they were weak? Yeah, it did. They were weak. However, being weak didn't mean they were useless. Just like awakening the Ancient Power of the Mind or Lightcaller did not necessarily mean one couldn't be a true warrior. It was just… different. Were they warriors? No, probably not. Lightcallers, maybe? Or Earthcallers?

Hakon doubted they were powerful wielders of elements, but if they had been taught in the ways of mana, which appeared to be special even among humans, then that meant all servants of the tribe could be helpful. Probably. If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it. He had to ask her again if all humans learned [Mana Sense] and similar Skills to satiate his curiosity. She hesitated at first but shook her head, which did the opposite of what he wanted.

Growing more curious instead, Hakon asked a few more questions. He conjured a [Mana Bolt] and [Mana Shield] simultaneously and asked if many humans could do that and if their [Mana Sense] was at the same Level or higher than his. To that, she shook her head vehemently, though her eyes grew wider.

"Effortless." He heard one of the other servants mutter back in the hut. It could have been the old man, but Hakon couldn't be bothered to find out.

"Can you do that?" Ava hesitated again but nodded after a while, her gaze still locked onto a bushel of grass before her. Turning to the others and trying to gauge if they too were wielders of elements turned out to be rather difficult. Some servants were watching out of curiosity rather than fear, but their expressions didn't change much when he looked their way.

If anything, they grew more curious about him, surely wondering why he bothered talking to them when every other Barbarian ignored them or stared at their smaller frames with disdain.

"If you and the others can do similar things, why did you never try to flee?" Hakon inquired, guessing that Ava was not the only capable servant. He found himself respecting her a little more, which promptly faded when she began to shake violently. She, too, had been present when the chieftain returned with the servants who had tried to flee in the past. In fact, they had all been present when Hakon's father made an example of what would happen if anyone else were to flee.

Those who survived long enough to be dragged back into the tribehold were killed in front of the entire tribe, their souls and bodies sacrificed to the Ancestors. Even if she and some others were somewhat capable, they were still too weak to survive the chieftain's pursuit. That, if nothing else, was understandable. Nobody could escape the chieftain's wrath. With that in mind, Hakon turned back to the topic at hand.

"Anyway, what was this about a Core? Is that what the mana mass is called?" He pointed at himself, roughly above the section where the mass of mana was located. It was nothing more than a guess, but considering that he knew what mana streams and pathways were, it didn't seem too far off.

"Y-yes, you are right. The Core is the body's vessel for the realm's mythical energy." Ava forced a faint smile, but it cracked as soon as she looked up to meet his eyes. Her eyes quivered, but she didn't look away immediately.

"Good to know," Hakon mused to himself.

"But why do I need that? I can sense my Core and the pathways. Even without using mana to empower [Mana Sense], I can sense the mana around us. Activating the Skill makes it even easier. Do I really need this 'Mana Meditation'?" Ava struggled to come up with an answer. She maintained eye contact, but now that she could lift her head to meet Hakon's eyes, the words were stuck in her throat.

"Whatever. Show me what this meditation is about, and I'll figure out if it will be useful to me." He waved dismissively and sat down, following Ava's instructions once she regained her composure somewhat. First things first, Hakon had to learn how to breathe. That was the first hurdle, one that he fortunately solved with his Ancient Power. Ava's stammering voice rang in his ears, telling him to relax his shoulders, to keep his back straight but not stiff, and to "notice" his breathing.

The hesitation in her voice soon faded as Hakon closed his eyes, trying to follow the instructions given. Focusing on his breathing, he felt the air move in through his mouth, flow down his throat, and fill his lungs. It was invigorating, prompting him to focus more on his perception Skills. Ava must have noticed that because she told him not to use any other Skills and to focus on the mana he was breathing in. So that's what I'm doing? I'm breathing mana?

His chest rose and fell slowly, which felt unnatural at first, but quickly transformed into a practiced movement. He switched to inhaling deeply through his nose, taking in as much air as possible before exhaling gently. That, as it turned out, was too brutish, which was confirmed not only by Ava's commentary but also by Enhanced Comprehension. Adjusting his breathing, Hakon kept it smooth and relaxed, his thoughts drained of distractions, his focus lingering on the mana entering his lungs.

That was when he noticed something around his mana mass, or Core as Ava had called it. The few strands of mana he'd recovered since his Mana Meditation practice started swirled through his pathways and entered his Core. There, they flowed around each other, forming a small maelstrom like he had seen with the Fracture. It wasn't the same, considering the storm of mana in his Core was unstable and collapsed as soon as Hakon's concentration faltered, but it returned as soon as he returned to a trance-like state.

The maelstrom grew stronger as more mana joined his Core, accelerating the annexing process of mana. But it did much more than that as well. Hakon sensed the pathways around his Core shift. They stirred as the maelstrom expanded and grew more stable, and it wasn't long until the pathways throughout his body were affected. Not all of them, but the more he focused on meditating, the stronger the vibrations his every breath sent through his body.

As for the mana entering his lungs, it flowed straight into the adjacent pathways, which guided it directly to the Core.

"It works." Hakon's eyes snapped open, startling Ava. She didn't back away this time but looked at him in confusion.

"How are you–""But I don't like this," he interrupted Ava, barely hearing her, and continued when she tilted her head at him.

"Sitting down to recover mana makes no sense. It's wasteful." There was no way he could sit down in the middle of the forest to recover mana. Doing so didn't feel right because it would make him vulnerable and too easy to kill.

"I need to recover mana in combat. Or while moving, at the very least," he muttered to himself more than anyone else. Ava stared at him strangely, almost like he was an idiot. She looked like she had something to say, but the words never left her tongue. So instead of waiting for her to speak, Hakon asked questions in between several sessions of meditation. First with open eyes, then while standing up.

The young servant tried to tell him to learn the Skill first and upgrade it later, which was interesting because it meant that humans were somehow connected to the Ancestors and their Ancient Scriptures as well. There had been hints before, but everything they discussed made it obvious. Humans carried a connection to the Ancient Scriptures as well. But there were differences, the biggest being that they did not believe in the Ancestors.

So how could they gain access to the Ancient Scriptures, learn and improve their Skills, and be rewarded with level-ups? It didn't make any sense, but it was not Hakon's concern to think about. He'd ask the Shaman the next time he saw him. Until then, he would learn magic from the humans, and how to walk around while meditating, or doing something with the same benefits as meditation.