Chương 64: Chapter 56

[Skill [Aether Spiral] has been learned.] [Split Focus] went up by one as well, but [Aether Spiral] was clearly the biggest gain. It took a while to form, but now that the Ancestors accepted Hakon's efforts as worthy, it was ever-present, refilling his mana swiftly. Using the Skill helped him form and maintain a swirl – or a spiral or maelstrom, considering it was nowhere near as feeble as a 'swirl'–within his Core, which helped him absorb and draw in mana swiftly.

Doing so did not cost any mana either, which had been the case with [Circulation]; however, the mental power needed was rather taxing. Enhanced Comprehension helped him a lot in the creation of a Skill with a fairly simple goal: to keep it activated at all times. But while that was the final goal, Hakon didn't think it would come easily. He maintained the Skill and felt the ambient mana flow toward him, seeping into his pores after being attracted by the rippling pathways.

Mana trickled slowly into him, though the effectiveness was nowhere near the level he wanted. But as slowly as mana entered his Core, being able to recover mana while on the move, potentially even mid-combat once using the Skill became second nature to him, was promising.

"I got it." Hakon exhaled deeply. Ava was on her feet and staring at him.

"You are not talking about [Mana Meditation], are you? What did you get?" He didn't respond to her question. Instead, satisfied with her help, Hakon said, "I will talk to my father about your freedom." That said, he left in search of his father. Curiously enough, his father was at the hut, devouring what appeared to be half a grilled Terror Deer. He motioned to the servants, who left in a hurry to return with the other half.

"Sit." The chieftain only said, but Hakon stayed where he was. His stomach growled in defiance; however, it was better to stay on his feet for this conversation, in case his father planned to punch or punish him. He grimaced at that thought but informed his father about his actions and the promise he made to Ava nonetheless. The chieftain looked up from his plate with that particularly displeased look, which nearly made Hakon wince. Yet, against his expectations, the chieftain nodded slowly.

"She can have her freedom." He waved dismissively, like he didn't care, but the look in his eyes told otherwise. Understandable, considering that his son had just deprived him of his spoils of war. They were part of his Saga, meaning that Hakon had ripped out a portion of the chieftain's Saga. Granted, it was only a tiny, very insignificant portion, but that didn't really matter to Barbarians. They did not particularly like anyone or anything that harmed their Saga.

"Are you sure?" Hakon couldn't help but ask.

"If she helped you grow stronger, losing her is acceptable. For you are my blood." The chieftain shrugged, seemingly not minding. And he probably didn't because Ava would die. The moment she regained freedom, hopefully after helping Hakon, she would try to flee. But somone as frail as Ava wouldn't make it through the forest. Its monsters would tear her apart. Maybe she'll stay a little longer. Hakon mused to himself before rooting himself once more.

Being the son of the chieftain, he too was part of his father's Saga. The stronger he was, the more heavily his Saga weighed on his father's. That, if nothing else, was more than enough reason for the chieftain to forfeit his claim of Ava.

"If she leaves, I will not hunt her. The others, I will hunt if they try to leave. But if she does not leave, she has to abide by the laws of the Ancestors and become part of the tribe. As much as such pathetic creatures can be part of the tribe." The chieftain grunted.

"She will be your responsibility. Whether she does good or bad, her actions will be yours." As annoying as that could turn out to be, it was more than fair.

"You did not leave the hut," the chieftain remarked.

"When are you leaving?" Hakon smiled grimly. His father was still not all that talkative – had never been – but their conversations were more pleasant now, and that felt good. Really good.

"When everyone has recovered." That earned him a raised eyebrow.

"Tomorrow, when the sun rises," he said before sitting down to eat with his father. No more words were exchanged, and once Hakon was done, he stepped back outside to tell Ava about his father's decision. She bawled her eyes out, which was confusing to see. There was no reason to cry in such a situation, was there? Unwilling to be part of this pitiable scene, he stepped out of the hut and headed toward the training ground. Alas, before he even came close to the training ground, Teraq noticed him and approached.

"Hakon!" The towering Barbarian shouted, his massive paws crashing down on Hakon's shoulders.

"We want to hunt! When are we hunting? Everyone is excited!"

"Everyone is excited to go out and hunt again?" That was as good as it could be.

"We will leave tomorrow at dawn. You can tell the others to prepare for a very long hunt. Nights of hunting." That only seemed to excite Teraq more. A brilliant smile bloomed on his face, and he was about to leave to tell the young warriors when something came to mind. Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

"You know about Astrid, Hakon?" he asked, turning back to look right at him.

"Many like her. She is beautiful. Powerful. Thorat, Paru, Ragon proposed the bond." Something in Teraq's eyes shifted, and he hesitated, but only for a moment before continuing, "I approach her too." The words didn't do anything to Hakon. He accepted them, fully aware of Astrid's popularity. Even before the Rite, she had been approached by many warriors who proposed the bond with her. Now that she had awakened a legendary Power, she had only grown more popular, as it appeared. What annoyed Hakon weren't the words.

Instead, it was the conviction and determination burning deep within Teraq's eyes. The towering Barbarian was deadly serious, and that made Hakon angrier than he thought possible.

"She's mine." He growled before realizing what he was even saying. Regardless, he unleashed his bloodlust at full power. Teraq's eyes grew wide, and he took a step back before finally regaining control of his body. His lips parted, but he grimaced as soon as his eyes drifted to something behind Hakon.

