Chương 97: B2 Chapter 18

Astrid's waist firmly pressed against his as he moved. A waft of her sweet scent hit him square in the chest, stirring Hakon. He was guarded, yet, drenched in sweat, he was reminded of all that happened the night before. Then came the elbow. It came fast and hard, and struck him right in the abdomen. Hakon knew he should have expected this to happen, but instead of sensing the attack, he was hit and buckled over. But Astrid wasn't done yet.

She whirled around and leaped at him with surprising grace, scissoring her legs around Hakon's knees and applying an astronomical amount of strength. His legs caved in and he stumbled to the ground, but he didn't stay idle as Astrid attacked. She was fast, her Runeskin working in tandem with her Ancient Power. Nonetheless, he was faster. A bolt of mana to her head and [Discharge] unleashed into Astrid's legs through his knees changed the tide of battle in an instant.

[Weakness Detection] flared up, which he exploited by stabbing her in the stomach with fingers as stiff as iron as he pulled her away from him. He leaped to his feet as soon as the opportunity arose, but Astrid was faster than him. She stood there, crimson energy oozing from her fingers, elongating them, transforming them into something akin to talons. A half-crazed, half-exhilarated smile bloomed on her lips as she attacked, but a firmly compressed [Mana Shield] was enough to stop the attack dead in its tracks.

Hakon was about to use [Accelerate] when he stopped himself. [Swiftstep] and [Accelerate] would have been more than enough to end their spar, but that wasn't possible. To use his Will again, he needed to recover a little more, for he barely got any sleep the night before. It was stupid, and he knew he should have slept, but staying awake empowered [Adaptive Resilience].

Remaining awake was exactly what he needed to improve the passive Skill, just like sustaining more and more grievous wounds strengthened [Vitality Stream]. Astrid let out a snarl and slashed the [Mana Shield] again. This time the construct fizzled out and she pushed ahead, only to find herself facing a dazzling light. The Blood Fury warrior snapped her eyes shut but continued to barge ahead.

She closed the distance, twisted her way out of the trajectory of a [Mana Bolt] coming her way, and would have attacked Hakon if he hadn't struck first. He crossed into Astrid's range of attack with [Bash] to stun her momentarily. It lasted for a heartbeat, and that was all it took to grasp one arm, whirl around, and summon his strength to throw his mate over his shoulder. Astrid let out a yelp, reasserted herself mid-air, and landed on her feet rather than her back or butt.

Yet, before she could retaliate, half a dozen pointy mana structures materialized around her, pressing against her heart and neck. At the same time, an azure-blue warhammer coalesced in Hakon's free hand, raised and ready to crash down and crush heads.

"You…won…" Astrid surrendered through gritted teeth. Her chest heaved heavily, while the mana circulating through her grew scarcer with every breath.

"You fight well." Hakon released his mate with a smile.

"No wonder the Ancestors rewarded you with a legendary Power." Astrid looked up to level a glare at him.

"They should have given you a legendary Ancient Power as well." He could only shrug at that.

"Enhanced Comprehension is exactly what I need." That was the truth. Something like Behemoth Blood or Blood Fury would have been great, but the Mind turned out perfect for him. The Ancestors chose well for him. Without the Mind, I wouldn't be this strong. As frustrating as that sounded, it was likely true. Hakon would have given everything to be strong and acquire the power deserving of the tribe's Successor, but it would be different.

Not necessarily much weaker, though he highly doubted he would have acquired this many Skills so quickly. Or that he would have upgraded and fused them within one or two moons. And that did not even include his understanding of Magic or the Will of Momentum.

"What do you say?" Hakon looked to his right to see a pale Ava standing at the edge of the training ground.

"Do you think Enhanced Comprehension is the right Ancient Power for me, or do you think a legendary Power would have been better?" Ava gaped and paled even further, which Hakon didn't think to be possible. She glanced warily at Astrid, who glared at Hakon, but answered anyway.

"I… don't know. Honestly, your 'Ancient Powers' are still a mystery to me. While they do feel similar to the Traits and Blessings some humans obtain during the Awakening, they're different. We do assign Traits and Blessings grades to rank them, but your people clearly think differently about them. For your kind, even the weakest Beast Blessing or Bloodline – Bloodbearer, I think you call them – are more important than rare Magic Traits such as Eren's. Your Lightcaller or...

I think they were called Rootkeeper, would be held in much higher esteem in the Alliance. Over here…" This novel's true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.

"Here, power is all that matters." Astrid interrupted Ava and finished her sentence. She glared at the human woman and stepped closer, eyes narrowed, bloodlust seeping out of her. Hakon was about to intervene, but a death glare from his mate stopped him.

"What are you doing here?" Astrid asked, closing the distance to Ava in an instant. What followed was something Hakon could only describe as 'odd'. Their lips moved, yet even as he tried to listen to the conversation that ensued, or even read their lips, gibberish was all that filled his head. But it was not all bad. Astrid's irritation diminished greatly as their conversation went on for many heartbeats, and, once done, the two of them returned to him together.

