Chapter 38 — Those Who Survive and Carry On (Part I)
“Lucky shot,” a see-through Yana made of fire teased him, raising a celebratory mug. “Avril almost got a chance to show how brave he is!”
“No thanks,” a fire Avril deadpan declined.
Owen, also made of fire, snorted into his flame mug, pretending not to be laughing at his friend’s expense.
Toren shook his head. “I hadn’t expected it to pull Avril’s trap right out of the ground like that!”
“I know, right!” Fire Yana laughed.
Owen rolled his eyes. “That’s what happens when someone puts direroot in the feed for long enough. The real question is: who’s been poisoning [Farmer] Jorah’s striders?”
“Not one we need to solve,” Fire-Avril pointed out.
“Unless they pay us extra.”
Yana nodded and gave Toren a big grin. “Right.”
They all clinked flame mugs against his outstretched one and downed the refreshing ale inside. Even the table they placed their empty mugs on was see-through and made of fire.
“Another round!” Avril called to the ghostly flaming barmaid.
Ah, that’s what it was…
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Toren stirred toward wakefulness and whatever grand realization he had just made was fading into wherever dreams went. Groggily shifting onto his side, he reached over to embrace Yana.
Wha-?
The pain of jamming his fingers against an unforgiving stone wall brought back the memory of the past tenday.
He was alive.
Yana was gone.
Again, he had survived.
Worried for the others, Toren sent out his [Mana Sensing] and listened for sounds of struggle, but all seemed remarkably peaceful and, with the exception of Harthol and his pack of hounds, the others were readily accounted for.
Toren breathed out a sigh, and rolled onto his back, looking up at the thatch above—and the many glinting notifications awaiting his attention.
He was clean and his hair didn’t itch. Unless he had gained a cleanliness Ability, someone had washed him, leaving him undressed under a thin cloth.
He was lying on his fur bedroll, but…
Toren lifted up the sheet to check.
Another cloth had been folded under his rear. How long had he been unconscious?
The wood stool set by his bedside and his lack of thirst suggested someone had been watching over him. Maybe it was all precaution and it had just been a night’s rest? The farmhouse’s enchantments being restored suggested that it had been longer.
The claim stakes still forming a stable barrier around the property meant that he should be fine to continue resting and to think. He needed time to process his recent life choices and almost dying again, but before that, there were the gains from the battle to reclaim the stead and the fight with the assassin to assess.
A flick of his will brought a pair of shards from the Mirror of Truth into view to confirm one of his suspicions.
For assisting in defeating a level 16 [Assassin],
800 XP Awarded.
Keep up the good work!
Congratulation! You have reached level 5!
+1 Ability Upgrade Point.
+1 Attribute Upgrade Point.
+1 General Skill Unlock.
Lvl 5 Profession Ability selection available.
He had reached level 5. Careful what you wish for, the gods might hear, huh?
Laiya must have provided enough support by delaying the [Assassin] to have the XP split like it was.
Toren wasn’t at all happy with how that fight had played out. If the [Assassin] hadn’t wanted the mother and daughters for afterward, Warnel’s daughter would have died there. He couldn’t have stopped it.
But because of the threat to Laiya and her family, he had gained something important from the encounter. He now knew how [Sacrificial Guardian] worked. Even after he figured out how to circulate his blood, it stayed active. Any wound that would be fatal regardless of his ability to heal it was probably enough to activate it. Also, the deactivation was just as immediate and troublesome as he worried it might be. If he didn’t heal himself enough before the threat ended, there was a fair chance he would drop dead on the spot.
The way the Trait separated his consciousness from his body’s condition was a welcome surprise, though—and probably the reason for [Sacrificial Guardian] being a viridium-rarity Trait. As long as his core stayed intact, he could fight.
Moving his body was an issue though. He needed to get a puppeteering-type Ability. [Divided Focus] might really be necessary, too.
There was more to check before looking at the Ability selection and unlockable Skills. When he had forcibly circulated his blood, Mirror shards had appeared, and he had yet to go through them. Just thinking about the ones he sought caused them to expand in his view.
[Burning Blood] increased to Mid proficiency.
[Slow Bleeding] increased to Mid proficiency.
You have accomplished a feat of will. Evolve [Slow Bleeding] to [Control Blood]?
Toren blinked.
He was already being given a chance to evolve an Ability? Before its first Rank up?
From iron to gold?!
Toren mentally poked at [Control Blood] hoping to get a description and was rewarded with a new shard.
[Control Blood]
All blood contains mana. You have gained the ability to manipulate blood through the mana contained within.
Active:
Seize the mana within blood and move the surrounding blood to your will.
There was no mention of the Ability being limited to his own blood… It was a step on the path to becoming a [Blood Mage]. Rather, surely it was a [Blood Mage] Ability.
Jumping two rarity levels was enough to have him eager to make the change, but he tempered his excitement. There was no need to rush, and he had yet to check the proficiency threshold improvements for his current Abilities.
