Chapter 32

Usually, warriors of the older generation used combat to teach the young about Skills and how the Ancestors rewarded them. Combat was the best way to do so, especially with the Barbarian Physique. Every Barbarian was born with the same physique, but it wasn’t displayed in the same way by each of them. The chieftain once mentioned that those born with the Bloodline of Zeldron had the greatest of all synergies with the Barbarian Physique.

That had been one of the reasons Tribe Taskur survived this long. They were the Blood of Zeldron and thus the strongest of all Barbarians. The synergy of the Barbarian Physique and the Bloodline of Zeldron helped them acquire combat-related Skills. At the very least, the synergy further amplified a warrior’s instincts, size, and muscle mass.

That would also explain why Hakon had always been different. His Bloodline was not the same as most of Tribe Taskur. Still, he was one of the strongest before the Rite, and he prevailed to retain his position at the top.

Be that as it may, Hakon was not necessarily a giant. He was not small, but compared to the greatest of warriors, he couldn’t be considered tall or particularly broad either.

Teaching Astrid and Björn through combat sounded right. Björn’s Blessing of the Bear would guide him toward a more bestial combat style. That made it all the more difficult to teach him something that required him to maintain full focus in combat.

Through the Ascensions, his Blessing would further enhance him, and, with the Ancestors’ support, he would eventually be able to transform into a Divine Bear. Such a transformation, among other things, was the greatest of all rewards a Blessed warrior could acquire, as it would elevate their strength to an entirely new level.

Once again, that was something the Sagas of Barbarians who had long since joined the Ancestors’ feast said.

He probably has a Skill like [Natural Regeneration] already. His version is probably better than mine. Hakon grimaced.

He considered teaching Björn [Dash], but he’d have to cleanse his pathways for that first. Teaching him that sounded more difficult than it had any right to.

“What are you doing?” Björn shouted, standing in the center of the sparring grounds, ready to spar–to ‘learn’. “Or do you not want to show me that Skill of yours?”

“How good is your control of mana?” Hakon had to suppress a heavy sigh when Björn looked at him like he didn’t understand a single word he had just said.

“Mana? What’s that?” He tilted his head, only for Astrid to step in.

“The Shaman wields mana.” She turned to Hakon, one eyebrow raised. “You know we’re not Shamans. We wield Lifeblood, not mana.”

“Lifeblood and mana are the same. At least, I think it is.” Hakon waved dismissively and eyed his friends. “How good is your control of Lifeblood?”

“Good,” Björn grunted in satisfaction before pushing his chest out. “The old hag said I learned [Crushing Advance] fast.”

With that, he activated the Skill and burst forward. The ground beneath him cracked as he barreled toward the closest tree with surprising speed. A sheen caught Hakon’s attention as his friend crashed right into the tree, snapping it in two. Björn’s hair did not change color, but it shimmered before the impact, absorbing most of the damage and leaving him unscathed even when the tree collapsed.

Astrid could only shake her head at their friend’s stupidity.

“Mother is satisfied with my power, but she said I have to grow a lot more.” She said, completely ignoring Björn as he turned back with a smug smile. If he expected to be praised for destroying the chieftain’s home, he’d have to go elsewhere.

Astrid hesitated for a moment, but continued, “Mother told me to learn from you.”

“What exactly did she say?” Hakon grinned at his friend as she grimaced. He had been around Astrid’s mother long enough to know that she was not one to take her daughter’s loss in the Battle of Generation lightly. She couldn’t accept it, yet she would never openly say so out of respect for the Ancestors rather than anything else.

“She told me to squeeze you dry. To learn your secrets and to make them mine.” Every word Astrid said seemed to physically hurt her.

“What an annoying woman.” Björn walked up to them and spat on the ground, trying to look like getting ignored didn’t bother him, even when it did.

“Say that to her. I want to see how you survive that.” Astrid dared Björn, making him grimace.

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Hakon stepped between his friends with a soothing smile. “I don’t know how much you have advanced already, but you need to cleanse your pathways to learn some of the Skills I learned.”

“The tunnels inside your body,” he added when his friends looked confused at the mention of ‘pathways’.

Björn was still confused, which was yet another issue, but Astrid seemed to understand.

“I will teach you [Flow Control] first. It might not help you too much, but it will help you improve your control of ma– lifeblood,” Hakon explained to Astrid. “[Flow Control] will help you cleanse your pathways faster as well. Using and improving the Skill will help me teach you [Dash].”

He demonstrated [Dash] once, which was rewarded with a grunt from Björn.