Chapter Thirty-Five

As if no time passed, everything remained where it was before the trial. Oddly, he felt like his staff had the same mana density as before he used it in the trial. It was hard to tell, though, with how much mana glowed within the staff.

Any further thoughts paused as the lead fairies spoke.

“Verdict?”

“Adequate.”

“Good.”

“Passable.”

“Worthy?”

“Unsure.”

“Maybe.”

“Passable.”

“Give chance?”

“Yes.”

“Yes.”

“Yes.”

The decision made, all the surrounding fairies buzzed in excitement. At least, that was what Arden assumed. They zipped around so fast he could no longer track a single fairy, even if he focused on them. As one, all fairies opened a path in their chaotic formation, allowing Arden to walk toward the crystal.

That was when the snake made her move and darted off his head and slithered to the crystal. There was no way he could catch her, not that he wanted to. She proved her value in the trial. If she wanted to touch the crystal first, he didn’t care. A niggling thought sent a pang of worry that she would take his opportunity, but he quashed it.

Besides, it gave him a preview of what he may receive.

Arden stopped within arm’s length of the crystal as the snake touched her snout to the crystal, causing it to shine for a moment, but as if something blocked it, the shine sputtered out. The snake slumped, then looked at Arden with what he thought was nervousness.

“Turn around.”

Confused, Arden paused for a moment, but he complied, as he didn’t see a reason it would hurt him. As soon as he turned, he felt a flash of mana, then a much larger figure stood where the snake used to be.

Previous pieces clicked into place as he took in the form with his mana sense but remained turned away out of respect.

His curiosity got the better of him when he felt the crystal spark to life again, this time not sputtering out.

Arden turned to take in a scale clad woman with features not unlike his own. She had long black hair, though it had a greenish tint and a lithe body. Pointy ears peeked out from her hair, making him think she was an elf, but something told him that wasn’t the case.

His eyes gravitated to Ortus bracelets adoring her pale wrists of the same shade as his, which he now knew was life attuned mana. That explained where the card stash went. Maybe she couldn’t use her bracelets when in snake form.

An odd limitation making him think it wasn’t a card-based power, but maybe it was. His knowledge on cards was far too limited to know for sure.

With her back turned to him, he couldn’t make out anything else, so out of respect he turned his attention away from her and to the crystal, which shined bright by the second.

Soon the crystal was blinding bright, then a light shined down on the now girl. She stiffened and shifted her stance to be more stable as the light hit her. A quiet whimper reached his ears just as the light vanished, only for a different light to appear, this time shining down from above.

Three cards manifested in front of her, but she wasted no time in choosing one. As soon as she grabbed the right most card and added it to her deck, the other two vanished.

Once the light passed, a shiver went through her, then the girl shrunk down to the form of a snake. Before Arden could react, the snake darted off into the forest, out of sight.

Arden shrugged his shoulders at her sudden disappearance. Maybe that would be the last time he saw her. If he was right about what happened, she received a class card, so she probably got what she wanted. He wasn’t sure why she needed him for it, but not like he could complain she did her part.

Not wanting to delay any longer and feeling a little self-conscious himself as he felt hundreds of tiny eyes watching him, Arden took the final step toward the crystal and rested his hand on the glowing surface. A comforting warmth radiated up his arm, but that was only temporary as a moment later, that warmth shifted to lava.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

Like the snake before him, he shifted his stance to keep himself from stumbling from the pain and grit his teeth, riding the waves of agony. He delved inward to find a wave of blinding mana pumping through his body, prodding every part of him, only to pause at his core. The mana retreated as if in disappointment, causing Arden to panic.

On instinct, he focused on his tether, gasping when he found it thicker than ever before. Two vibrant shades of green through the woven strands. They appeared perfectly equal, giving him excellent balance.

A worry sparked, seeing only two shades thinking he lost the other attunements, but upon looking deeper at the lighter of the two greens, he spotted several shades woven into the strand. That strand must be nature affinity while the other one was life mana.

He wasn’t sure when that happened, but maybe the trials had something to do with that. Should he risk it? The tether was as ready as it ever would be, and he had the perfect source of mana right next to him.

The presence deep within him pulsed, as if agreeing with his thoughts. That was the last nudge he needed. He wasn’t sure what would happen, but it seemed almost too perfect. He needed a strong mana source for an optimal rank up which would be hard to come by outside of the dungeon, and this was likely the strongest source in the dungeon.

Though his staff could work too but if he was right about what it did, he wanted to save that for once he left the dungeon.

For the first time Arden grasped onto his tether, then pulled it the last step toward his mana core. As drilled into him over and over by his parents, he stretched the tether, then unwound the stands at the end.