"The human is helping you?" Astrid asked him, though it sounded more like an accusation.

"I traded her freedom for her help." Hakon nodded before elaborating on the situation. He explained that Ava had asked for her freedom in exchange for helping him with a problem he had. Astrid's frown deepened at that, but she nodded when he explained that Ava was a Mage Apprentice as well as what exactly that meant.

"You could have asked Eric for help," she muttered in retaliation, but it was a weak argument.

"No?" He cocked an eyebrow.

"I've been helping Eric. He is better at controlling light and receives more help as a Lightcaller, but he does not know how to replenish mana quickly, and his mana control is nowhere near good enough either. He doesn't even circulate mana through his pathways but around them, just like everyone else."

"Except the humans." Astrid added, which was confirmed with a nod.

"They know more about mana and magic than all of Tribe Taskur. If the Shaman had been with us, I would have asked him, but since he wasn't, I took matters into my own hands." Hakon shrugged.

"And your father allowed that? To free her?" Astrid didn't seem convinced.

"He agreed easily enough. He said that my rise and growth will be part of his Saga, so removing a weak human or two from his Saga won't bother him." He actually smiled at that. Ava may not see it like that, but his father surrendering one of his war trophies to nurture his son's growth was heartwarming. It meant a lot more than the little Mage Apprentice seemed to realize.

"And since then she taught you about mana? Not Lifeblood?" That part was a little more confusing. Hakon didn't understand it fully himself… yet.

"I wield both. Or will, once I can create Lifeblood. That part, and a lot of others, I'm still figuring out," he said truthfully, earning him another frown.

"You should ask your mother about 'Wills' and how they're related to Lifeblood." Ava too seemed curious when Hakon mentioned Wills. She regarded him for a moment before turning to Astrid to explain the situation once more. His mate looked even more confused, but that mostly revolved around the part where Ava mentioned that she too was being trained by Hakon. That they taught each other and that there was nothing to worry about.

"You help her with [Circulation]?!" Astrid hissed, her cheeks turning red in… was that anger?

"You promised to help me!"

"I…" Hakon didn't dare utter another word, feeling like he'd charged straight into a trap.

"I can help you both. I owe Ava for helping me with [Aether Spiral] and a lot more, so I will keep training her. As for you, I do that because you are mine." This time it was Ava who frowned at Hakon, mostly about the last bit, while Astrid did the opposite. She smiled and planted a kiss on his cheek.

"And you are mine." Ignoring Ava shaking her head in disbelief, the real training began. Hakon didn't have to help Ava much with her mana control. If anything, her [Mana Manipulation] Skill had already been upgraded and further leveled, meaning she should have a much easier time acquiring and upgrading [Flow Control]. That, however, turned out to be the problem. Ava tried to repeat what Hakon did, but the physical strain was much greater than expected, leading to a second problem.

The first and much larger issue were the habits Ava had come to acquire over many cycles. [Mana Manipulation], upgraded and further leveled, helped the human woman a lot, yet it also restricted her in ways that made it increasingly difficult to acquire [Flow Control]. [Circulation] existed to stimulate the body, strengthening it using mana. It was [Flow Control]'s direct upgrade, meaning [Flow Control] required the user to circulate mana through the pathways in a way that stimulated the body.

When Ava tried that, she not only struggled much harder than she should have, it hurt her as well. Solving that issue required time and thorough research, or so Ava said. Hakon did not agree with that. He would have forced her body to adapt by moving his mana through her body, but that was vehemently rejected. Ava blushed at the suggestion and proposed to watch Hakon use [Circulation] instead.

That was how he ended up using [Circulation] at its lowest output for as long as possible, which was nights, as long as he maintained [Aether Spiral] to replenish his mana. Unable to help Ava further until she broke her old habits, Hakon turned to helping Astrid by training her vigorously. Surprisingly enough, his mate had already learned [Flow Control] and improved it by two Levels. So instead of interfering with her training in any way, he only showed her what the upgraded Skill would look like.

To motivate her and drive her to work even harder. I should inspect their movement as well. He reminded himself, not only to improve [Teaching] but also to use the Skill to teach the other Barbarians about [Flow Control] and [Circulation]. Even if it would be cumbersome, [Circulation] would elevate their prowess greatly. It would be the foundation of the new era and elevate Tribe Taskur's power to new heights. If nothing went wrong, it would help him grow further as well.

Using [Mana Manipulation] after it had reached its limit was easy. Improving it, not so much. But that was without Enhanced Comprehension and knowing that [Mana Manipulation] could be upgraded as long as he refined his control manually. At least that was what Ava told him to do if he wanted a linear Skill Upgrade for [Mana Manipulation]. That was not his plan, though that didn't stop him from following her suggestion.

"Are you ready?" Hakon asked, his palm pressed against Astrid's back.

"No?" Astrid grimaced.

"Good. Because this will hurt." As soon as the words left his lips, Hakon pumped mana into his mate's pathways.