Chương 70: Chapter 71: Goal (II)

Dawn regarded her little protégé. With everything he had told her, she now found no problem calling him a protégé, even by her grandfather's standards. Of course, most of it was still unrealised potential, but with a little guidance, even the pinnacle of Gold Rank wouldn't be a tough outcome for him. Now, that guidance part only put her in a pickle. For the first time since meeting him, Dawn wished there was someone better to guide him than herself.

Although she had learned a fair bit about soul-related skills, she was by no means an expert. Not to mention, soul-related skills could be very personal and work uniquely according to the ascendants. More importantly, she was limited by her tiers. According to her grandfather, the true abilities of soul skills tended to manifest only after reaching Gold, while Silver was barely the threshold for accessing them. Suffice to say, her understanding of souls was only higher than those of her tiers.

It was why she hadn't said a single word to her little apprentice since he disclosed all his accepted and unaccepted skills to her. At first, she was only giving him a few tips to pass the time in this boring place. But now that he had shown such potential, not to mention so much trust in her, she couldn't for the life of her betray his trust. The little fluorescent light construct illuminated his nervous face, waiting for her to begin, though he didn't urge her, allowing her to come to terms with the situation.

"I must admit," she quietly said, "I had not expected this, but you might finally have a faint chance of surpassing me in a couple of centuries." Ember remained silent, only giving her a tight smile.

"Alright then." She rubbed her fingers.

"Before I explain, you must answer a question of mine. And rest assured, I will not divulge your skill tree to anyone. You have my word." He straightened.

"What's your dream?" she asked.

"Um, sorry?"

"Your dream? Don't you have any ambitions or a goal in life?"

"Hmm," Ember hummed, contemplating. Soon a line formed between his brows, and as time passed, his eyebrows furrowed even further. Evidently, he hadn't put much thought into it.

"I'm not sure. I've never thought too deeply. I guess I have a delusion that one day I could wield a great deal of magical power and wouldn't have to care about clan politics. I also want to earn enough money to support my family." He paused, eyeing her as though noting whether there was any judgement in her eyes.

"I guess that's a good starting point." Dawn inclined her head.

"Though I must—""What's your dream?" he interjected. She clicked her tongue at him for interrupting her, but then tilted her head in thought.

"That's a good question," she mumbled.

"I guess mine isn't so different from yours. I want to live as I please." He nodded.

"That's a better way to put it."

"Anyway, perhaps asking for your dream is too broad a question. Let's divide this into the most important thing that will come in the next few years: your trial, or to be more specific, your class ascension. What kind of class do you want to have?" Her little mentee made a face, as though it was another difficult question. Honestly, it was quite outrageous. Boys and girls his age should have been daydreaming about all their classes. Hell, even she had a few of her options chosen beforehand.

"I want something mage-based, obviously," he said after a moment, "though I would still prefer it to have some melee capabilities." You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

"So, a mage-knight hybrid. You mentioned you have gotten your squireship from your dad." Ember allowed himself to nod. He had practically given her his full skill sheets, and now that he had become a magic apprentice, she was sure he would have no problem getting a noble class of mage-knight hybrid once he reached Tier 7 in his race. Of course, there were many other considerations, such as the specifics of the class, its expertise, and so forth, but that was for the System and him to decide.

But if he were to form his soul foundation before then... He certainly has two soul skills related to it, though I fear that he lacks time and opportunities to succeed. Three years are not enough, even for most classed ascendants who have already advanced to Silver. Opening her eyes, she asked again, "How much time do you have before your trial?"

"About three years and a few months."

"How many months?" Ember counted.

"Five." As she imagined, not enough time. Even assuming he could get a good month or two inside the trial, it's still not enough time. It would take a miracle for him to form his soul. Not to mention, he couldn't quite acquire either of his soul skills immediately.

"The way I see it, you have two choices at hand," she finally said.

"Your first choice is, of course, accepting Will Enforcement and making it to Tier 7 as soon as you can. It can be considered as one of the more essential skills for casting and enchantment. Since you have an interest in both, you'll have to acquire Will Enforcement or a similar skill at some point.

"This is certainly the easier path to Silver. And you can also gain a couple of other Silver skills, or a few more Iron skills once you do make it to iron out all your deficiencies before the trial." Ember nodded.

"So, the other path is to save 27 slots and grind my way to Tier 7 so that I can accept one of the Gold skills?"

"This would certainly be the more painstaking path," Dawn acknowledged.

"You can think of it more as a gamble with little to lose. Along with Mana Weaving and Hunting at Iron rank, you will have a fair chance of meeting the required evolution points for Tier 7 in less than three years. Perhaps even in less time, if you can find yourself a good instructor and facilities.

"That will leave you with more or less a year to train the Gold skill. Soul Sense is something every ascendant, most ascendants, awaken at a later stage of their life. With you being only what, 11? It's sufficient to say that you have a high affinity with the skill. There is a good shot you may be able to level up the skill a couple of times in one year. And do I need to remind you how many Evolution points a Gold skill gives?"

"You mean I have a chance of making it to Tier 8?"

"And much more. Simply training the skill will strengthen your soul, and trust me, it will pay dividends in the future." Ember craned his neck.

"But those two soul skills don't seem combat-related. I will likely be weaker for my trial?"

"Yes," she acknowledged.

"But the soul skill will give you more tenacity and a higher chance of survival against odds. You mentioned you got it after being pitted against that basilisk, so you can imagine what would have happened if you hadn't awakened those skills.

"Another thing to note is that something like Soul Sense is essential further down the path. You have to form a soul foundation in the future if you want to reach Gold. Also, having a Gold-rank skill might give you access to some other range of classes that are not available to others." He rested his elbow on his knee with his palm supporting his chin, deep in thought.

"So the question is whether I want quick gain and immediate combat power by accepting Will Enforcement or to play the long game to get a better result in the future."

"More or less."

"And here I thought I would have enough skill slots after gaining the title," he said, bowing his head.

"Even if you acquire Will Enforcement," She hesitated to say, "you shouldn't think that you have missed out on a chance. Will is the confluence of your mind and soul, so even training that skill will be akin to cultivating your soul. Besides, you can still train Soul Sense even without accepting the skill, though you have to be careful; it can be too strenuous."

"I noted as much." He stirred in his seat once again, readjusting his posture too quickly to finally lie down completely on the stone floor.

"I feel like the current me is not ready to think about all this serious stuff." Dawn hid a smile.

"Then it's good that you have time on your hands."

"Yeah, I guess I will leave the future problem to the future me." He sat upright.

"Now that I have nine slots to spare, I should accept Mana Weaving." Exchanging a nod, he carried on with the process as his aura glowed in a radiant emerald. In her Eye of Insight, Dawn could peer deep into his aura and noted two more quick tremors where the luminescence spiked in quick succession, indicating he had two quick gains in Mana Weaving. Ember blinked, surprised at the notification.

"I just got to +3 in Mana Weaving. That only leaves me with,"—he paused, opening his status page to calculate—"only 185 evolution points short of Tier 6."

"That's just one skill gain away from advancement," Dawn commented.

"Let's go."

"Where?" Ember asked, shutting down all the system windows.

"To get that one skill level." I'll change the class ranking system from tiers to: Common, Noble, Lord and Overlord on the revision.