This was the most dangerous part. If he let the tether unwind, he would have to start over from scratch, which he couldn’t allow to happen. One mental hand clamped onto the tether as he coiled the strands around his mana core.

As if understanding what he was trying to do, the mana from the crystal paused its retreat and watched him work. Over and over, he wound the strands around his core, extra careful of keeping everything even. Another pitfall would be if he winded one strand too many times, creating an instability in his foundation crippling him in the future.

No, he needed everything perfect.

Since the mana stopped its advance, the pain also vanished, allowing him to concentrate. With practiced ease, he wrapped each strand again and again. Soon his mana core vanished under the green strands.

When he reached the end of the strands, he paused and inspected his work. Once he smoothed out the last of the strands, there would be no turning back.

A shot of panic hit him when he spotted a slight curve in one wrap, prompting him to unwrap to that point then re-wrap with extra care. Fortunately, it was near the end, probably a mistake in his haste to finish.

After inspecting it once more, nothing stood out to him but even then he continued to look, spinning his senses around his core, but all he saw was a perfectly uniform wrapping of multi-shade green strands. Stretched as they were, he spotted the shades of nature mana woven in.

A shot of pain drew his attention away from his core to the mana flooding his veins. He was out of time. His veins couldn’t handle holding the potent mana much longer.

He just had to hope he didn’t make a mistake. One mistake could have far-reaching consequences that haunt him for the rest of his life. There was no turning back once he smoothed out the ends of the strands on his core, completing the communion and stepping foot into magehood.

With one fluid motion, he slide his mental hand over the ends of the strands, sealing them to his mana core. In the next moment, the tether pulled taut. This was the first test to see if he made a mistake. He watched as his tether pulled at his mana core, looking for any uneven tension, but to his relief, the tether pulled at his mana core uniformly.

A spike of pain hit him as the strands sunk into his mana core, disappearing from sight. Now fused to his mana core, there was no undoing the tethering. All he could do now was let the process complete, his work completed.

Taking the cue, the mana on standby rushed into his core, then down his newly connected tether. Despite preparing himself, the suddenness hit him like a sledgehammer.

His legs buckled, but with the of the staff he kept himself upright. Said staff wasn’t idle easier. As if it had a mind of its own, it siphoned off mana from the crystal, while also providing mana of its own to Arden.

Meanwhile, deep inside him, something stirred. Now connected to a source of mana, it could finally awaken, and what a source of mana it was. Pure life mana flooded Arden’s veins, filling his mana core to the bursting point far faster than the core could expand to accommodate.

Any excess mana flowed back down his tether to nourish what laid at the end. While his mana core didn’t grow physically bigger, the inside volume grew by the second, soon reaching grade one level, but it kept going.

There were limits, however. There was only so fast a core could grow before it broke down. Even with the life mana healing as it pressured the growth, his core hit a roadblock.

He wasn’t sure how far it grew, but he had to be over halfway through grade one, maybe even further. That wasn’t the end of the mana, however. Instead of pushing mana core growth, it shifted its focus to his tether and the growing presence deep within.

He could now feel the presence clearer than ever, but something kept him from reaching out.

His tether sucked down the mana greedily, further strengthening his connection as the mana traveled down.

Out of nowhere, whatever blocked him disappeared, and a force pulled him inward.

The next thing he knew, he stood on a familiar island, but this time, it wasn’t as barren. Grass sprouted from the dry ground, growing visibly. The island must have been the destination of the life mana as it flooded in.

Though by the time it reached the island, it lost most of its potency. Most likely, the tether fed off most of it. That didn’t mean what remained lacked a bite. Just standing on the island filled him with energy.

The same was true for the bird now perched on a lone tree not much taller than he was at the center of the five-meter-wide island.

While the bird wasn’t any bigger, still the size of a large house cat, it wasn’t deathly still any longer. It moved like a living bird, twitching its wings and using its beak to pick at its feathers.

As soon as he locked eyes with the bird, he knew what it was. It wasn’t some random bird, but a part of him. Something he instinctively knew was an aspect. They were one and the same. Like the girl and the snake. Thoughts of soaring through the sky filled him with exhilaration. He wanted to stretch his wings as soon as possible, but he also knew it wasn’t time yet. There were more important things he needed to take care of.

Unbeknownst to him, his form and the bird gravitated together and became one, thus completing his ascension to grade one, the Stabilization stage of Grade One, where he stabilized his mana system to prepare for future growth.

Arden snapped back to his body, coming face to face with three shining cards floating in front of him.