That was how Alnea had begun ‘Forging’ his Spirit. It did bring him a lot of pain and suffering, but that was not enough to shake his will. Rather, as he had kept ‘Forging’ his Spirit, he had noticed that not only was it increasing his Spirit Power, but it was also tempering his Heart. That had added another reason to why he should keep using the Spirit Forging method, further strengthening his resolve.
The greatest contributors to that resolve though, were his Oaths. They may be the reason as to why he had to force himself through such pain, but they were also the main reason as to why he was able to resolve himself to go through that pain. Because he was Alnea Oathkeeper, and he kept all of his Oaths.
Of course, he did not keep his Oaths just for the sake of keeping his Oaths. He kept his Oaths for the people he had taken them for. That was his way of showing his determination as to how much those people meant that. That was the case with his father, that was the case with his friends, and that was the case with his mother, with his master.
Besides, there was also the point that if he ever failed in keeping his Oath, then he would end up getting devoured by the Origin Sea. That was the price of his Oaths, of his Roots, his connection with the Origin Sea. So, whether it was for the sake of not being devoured by the Origin Sea, or for the sake of the people he had taken his Oaths for, Alnea had to keep his Oaths no matter what. Even if that meant having his Spirit suffer the pain of being cut apart by knives of melting metals inside out, leaving a fire raging behind in its wake.
Fortunately, his master was also his mother. She did not give birth to him, but she was his mother, nonetheless. It was natural then, that she could not bear to see him suffer. As such, she had planned his training in such a way, that most of them time when he ‘Forged’ his Spirit, he did it out in Bright Light Forest, in the freezing cold winds of the winter, which he used to counter, and balance out the burning sensation that his Spirit was suffering. It was still painful, and extremely uncomfortable, but a little more bearable than ‘Forging’ his Spirit back at big sis Serena’s mansion.
And so, with an unwavering determination, Alnea continued circulating the threads of Oren in his Spirit, one round after another, making it reach every part of his Spirit, as it continued to slice, and burn his Spirit from its inside, until finally, he sensed that the reserves of his Spirit Power had fallen below ten units. That was one of the abilities he had gained after his Heart had attained its Serenity, grasping how much Spirit Power he had. Not with an immaculate accuracy, of course. But as his Spirit Power had increased over the past month, so had his precision. Besides, for his current needs, an approximation was enough.
Sensing that his Spirit Power was about to fall below ten units, Alnea stopped circulating the threads of Oren inside his Spirit, and began directing them back into the Origin Sea, from where he had borrowed them. That costed him a few more units of Spirit Power, but it was better than losing control over the Oren when he would run out of the Spirit Power, and have it ravage his Spirit. And with that, his session of Forging his Spirit finally came to an end.
Withdrawing from his Spirit State, Alnea let out a sigh, as an urge to just forget everything, and rest for a while rose up within him. He could not do that though. While the idea of a rest was tempting, the torment that he had just been through had him sweat even in the freezing weather of Oronir’s month, completely drenching the shirt he was wearing. Sitting still, with his body covered in snow, as more snow kept piling up on him, would mean that his body would really end up freezing. And while that was alright when he was Forging his Spirit, after he was done with it, how was he to counter the freeze?
That thought made it easier for Alnea to resist his urges, as he shrugged off the blanket that nature had woven for him, and pushed himself up from the stump of the tree that he had been sitting on. It was a large stump, larger than even himself. If he wished it so, then he could have laid back on the stump, stretching his hands above his head, and he still would not have managed to cover the entire stretch of the stump.
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Apparently, the stump had once been one of the largest trees in the outskirts of the Bright Light Forest. That was the reason his master had chosen it for the place of his regular training, before making a clearing around it. After all, the whole reason they had come to the Bright Light Forest was for him to use the cold winds of these mountainous forests to counter the pain of Forging his Spirit. They could not allow the trees to get in the way and ruin the plan.
Besides, that was just one function of the clearing. Other than allowing the cold winds to come at him in full force, the clearing also acted as a sign of warning to the Oren Beasts in the Forest. It did not matter if it was only the outskirts of the Bright Light Forest. It was still part of one of the three Forbidden Areas of the Rianra, and the one with the greatest number of Oren Beasts. There were still quite a number of Oren Beasts in these parts of the forest, even if they were only in their Infant or Adolescent Stage.
It was still fine if an Infant Stage Oren Beast came at him, but if an Adolescent Stage Oren Beast, one comparable to False Wanderers in strength, charged at him, then there was not much he would be able to do. And even if it was an Infant Stage Oren Beast, if it attacked him while he was Forging his Spirit, the outcome would still be the same. Though his master always kept on telling him that he needed to learn how to handle unexpected situations, that did not mean that she would let him fall into such dangerous situations. Even her strictness had its limits.
And so, to keep him safe from the unexpected attacks of Oren Beasts while he would be busy Forging his Spirit, his master created the clearing for him. Imbuing it with her presence, and some sort of Arcana, or Aspects—he did not know in detail how she did it— she had made it so that no Oren Beasts, even those of Mystic Stage, would even dare to get close to the clearing, allowing him to Forge his Spirit in peace.
However, the protection lasted only for the area within the clearing. Outside of it, there was nothing stopping the Oren Beasts, especially the Infant Stage Oren Beasts, to come after him. So, instead of directly walking out of the clearing, Alnea stood near the large stump, and stretched out his sore limbs and body, getting rid of the numbness, while trying to loosen his muscles, and getting ready for what was about to come. Of course, there was one more thing he had to do before stepping out of the clearing, and into the forest.
He may have changed his attitude towards Oaths, but that did not change the fact that his Oaths strengthened his Spirit. Even if it was less than what he would get from Forging his Spirit, it was still equivalent to practising with a Perfect Grade Arcana. And with the situation that he was in, he could not neglect that amount of progress. Furthermore, his Oaths also strengthened his Roots, and consequently, his Domain, both of which would be quite essential in him creating the path to the Origin Rank.
Towards his ultimate aim of reaching the Rank of Origin Wanderer, any little help would count. What’s more, making and keeping his Oath also counted towards tempering his Heart, and making him more disciplined. Besides, deep in his heart, he knew that even though he was different from the other Alnea, he was still Alnea Oathkeeper, the man who always kept his Oaths, unless, of course, they would defeat the purpose of why he had taken them in the first place, but he would never let such a circumstance happen, not again.
“I, Alnea Oathkeeper, am taking an Oath, that I will run through the forest, and reach the cabin in the west in a quarter of an hour, without being caught by any Oren Beasts.”
As soon as he took his Oath, Alnea felt their chains manifest in the depths of the Origin Sea, and wrap around the spherical shell of the other chains, as the Mysteries of the lineages of Day, and Night, manifested around his Spirit, entrapping it in their pressure, trying to squeeze it from all its sides. And this happened when his Spirit Power had been almost exhausted. Fortunately, after a month of Forging his Spirit, his Spirit had already gotten used to bearing large amounts of pain, and pressure. As such, the headache from the chains of his Oath was not even enough to make him flinch.
Besides, it was not even that dangerous of an Oath. He knew the route to the cabin in the west very well. It was the place he always ran to after completing a round of Spirit Forging, the place where his master was waiting for him. The place where Yuri, and Cecilia would be waiting for him. Thinking of the familiar faces, looking at him with their smiles, Alnea could not help smiling to himself, as he sprang out from the clearing, running directly towards his destination, towards the people waiting for him.