Chapter 55

The sun dipped below the horizon, shrouding the tribehold in brief darkness. The moons rose slowly, carrying the light of the Great Ones, but it didn’t take long before Tribe Taskur blossomed in a myriad of lights. Pyre torches in the dozens flared to life all across the tribehold, illuminating their territory for monsters and other enemies to see. And that was exactly what Taskur’s tribesmen and women wanted.

They wanted to be seen and to see those daring enough to step onto their land.

But while others waited eagerly for their enemies, Hakon was still at the hut, doing the same thing over and over again, his head feeling like it was on the verge of splitting in two. Yet, as painful as it was, a parchment appeared before him, telling him that he did the right thing.

[Fatigue Resistance Lv.5 → Lv.6]

Improving that Skill was among the most difficult, but every level-up was incredibly rewarding. At this point, he did not need nearly as much sleep as in the past. Having ascended contributed to this as well, but it was [Fatigue Resistance] that really helped him preserve his energy.

Fatigue was special. It was one of the big words that didn’t make much sense to him at first. Now that he had experienced the Skill’s effect for a while, though, it made much more sense. Being more resistant to fatigue allowed him to preserve his energy better, be it the energy in his mind, body, or soul. He no longer had to sleep as much as he used to, and he could practice for prolonged periods because the energy he did use was used far more efficiently.

It was perfect, especially since the Skill improvement meant that the Ancestors wanted him to push further. They agreed with his methods and helped him in their own way.

The pathways stirred again as he formed yet another swirl of mana within his Core. The vibrations coming from the Core affected the adjacent pathways in almost the same way as before. Changing the swirl had been rather difficult, but it was possible at the cost of a mind-splitting headache and a lot of time.

Hakon’s initial plan to meet up with the young warriors to check up on them and to prepare them for the bloodshed that awaited them had been pushed aside for it. A swirl of mana.

He grimaced at that thought but pushed further, reinforcing the swirl over and over again until it was stable enough to start anew. That was when something clicked into place. Hakon compressed the swirl a little, using his newfound knowledge to push more mana into it, augmenting it slightly. It drained him more mentally to maintain the swirl as soon as he pushed more mana into it, but the increased difficulty did little to worsen his headache. It was only slightly worse, which was hardly noteworthy.

His eyes grew wide, and he turned to Ava to ask her more about the problems behind empowering the mana swirl of meditation, or maelstrom, or whatever it was, but the young servant was asleep on the ground.

Hakon clicked his tongue at the sight of the young woman resting peacefully before turning back to work on his Core. Unwilling to waste several more nights on a mana recovery Skill, he pushed further, as long as his body and mind kept working.

At first, it was only important to maintain the swirl of mana. Ensuring it didn’t transform into a raging maelstrom out of nowhere was just as important. It was also important to ensure it didn’t shrink or grow, for every change would send ripples through the Core and its adjacent pathways. This, among other things, would greatly alter the mana absorption and annexing process. The difficulty of maintaining the mana structure within the Core would only increase the more the swirl changed, since every ripple sent down to the pathways would return and collide with others of differing mana frequencies.

Once Hakon was certain the swirl of mana was constant and stable, he got up and walked around. Doing so created yet another challenge. First, he figured that he wouldn’t be able to fight while focused on the swirl of mana. Understanding the problem, Hakon chose the easiest solution and activated [Split Focus].

While the Skill was not a perfect solution, it helped him perform multiple tasks at the same time much more easily. Glancing at Ava’s resting figure for a moment, he deliberately ignored her advice to avoid using other Skills. There was no reason not to use [Split Focus] when it helped him.

Smiling faintly, he kept his eyes wide open and began to move. But rather than running around and making erratic movements, Hakon focused on sequences that were already etched in his mind at first. Fine, controlled movements that changed his fighting stance came to him instinctively, yet they were nowhere near as easy as they had been in the past.

It was almost like he was back to being a toddler, learning how to walk.

He hated being a toddler once more, but it was much more annoying to know that he was failing, because he was. Hakon changed stances, moved around a little, and even went as far as to try working out. He threw out a few punches as well, yet the swirl of mana collapsed whenever he moved too quickly. It collapsed dozens of times, each failure stinging more than the last.

Failure is okay. I failed a lot before, and I grew from failing. He had to remind himself.

As painful as failure was, it was part of life. He was not gifted with unparalleled power and an instantaneous understanding of how everything worked. Ulfar, as much as he was hated, was far more talented. No matter which weapon he wielded, it would become an extension of his body in no time. He was a genius, his talent too valuable to be wasted by falling victim to his Ancient Power.

The chieftain pushed Hakon to his limit and beyond just to keep up with Ulfar. Even then, it took a fair amount of luck and trickery to win against Ulfar in a handful of the many sparring sessions he had with the Barbarian before the Rite. Now… now things were different. Hakon was still no prodigy, but he had learned to use the experience he gained from his father pushing and training him, even when something didn’t work out the way it should, to push further. To burn through the flaws he created, to build something new, and to create a strong foundation.

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A foundation built from countless failures.

So that was what he kept doing–failing. This time, however, Hakon did not have to endure his father’s punishment before getting up to correct his mistakes. He studied his every move until he knew what went wrong and came up with a quick theory on how to improve. Then he tried again, repeating the same set of movements with minute adjustments. When the swirl of mana collapsed again, Hakon adjusted his movement, breathing, and mana flow once more. Again, and again, and again–as often as necessary to make it work–and it did by the time the sun peeked over the horizon.

Somewhat.

Someone beside him moved, and he saw Ava sit up and stretch. Her eyes fluttered open to see Hakon towering beside her, and she would have screamed out loud if she hadn’t caught herself at the last moment.

“You–… I…” Ava’s head flicked left and right, but there was nothing special to see. She leapt to her feet, muttering something Hakon didn’t catch under her breath.

“I’m sorry for falling asleep. I… I don’t know what… I-I should return to work.” she blurted out, but he dismissed it with a wave.