Chapter 52

Hakon found himself in a peculiar position. He was awake, but his body wouldn’t move, and his eyes wouldn’t open. They resisted his call for action after he had spent yet another day and night awake, even though he already felt like shit. But no matter how troublesome the lack of sleep had been, he was more than happy with the result.

Staying awake this long had been more than worth it. Plans and promises had been made.

The map, as it turned out, showed the location of several Fractures that the tribehold hadn’t known about. Some were in the forbidden lands, others in the lands of the other tribes, but two were actually located in Tribe Taskur’s territory. They were well hidden, which the chieftain’s people confirmed, all while father and son stayed in the hut planning Tribe Pearot’s downfall.

Ten Fractures, labeled with marks and unique symbols, three of which had been crossed out, probably because they had been conquered already. That left seven Fractures intact, offering the perfect opportunity for young warriors to prove themselves.

Seven Fractures, each probably being conquered as the chieftain and Hakon spoke, providing the means to gain the Ancestors’ favor, to grow their younger generation, but also to collect the valuable minerals that could be found in Fractures. Hakon hadn’t known about that, but his father did, and he told him about all of it in the nights they spent together, leaning over the dirt-smudged map.

The chieftain had a lot of guesses regarding the symbols etched around the marks for each of the Fractures, and why Tribe Pearot hadn’t closed them yet. They had yet to confirm those guesses, but Hakon was more than ready to do so… as soon as he could move again.

That took quite a while. His eyes snapped open after what felt like an eon, but instead of regaining full control of his body shortly after, Hakon ended up staring at the wooden ceiling for quite a while. His ears perked up at the servants shuffling around the hut, yet he couldn’t even call out to them. All he could do was check the Ancient Scripture and Skill improvements.

[Fatigue Resistance Lv.3 → Lv.5
Natural Regeneration Lv.17 → Lv.18]

Since he couldn’t get up to start their plan, he ended up rummaging through his rather extensive Ancient Scripture, which reminded him of a few things he wanted to do.

For one, he had to work on his mana constructs. Even though they didn’t belong to the traditional ways of the Barbarians, Hakon considered them important. Crucial even, if he could improve his mana Skills enough to manifest all types of weapons. That, among other things, would help him fight in a versatile manner against all types of opponents. It would also leverage his advantage with [Weapon Mastery].

But the mana constructs could also be manifested further away to conjure shields on the other side of the battlefield to protect his people from surprise attacks or possibly kill enemies from a distance. He’d thrown more than enough daggers and axes to know he could do the same with the equivalent made of mana.

Thinking of the fight against the Pearot Barbarians, Hakon was reminded that he’d conjured and released constructs with bursts of mana before. If he could leverage that, it would allow him to deal with a herd of Terror Deer alone. Easily at that.

But the mana constructs were only one of many things he wanted to do in the next few moons. He also had a Skill Fusion to complete and a few Skills to upgrade if possible. That, as well as gaining a few more useful Skills, was quite crucial.

Acquiring Skills… Hakon grimaced, his mind pedaling back to the constructs. His Ancient Power was going crazy whenever he conjured something made of mana. Enhanced Comprehension clearly wanted something from him. It wanted him to do something specific, and Hakon had yet to fully grasp what it was. There was only one thing he was relatively certain about, and even that was only because his Power had tingled in the back of his mind when he got close to it.

He didn’t acquire the Skill at that time, but the sensation was still there. Thus, unable to move his body, Hakon tried something else. He reached out to his mana reserves with his will.

A sphere of mana materialized before him with some difficulty. Pushing it away was even harder, but it worked. The manifestation floated high enough to increase the difficulty of maintaining and manipulating it without making it too challenging to work with. He felt his control improve ever so slightly as he tweaked everything, following the prodding of wrongness from Enhanced Comprehension, but it wasn’t long before he realized that ‘Mana Control’ was not a separate Skill. [Mana Manipulation] incorporated control, and it improved as Hakon spread out his senses to keep the sphere contained.

He infused more mana into the sphere but didn’t allow it to grow. If anything, Hakon pushed the sphere inward, condensing it with as much willpower as he could muster. A headache crept up the back of his head, but it was nothing compared to the struggle he went through the last few nights. Staying awake while both body and mind were on the verge of collapsing from exhaustion ought to be more challenging than pressing a little bit of mana together.

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That was exactly what he did for a long time. At some point, his body responded to him once more, yet Hakon remained unmoving and fully focused on the sphere before him. He felt that he was close, but whatever he was conjuring was not firm enough to warrant a message from the Ancestors.

A little bit more. Come on, just a little! He chided himself, his mind feeling like it was falling apart. The veins at his temples were on the verge of bursting. However, the mana sphere levitating above him kept shrinking. It grew unstable and erupted outward, growing in size once more, yet it did not fall apart. Hakon barely managed to contain it before starting anew.

At last, sometime after midday, the head-sized sphere transformed into a much smaller sphere the size of a fist, all while holding on to more than three times the amount of mana.

[Mana Manipulation Lv.10 → Lv.13
Compression (New) Lv.1]