In the early light of morning, Ren began his day. The weakness from his prior injuries, as well as the lingering damage from his eldritch affinity had ceased to bother him. He had stopped sleeping but for small moments here and there, that was until he lived alongside the orks.

When he began to live alongside these orks, something had changed. Perhaps it was hope for a fate yet unseen, perhaps a reprieve from the hellishness of his life in this world thus far. Either way, it was a new beginning, as with hindsight he could see his prior mistakes clearly now.

Ren had relied far too much on the awesome power of his patron. All consuming black flames, bolts of void lightning, and corrupting poison were all great, though something had gone wrong. Despite the great feeling of immense power and the sense of fulfillment that power brought, he knew he lacked a fundamental piece of the puzzle. He did not know what such a piece was, or how we would go about finding it. Ren only knew that something was missing, something that would leave him far more complete as a person.

The early morning passed as all awoke. Small scraps of food left over from the great boar, as well as foraged goods served as meager rations. Despite this, both he and Cella did not despair. The lessons learned, the trials passed, and the way forward from here was invaluable. Cella understood far better the rewards of their effort, and so she spoke.

“Ren, I’m starting to believe something is going to be done with this amber. I do not believe it to be an object of beauty to the orks, at least not entirely so. Likely it will serve some purpose we don't yet understand.” She looked down on her piece of amber and stared at it intently.

“Yeah, the orks aren’t the type to seek out such a thing purely for the beauty of it. They like what’s practical and useful.” He looked to Cella as she brushed hair from her face.

The two sat in silence as their food was digested and the orks talked amongst themselves. In light of the rising sun, Ren looked upon the orks.

His eldritch eyes saw far more than the ordinary, and now, he saw one of the missing pieces. Cella had used mana to circulate the nature affinity throughout her body, the orks used no mana. Both achieved a similar goal, though the orks were fundamentally more efficient and powerful with the skill. It was that, and what he noticed that had sparked his insight.

The lightless eyes observed the flowing of energy through a being. However, those energies were not definable as either mana, stamina, or health. The ebb and flow was a mixture of all such energies. A key difference became starkly clear to Ren. The ork’s energy had a difference to it beyond just the overwhelming nature affinity present.

The flowing course of energies within the orks lacked a fundamental principle within it. They totally lacked mana. The realization should not have been a surprise, and yet it was. The thought of a humanoid being not possessing mana was a shock. Elves and humans both possessed mana and so he assumed orks would as well.

The lack of mana cleared up something quite important, what Cella was doing was completely wrong.

Ren turned to her and spoke. “The orks, they don’t have any mana, you can’t use mana for your technique!”

“What? They have no mana? Then how could they possibly use nature affinity? Unless they’re some sort of construct that shouldn’t make sense, and they are surely not such a thing.”

“I don’t fully understand myself, but it’s the truth. They lack any mana, none of them have a single shred of the stuff.”

“That changes things, for one, my attempt at copying their ability will never work right. Also, it means there’s something even greater for me to learn, so at least we have that!”

Ren nodded as he thought. Trying to pinpoint the energies within the orks was impossible, and yet he tried regardless. The flow within Ukkar and the other two was like a river. To try analyzing it was like trying to watch a single droplet flowing down a waterfall. You can attempt to guess its approximate area, but tracking it is a total impossibility. At least at his current level of power.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

Ren stood and began approaching the orks, Cella behind him sat and watched. Though unable to understand their words, she still was curious.

“You possess no mana?” Ren questioned the orks.

“Mana? No. Of course not, it is not a thing of orks.” Ukkar replied.

“Then how do you empower your weapons to be so strong? A wooden spear tipped with stone should never have hurt a golem such as that.” Ren’s brows furrowed as he looked amongst the orks.

The orks smiled. One of the other orks replied. “We use the energy of our body. This way, a weapon becomes as strong as the body.”

“Your stamina?” Ren asked.

The third ork replied, “Stamina? I do not understand the word you used. We call such a thing, the energy of the body.”

Ren sighed. “Ok, so, you use the energy of the body to empower your weapons. How? It is the energy within your muscles, it is endurance and dexterity. It is not some force of power to be summoned forth.”

Ukkar butted into the conversation. “Energy is what you do with it, energy is whatever you make of it.”

This made Ren think for a moment. Is energy capable of doing anything I will it to do? Is mana not needed to enchant a weapon such as the orks had? Is all energy able to transfer between internal and external states?

Ren had far too many questions, and not nearly enough ways to answer them. However, his troubled thoughts were blown away as the orks stood and gave him a menacing look.

“It’s time to run!”

Ren sighed and relayed the message to Cella. They both did their best to catch up to the already running orks. It was like chasing a horse at full gallop, if it so desired, it would leave you in the dust. If it was nice, it might let you catch up later.

The two ran until exhaustion, their feet and legs aching as they pushed themselves hard. Cella, being able to boost herself with the trick of her mana, was able to remain caught up with Ren, even less tired than he. However as hours continued to pass, the toll of her ability began to become clear as she fought off far greater bouts of exhaustion.

The two stood in a clearing exhausted and tired. The orks were nowhere to be seen. Their stamina pools were dwindling, as they did their best to allow the energy to regenerate.

A rustling in nearby bushes caught Ren’s attention. His eldritch eyes caught a glimpse of the being hiding inside of it. A hair creature crouched within it. The energy coming off the being told Ren it was quite strong, but far from a high tier of power. The beast held a great club, which told of it having enough intelligence to fashion a weapon.

The beastly creature stood and stared down from its full height. It stood taller than the orks, and far broader. Such a feat made humans look to be children before it.

Ren sighed as he felt the exhaustion deep within his bones. The sun was far past midday, they had been running for forever. Cella glanced at him and nodded. She grasped a branch, her life affinity pouring into the weapon. The branch strengthened and became far tougher.

Ren pulled free his knife and revolver. Six bullets loaded, he wasn’t allowed to use magic to summon more. It did feel like bullshit to him though that Cella was allowed to use mana to empower herself, while he didn’t even summon more bullets. Well, at least what she was doing was to learn to fight as the orks did.

Ren fired off all six rounds at the beast. Without his sneak attack bonus, his damage was quite lacking. A great roar escaped the bipedal creature as it swung down at Cella. Enraged by the attacks from Ren, it attacked with reckless fury.

She managed to dodge the blows and swing for its legs. The blow was powerful, but only left minor damage on the being.

Ren began to run into the fight as he used analyse on the beast.

Bugbear Lvl 16

It swung for Ren as he lowered himself below the log being used as a club. He struck swiftly, cutting deep into the flesh between two ribs. A great roar came forth from it as Cella too attacked.

Her blow came low across the back of its ankle, the blow was powerful enough to sweep out its foot. Crashing to the ground, the bugbear was open for a flurry of stabs by Ren. Using his great dexterity he sliced open the neck of the beast. Within long moments, it died.

The two sighed relief at how fast they were able to take care of the creature. Ren was slightly disappointed by not yet gaining another level, though he did imagine things would slow down level-wise after his ascension.

The three orks cheered from above where the two had slain the bugbear.

Ukkar added, “I knew you could do it!” Before he laughed alongside the other orks.

Ren shouted up to him, “Oh, so you didn’t abandon us then? Just scared of a little fight, huh?”

The ork looked slightly hurt by the comment, but the other kept smiling.

Their journey continued as the orks kept a slower pace, allowing the humans to remain only a short distance behind them.