Chapter 39

Eren leaped up in anger, at first. He stared daggers at Hakon, regarding him like a predator regarded a hare he was about to tear into shreds. But as promising as his outburst was, it didn’t last long.

He deflated, shoulders slumped, and back down on the creaky, wooden chair.

“Lightcaller.” He scoffed. “My family exiled me. My brothers and sisters still laugh at me when I see them.”

The blazing fire that used to burn in Eren’s eyes was replaced by a wick of sadness.

“Even Rootkeeper deserve more honor.” He spat, which was yet another issue Hakon would have to resolve.

Rootkeepers were indispensable, yet the tribes did not consider them nearly as well as they should. Because they could not learn as powerful Power-based Skills that would allow them to fight monsters. Still, without them, Tribe Taskur would never have survived the winter ten cycles ago. They would have died of starvation.

As for Lightcaller, they were…unfortunate. Hakon conceded on that. Pyrocaller or Earthcaller were not praiseworthy Ancient Powers either, yet young warriors would have an easier time gaining recognition for it. Pyrocaller, wielders of fire, could wreak havoc and burn entire stripes of land to the ground if necessary. The Barbarians would have a hard time ignoring such power.

But Lightcaller… Hakon watched Eren, who stared down at the sparkling lights materializing in his hand in pure, unfiltered hatred.

“Did the Ancestors recognize your [Spear Mastery]?” Hakon rubbed his chin.

“Yes, and I went out to hunt. It worked, but [Spear Mastery] did not improve. I tried – hard.” Eren sighed, the hatred in his eyes intensifying, “This is what I got for trying hard.”

The sparks in his hand glowed brighter and began to move, slithering around his fingers in an oddly intimate manner. He didn’t even notice the pair of curious eyes studying the conjured light intensely.

“How much can you control them?” Hakon asked, the back of his mind stirring.

Thinking back to the Battle of Generation where Astrid had called him Lightcaller for playing with the lights, a smile played his lips. A smile that grew wider as Enhanced Comprehension filled him with a sense of wrongness.

It was the first time Enhanced Comprehension activated to fill him with wrongness about things he’d done in the past, but using [Sensory Expansion] and [Flow Observation] as he studied the conjured lights only intensified the sensation.

Hakon could not help but feel like the sense of wrongness was screaming at him as Eren’s lights glowed brighter before dimming down. More sparks popped up, joining the small stream revolving around his hands.

Interesting.

“Keep up your Skill.” Hakon ordered, ignoring the looks thrown his way as he reached out to the stream of glowing sparks.

His hand phased through the sparks, which rippled and nearly collapsed. Several sparks faded and Eren cursed under his breath, but that too was pointedly ignored. Hakon’s hand glided through the lights, his Skills maintained while [Mana Sense] and [Circulation] followed shortly.

[Circulation] may not have been necessary but by empowering his body, it augmented his senses as well, albeit only a little.

As soon as [Mana Sense] activated, Hakon sensed so much more than he did before. He hadn’t been sure earlier, yet as his mana was being rapidly consumed, clarity flooded him. Mana flooded the sparks.

No. He shook his head. The sparks were mana: mana Eren somehow altered to create and emit warmth and light at the same time.

The warmth was comfortable, but it was not what Hakon was after when he followed up with [Mana Manipulation] and [Mana Shaping].

A small azure ball of mana conjured in his empty hand. Someone beside him exclaimed, while another groaned, but Hakon was too focused on his practice to care about either.

Beads of sweat poured down his temples from all the Skills he was forced to maintain. [Split Focus] guided his research of Eren’s sparks while maintaining the small ball hovering above his palm, yet even [Split Focus] had its limits. The bad headache creeping up the back of his mind was no surprise, but Hakon considered it a boon. Pain only meant that he was going somewhere. That he was moving in the right direction – probably.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

Eyes squinted, he tried to etch the sensation he got from the glowing sparks into his mind, to imprint it into his own conjuration. That turned out more difficult than he could have hoped for. Still, after what felt like an eternity of sweating buckets and draining his mana reserve, Hakon made progress. Until Eren’s sparks dispersed.

“What are you doing? Keep them up.” Hakon grunted, his head snapping up to see the Lightcaller pale as chalk.

[Mana Sense] showed what Hakon suspected. Eren was completely spent.

Zask stepped toward the young Barbarian and lifted him. Watching the butcher carry Eren to the bed without a word was not exactly what anyone would expect from them. If anyone, Hakon would have expected Zask’s wife to tend to Eren and tug him in, yet it was Zask who wiped the young Barbarian’s sweat-drenched face tenderly.