"I leave. Need to tell others about the hunt." Teraq muttered quickly before taking his leave. If that had not been obvious enough, the presence that had appeared behind him a few heartbeats ago certainly was. Knowing his luck, Hakon knew that Astrid stood there.

"I'm yours. Is that it?" Astrid said with furrowed brows as soon as their eyes met–angry eyes. Unsure what else to do, Hakon shrugged and smiled wryly.

"You are mine, and I am yours… if that's alright with you." He was fairly sure he had just said something stupid, but her expression softened, and the faintest hint of a smug smile formed on her lips.

"You are mine?" she asked, clearly appeased with the sound of it. Suddenly, Astrid blurted out. She crossed the distance between the two of them, her scent and presence engulfing him.

"You are mine now." Astrid declared, her smile growing wider.

"But whether I am yours depends on your performance." The look in her eyes changed. It transformed into something that would have driven most tribesmen crazy, but Hakon smiled only at the challenge. He burned for Astrid's challenge, which she fanned by planting a faint kiss on his cheek.

"Perform well, or I will never be yours." She whispered into the wind before disappearing in a blur, her cheeks burning crimson. Don't worry about that. I will perform well. Hakon promised in his heart. Either that, or he would die. One way or another, he would have given his utmost.

[Script of Improvement] Split Focus Lv. 15 → Lv. 16 Reinforcement Lv. 7 → Lv. 8 Compression Lv. 3 → Lv. 5 Mana Bolt Lv. 10 → Lv. 11 Mana Shield Lv. 4 → Lv. 7 Aether Spiral Lv. 1 → Lv. 2 Hakon maintained [Aether Spiral] until early into the night. As arduous as that had been, his effort was rewarded. It was only one level, which was rather disappointing, but maintaining the spiral within Hakon's Core got a little bit easier. The [Aether Spiral] even absorbed more ambient mana more efficiently now that it leveled up.

As far as it was from perfection, it was exactly what Hakon needed. [Split Focus] was yet another necessity to improve if he wanted to learn how to permanently utilize [Aether Spiral]. He maintained the latter while using the former to conjure [Mana Bolt]s and [Mana Shield]s at various angles and distances, and while moving around to test his current limits before going to bed. The first rays of sunlight woke him, overflowing with energy.

Leaping out of the bed, he was ready to gather his weapons when his attention shifted to Ava standing beside the dining table, covered in the Maulaxe Crusher, several handaxes, and a bunch of bone daggers. One of the longswords he'd won in the fight against the Pearot Barbarians rested in Ava's hand, the young serv–woman grinding it meticulously.

"You're awake!" Ava exclaimed with a little pep in her voice.

"I am," Hakon said slowly.

"You decided to stay?" Her bright expression faltered, her eyes drifting to a few bloody cuts across her arms and neck. A trace of fear lingered sparked in her eyes, but it faded as soon as it appeared.

"I will, for now…" She nodded after a few heartbeats.

"I… after everything you told me, I… I think it wouldn't be a good idea to leave alone. But everyone else will die if I convince them to leave with me. I… I might be able to return safely to the kingdom if I sacrifice them, but…" She shook her head.

"I can't do that. That's why I decided to stay. I need to grow stronger and show your people that we are more than just servants. That we can be useful." Hakon's brow rose. He did not expect Ava to have changed this drastically. Then again, considering the wounds she sustained, it was fair to assume that she already tried fleeing. The forest's denizens clearly didn't like their territory being invaded. She would have left if she could.

Ava gathered all the courage she could muster before adding, "I want to show the tribe that they need me. Us. All of us!" Hakon could easily guess her plan but it did not matter. The weak, bawling figure of Ava flashed before Hakon's eyes, only to return to the vaguely confident figure standing before him. She was still tiny, with a fragile body that couldn't be more than 1. 5 meters tall, yet she no longer looked as pathetic as before.

Not respectable just yet, but granting her freedom had clearly changed the human.

"How are you going to–" Realization dawned upon him.

"You want to grow stronger to earn more respect, but that's only part of it. You also want to help me, so when I perform well, the chieftain will have to acknowledge your contribution. Or others will notice it. Either way, you want to earn the freedom of your people by helping us grow stronger." That was a plan, and it would be a good one if not for a small problem. It would fail, for Barbarians were nowhere near patient enough to follow Ava's guidance.

[Mana Meditation] may be a useful Skill for all Hakon knew, but it was useless to Barbarians. Nobody would want to learn it, and the Ancestors would certainly not be willing to 'reward' anyone with it either. Maybe Astrid would want to learn something from Ava. She was patient enough to go through the torture of boredom if it meant she would get stronger. Björn… possibly as well, if Hakon punched him a few times. Regardless, Hakon was curious to see how the human woman would perform.

Maybe he was wrong and she would succeed. One way or another, he would benefit from her plan.

"If you know about a way to cleanse pathways more easily, that would be interesting. For me, personally. Also, we are impatient, which you probably figured out already. We like to feel it when we're getting stronger, and most of us don't really like mana. They call it Lifeblood and use it to strengthen their bodies through their Ancient Powers. If you have a way to make use of that… do it."

With that, alongside a few more pieces of advice, Hakon sheathed his weapons and left the hut, leaving behind a pondering young woman. It was time to steal Pearot's Fractures.