Chapter 54

At first, the young woman was hesitant. That was odd. If she was not okay with helping him, the servant shouldn’t have made the offer. Maybe she did not expect Hakon to agree this easily to her request for freedom, but was it really that much of a problem?

It took the other two servants, whose names Hakon never learned, to bump into her and call her name, which was how he learned her name was Ava, for her to regain her senses.

Then again, she looked like she didn’t trust Hakon. That was both understandable and not at the same time. It wasn’t like he had ever stooped so low as to hit the servants. If anything, he barely paid attention to them most of the time. Since they were his father’s spoils of war, they ought to be treated respectfully, and that was exactly what Hakon did.

Not everyone behaved accordingly, but the chieftain made sure to punish those who disrespected the Ancestors.

One way or another, Ava met Hakon in the backyard. She avoided his eyes, and her voice was barely a whisper in his ear, but he listened to her even if his mind told him to dismiss the voice of those too weak and frail to stand up for themselves. The young woman looked too fragile, too afraid, to be of any use. However, Hakon crushed the doubts coalescing in his mind whenever they rose to distract him.

The humans’ beliefs were laughable, if not outright wrong, but that was of no importance at this moment. They were clearly more experienced in the way of mana, magic or whatever, and they could help him in ways no Barbarian could. Other than the Shaman, probably, yet it was not like anyone really knew the paths the Shaman trod. He was wherever the Ancestors wanted him to be.

As for his talk with the chieftain regarding the deal he struck with the young servant, that was an issue for later. In the worst case, he would have to pay the price. That thought made him shudder inwardly, but he was determined to try anyway, as long as Ava’s help was worthwhile.

“M-Meditation…” Ava muttered quietly, looking up momentarily, only to cast her gaze down to the ground once again. “[Mana Meditation]. D-do you know what that is?”

“Meditation? Never heard of it.” Hakon spoke truthfully, trying hard not to sound snarky. Keeping his emotions under tight control, he tried to accept that the human woman, while being scared, weak and pathetic at times, could help him grow stronger. That she was a worthy teacher. That… turned out a little difficult when the words coming out of her mouth were swallowed by the rustling tree nearby.

“Repeat that. The tree’s rustling was louder than your voice.” He grunted, taking deep breaths when Ava flinched.

He tuned out the noises around him and activated [Sensory Expansion] while focusing solely on the fragile human.

“M-Mana Meditation is a Skill, f-for some, b-but many use it as a practice. A technique to train their attention and awareness to achieve a calm, focused, and clear state of mind. It… it should help you let go of your thoughts jumping around and to observe your mind, slow your thoughts, and focus on yourself and the surroundings to sense your Core, pathways, and the streams of mana around you.”

Hakon considered learning the Skill of meditation right away. Not to sense his body or surroundings, but to gain better control of his emotions. He was much better at that than most Barbarians, but Ava made him feel like he was an angry, little fledgling.

“I already know about pathways. They’re the tunnels that spread through the entire body like a cobweb, right? The Ancestors told me about them when I cleansed them. So, you humans know what pathways are.” Hakon spoke up when the young woman stopped speaking. “Do you cleanse them as well? If so, do you know the Skills [Flow Control] or [Circulation]?”

The older servant back in the hut gasped and called out something unintelligible, but he was more focused on Ava’s reaction. She looked up, her eyes wide, but quickly turned away when they made eye contact. Ignoring her weird antics, Hakon waited until she nodded slowly.

“Do all humans know about those Skills? Is that what you call magic?” he inquired curiously, his frustration forgotten when she shook her head at the first question.

Does that mean they’re special? Hakon wondered, glancing up to stare at the older servant and the others, sensing that they all had heard about [Circulation] and [Flow Control]. They may have been impressed with his improvement of ‘magic’ or his [Mana Sense]’s Level, but that was mostly because he was a Barbarian, wasn’t it? For he was a brute who shouldn’t be learning all those Skills… right?

Rummaging through his mind and memories for a bit, he recalled that Ava and the others belonged to an army. Ava didn’t look old, but she had always looked like this, even when he was still wet behind the ears. Maybe that was a human thing, or he was simply too bad at guessing a human’s age. All he knew for sure was that the old man was old and that Ava had to be a little older than he was. And that they had all been part of the humans attacking Tribe Taskur and the surrounding tribes.

They were the only survivors, but did that really mean they were weak? Yeah, it did. They were weak. However, being weak didn’t mean they were useless. Just like awakening the Ancient Power of the Mind or Lightcaller did not necessarily mean one couldn’t be a true warrior. It was just… different.

Were they warriors? No, probably not. Lightcallers, maybe? Or Earthcallers? Hakon doubted they were powerful wielders of elements, but if they had been taught in the ways of mana, which appeared to be special even among humans, then that meant all servants of the tribe could be helpful. Probably.

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He had to ask her again if all humans learned [Mana Sense] and similar Skills to satiate his curiosity. She hesitated at first but shook her head, which did the opposite of what he wanted. Growing more curious instead, Hakon asked a few more questions. He conjured a [Mana Bolt] and [Mana Shield] simultaneously and asked if many humans could do that and if their [Mana Sense] was at the same Level or higher than his. To that, she shook her head vehemently, though her eyes grew wider.

“Effortless.” He heard one of the other servants mutter back in the hut. It could have been the old man, but Hakon couldn’t be bothered to find out.

“Can you do that?”

Ava hesitated again but nodded after a while, her gaze still locked onto a bushel of grass before her. Turning to the others and trying to gauge if they too were wielders of elements turned out to be rather difficult. Some servants were watching out of curiosity rather than fear, but their expressions didn’t change much when he looked their way. If anything, they grew more curious about him, surely wondering why he bothered talking to them when every other Barbarian ignored them or stared at their smaller frames with disdain.

“If you and the others can do similar things, why did you never try to flee?” Hakon inquired, guessing that Ava was not the only capable servant.