Chapter 29

Tribe Pearot promised trouble. Their actions would soon cause bloodshed. Be it the Ancestors’ wishes or not, blood would flow. Tribe Taskur had to prepare for the inevitable, or they would fall like the others.

The news of Tribe Pearot being yet another tribe that was given the opportunity of the Battle of Generation five cycles ago changed a lot. So did the fact that Pearot had awakened a legendary power at that time. Now that five cycles had passed, their legendary warrior was bound to be much stronger and more dangerous.

Tribe Taskur was at an advantage, or it would have been if they could utilize their own legendary powers. But what should have been an opportunity had turned into a problem. Several young warriors died in the Battle of Generation, killed by one of their own wielding a legendary power. For what? There was no reason. Bloodshed was something the Ancestors wished for, and Barbarians were the last to deny them such a beautiful sight, but Hakon could not help but feel that so many lives had been wasted.

Lives that could have been nurtured to turn into promising warriors, wielding the power needed to charge their enemies and shed their blood instead, had been ripped apart. Fewer died than Hakon initially thought would die, but each of them would have turned into a valuable warrior. Now they needed time to grow stronger.

As for Ulfar, he was yet another problem. As powerful as he was, he was too dangerous to be around. Nobody would trust Ulfar to watch their back, which made fighting alongside him impossible. It was much better to have other Bloodbearers with full control of their Ancient Power around, even if they were weaker.

There has to be a way to make them stronger. Strong enough to fight those who experienced their Rite cycles before we did, Hakon mused to himself.

Tribe Taskur had only one advantage–an advantage born from a disadvantage. They had many warriors this cycle. All those whose awakening had been postponed for cycles had finally completed their Rite. The vast majority continued to train relentlessly, believing the Ancestors would never abandon them.

As far as Hakon was concerned, he was confident his peers had gained more Skills and Levels than others would earn this quickly after the Rite. The cycles of training had resulted in the Ancestors recognizing more Skills. That also explained why so many young warriors reached the 1st Ascension in half a fortnight, a feat he thought only a few warriors would achieve before the Battle of Generation.

Others might have been given a head start, but they could catch up. They had to.

Astrid can probably fuse her weapon Skills into [Weapon Mastery] soon. Björn might upgrade [Axe Mastery] in a moon or two as well. Hakon nodded slowly. Skill Fusion or Skill upgrading sounded like useful tools to deal with their disadvantages. Was either of those easy? Definitely not. But would it help the tribe? Yes.

Hakon took that into consideration as he stayed in the backyard, his father nowhere to be seen. He approached the weapon stand and retrieved a set of daggers. [Mana Sense] activated, he reached out for the pathways within the weapons, only to find that there were none. The steel was nothing like the Maulaxe Crusher. It was dead and would shatter if infused with too much mana. But why?

Leaning into the prodding in the back of his mind, Hakon willed traces of mana through his body. They soon reached the tips of his fingers and oozed out of the pathways with some difficulty. Using [Mana Infusion] would help him complete the process smoothly, but he did not want a smooth transfer. Hakon wanted to sense it all.

[Mana Sense] was still active as he closed his eyes. The energy around him was nowhere near as intense as it had been during the Battle of Generation, but it was there nonetheless. Yet, instead of reaching out to the ambient energy, he used mana to activate [Sensory Expansion] and [Flow Observation] as well.

The former amplified his senses, which did seem to include [Mana Sense] as long as it was actively used, while [Flow Observation] was mostly used to observe an opponent’s movement patterns. That was how Hakon had used it before. Now, leaning deep into his instincts and the sensation of wrongness offered by Enhanced Comprehension, he tried a different aspect.

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He observed the flow of mana as it moved through his pathways, but also when it trickled out of the pathways’ ends and into the blade. The entire process was etched in Hakon’s mind, showing him things he hadn’t realized before.

The pressure is too much. Even a trace of mana is too much for it. He changed his strategy and distributed the mana as soon as it seeped into the daggers. Alas, mana was harder to control once it left his body. Crusher was tame and malleable. Infusing mana into it and controlling it was much more simplistic. The daggers… the first cracked faster than the servants could prepare breakfast, and it shattered not long after.

The other dagger prevailed much longer. Hakon was bathed in sweat, his attention lingering on the minuscule traces of mana moving through the dagger. But even when he used [Split Focus], there were simply too many traces to keep track of to reinforce the dagger without breaking it. It shattered as well after a momentary lapse in focus, after he had maintained it for a considerable time.

His mana reserves shrank considerably, and his head hurt more than it should have, but the Ancestors rewarded his creativity.