Chương 93: B2 Chapter 15 - Interlude

Aqui Aqui watched the young one half-curious, half… disappointed. But maybe 'disappointment' was not the right word. Disdain might have been the better word for what she felt. And it wasn't even the youngling's fault. Not directly, in any case. As a Currentstalker, the forest was not her home. It had never been, yet here she was, standing in the middle of the forest she had left a long time ago. Worse still, she was once again forced to fight those disgusting creatures just to protect that young one.

Sure, she led the young one to the juvenile creature to see how capable he was. It was also true that she did not expect him to emerge victorious. Aqui was ready to intervene and come to help out if need be. Then he killed the Drake, only for an ancient Drake to slip past her senses. A grave mistake on her part. But the young one survived. Young Taskur. She inspected the Barbarian, drenched in his blood and the blood of those he had fought valiantly. It had been an interesting fight, as stupid as it had been.

Aqui had exposed herself, hoping Young Taskur would not attack the Young Drake. Exposing herself should have been more than enough to warrant caution, yet she failed to take his heritage into account. He was a Barbarian, and they were foolish. That was where the disappointment and disdain came from. Not because Young Taskur had been strong enough to fight and defeat a Drake, but because he failed to take the situation into account.

It was possible that he recognized Aqui as a non-threatening entity, but she highly doubted that. And even if he had, Young Taskur should have known that Drakes were rarely alone. Especially those mud-muddled cretins with more lizard blood coursing through their veins than that of a dracon. They were among the impurest Drakes Aqui had seen in all of her life, their intelligence laughable. Inspecting the Barbarian lying in a pool of his own blood, Aqui watched his body knit itself together fairly quickly.

Mana flowed toward him, and even the Will he had forcefully awakened slowly receded. So much pain. The Currentstalker growled, reminded of Young Taskur's grotesque and pitiful use of something as magnificent as a fully awakened Will. With a Bloodline as majestic as Young Taskur's, awakening multiple Wills was to be expected, and so was exquisite control over it. But that did not happen. His control was, to say the least, atrocious.

The Mistress had told Aqui that Young Taskur would awaken a Will, and she had been correct about it. Of course she had. The Mistress did not make mistakes. What she failed to mention, however, was how proficient Young Taskur was at wielding mana. He used his pathways far more effectively than any Barbarian Aqui had seen before and even wielded magic not unlike the human folk. Even without the human's Class System, he comprehended and utilized magic as skillfully as a full-fledged Mage.

Does he have the Elborn's Skill Tree? Aqui mused, all while knowing that something like that should not be possible. But with Young Taskur's heritage, everything was possible. If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. The Currentstalker's liquid body rippled as she was reminded of his heritage, and it only grew stronger as she remembered Old Taskur locating her not too long ago. The day she arrived at the forest, he found her, and his mark on her never left.

As infuriating as it was, it was also frightening. She had not expected anyone to locate her so easily. Currentstalkers used the realm's mana streams to move swiftly through even the most difficult terrain uninterrupted and, most importantly, unnoticed. She should have been invisible to the senses of most creatures, including the Silver Dragon, yet the old monster of a Barbarian found her.

But maybe that was expected from a monstrosity strong enough to call for the Warden's help, and to tie his power to the Silver Dragon, forcing her into a slumber as long as he maintained the Seals. She still remembered what happened all those cycles ago and shuddered involuntarily. It had been a long time ago, but the Currentstalker remembered. She never forgot anything. Anything. Once exposed, she had expected retaliation, yet her saving grace was that Old Taskur did not move against her.

He could not be bothered with her, surely realizing that she had not returned to sow chaos but to protect Young Taskur. Aqui stared at him once more. He was the cause of all trouble. After a moment of hesitation, she shook her head. No, he was not the root of all trouble, but the result of it. And he was still alive. That was all that mattered to the Mistress. The Currentstalker lay down beside the unconscious Barbarian, her back pressed against his half-severed arm.

Her liquid form rippled and seemed to dissolve as blue shimmering liquid detached from her body and flowed toward Young Taskur, embracing him tightly. The Mistress only wanted him to survive, which he would even if she did nothing, but Aqui knew that survival was not enough. For Young Taskur as well as the Mistress. They wanted much more than that.

With that in mind, she made sure Young Taskur would not be crippled or otherwise permanently restrained just because he had been foolish in his struggle against the Young Drake. Because if nothing was done to mend his wounds, the Barbarian would struggle for a long time. If his pathways were not taken care of in time, his lifeforce, or what was left of it, would stabilize improperly. Yet, as Aqui coated Young Taskur with her body, she only began to realize how severely his body had been damaged.

Most injuries were fresh, but some were old and never healed properly. And the more she searched for wounds, the more she found. So much. Young Taskur had forced too much upon his body. Only now did she realize that the youngling was weaker than what the Barbarians called Bloodbearers. His physique was great nonetheless and perfectly aligned, yet it should not have generated the force needed to fight a Drake head-on. Even with the right Will, it should not have been possible.

His alignment toward Will and mana had to be tremendous, his Skills as unique as his Runeskin, but that was to be expected. The more she studied the youngling, the more sense the Mistress' order made. Protecting Young Taskur now that the Divine Beast rose from her slumber had sounded troublesome, which it was, but pressed against his back, coating him with her body, Aqui could sense far more than had been obvious before. Young Taskur had a strong spirit.

It was not yet strong enough for the age that awaited him, but given enough time and training, it should be fine. If he was given enough time. Aqui could not say much about that. Her Mistress, on the other hand, knew everything, and she appeared certain that Young Taskur's survival was essential. Hopefully, it would not all be for nothing.