Burning Blood (Rank 1, Proficiency: Mid)
The strength of your emotions has caused your blood to become saturated with fire-aspect mana. Healing and enhancing effects can be targeted to specific locations within the body.
Active:
Ignite your blood. Light the fires within to increase strength, stamina recovery, resistances, and wound recovery.
Passive:
Increased recovery from wounds and exertion. Increased fire affinity. Strong emotions stir your blood, granting a boost to strength, minor resistance to magic, and resistance to cold.
Targeted enhancement and healing. It was the expected efficiency breakthrough that he had been working toward.
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Slow Bleeding (Rank 1, Proficiency: Mid)
Your control over your blood allows you to limit its flow and improve clotting, even affecting internal bleeding.
Active:
Consciously slow the flow of blood from wounds. Magically accelerated clotting.
Passive:
Bleeding wounds are significantly less likely to be fatal. Clotting speed increased.
And for the [Slow Bleeding] breakthrough, control was extended to internal bleeding.
Both were solid upgrades.
Toren was glad he pulled up the descriptions before deciding. There was no mention of ‘clotting’ in the [Control Blood] description. That would be lost in the Ability evolution.
Toren narrowed his eyes. Or would it?
He reread the [Control Blood] Ability description.
[Control Blood]
All blood contains mana. You have gained the ability to manipulate blood through the mana contained within.
Active:
Seize the mana within blood and move the surrounding blood to your will.
“...manipulate blood through the mana contained within…”
Was manipulating blood’s ability to clot included in ‘manipulate blood’?
Toren strongly suspected it was—maybe not at first acquisition but almost surely as a threshold breakthrough.
So, most likely he would lose his improved clotting in the short term. Though, if he was going in the [Blood Mage] direction and intending to shape his blood externally, similar to a [Water Manipulation] Ability, then being able to bleed freely might be important.
Then again, if he didn’t take the evolution, there was a fair chance it would be offered as a separate Ability in his Ability selection. Which alternately meant taking the evolution would free up one of the offered slots for a potentially better Ability.
Convinced, Toren selected the evolution.
Tiny centipedes began to crawl through his head as the imparted knowledge rearranged itself. Or at least, that was how it felt.
Ugh.
His first time upgrading an Ability since gaining a god-sponsored Profession and he was already feeling nostalgia for the numbing divine mindspace provided by a full-featured Mirror of Truth.
Selecting entirely new Abilities would likely be worse.
To distract from worrying himself further, he pulled up the remaining notification shards.
[Pain Tolerance] increases to 5
Willpower increases to 18
Perception increases to 15
[Focus Rage] increases to 3
[Stealth] increases to 18
You have accomplished a feat of will. The skill [Unassailable Tower of the Mind] has been unlocked. Would you like to add this Skill?
[Severe Wound Recovery] increases to 5
Constitution increases to 13
Yeah, none of those were surprising after what he went through—is what he’d like to say, but a viridian skill (that he certainly couldn’t afford anytime soon) unlocked and, not one, but three attribute increases???
The attribute increases alone were a very welcome and unexpected sight, especially Willpower increasing to 18. That one alone was worth 5 attribute upgrade points. With the attribute growth penalty increasing by 1 for every two points above 10, Toren had always been one to save his points for growing attributes he could no longer raise through training.
Grizzled old Sellim had repeatedly stressed the importance of only using attribute upgrade points to specialize one’s best attribute, best two at most—stressed that specializing was the difference between those who were elite and those who were mundane.
Toren pulled up his attributes.
Strength: 16
Constitution: 13
Dexterity: 14
Agility: 12
Wisdom: 12
Intellect: 8
Willpower: 18
Perception 15
Appearance: 8
Charisma: 8
Luck: 10
Attribute Upgrade Points: 4
He had followed Sellim’s advice for 15 levels, focusing on the attributes a bow-using [Hunter] would need: Strength and Perception. No, 20 levels now. And every time, those three 8’s made his eye twitch. Would it really hurt to put two upgrade points into Appearance?
And somehow, Willpower still ended up being his highest attribute! By Sellim’s logic, shouldn’t he be putting his points into Willpower?!
Four upgrade points was enough to raise Strength again. But… with [Burning Blood], Toren was no longer sure that he was at the limit of what he could train his physical attributes to.
As long as he and the Hatterwicks were safe for the short term, he could afford to wait and test out that supposition.
That left him with one last preparatory task remaining. Should he choose a new general skill to influence the available Abilities to select from? Or choose it to synergize with the selected Ability?
With a deep breath, Toren pulled up the choices for his new level 5 Ability.
Available abilities (choose one):
Flurry of Blows (DEX)
Rage Strike (STR)
Pain Resistance (WIL)
War Shout (CHA)
Gauge Your Enemy (PER)
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『Name: Toren of Theravos
Race: Human
Age: 20
Profession 1: Level 5 Burningblood Berserker (400/10000)
Mana: 72/72
Strength: 16
Constitution: 12 → 13
Dexterity: 14
Agility: 12
Wisdom: 12
Intellect: 8
Will Power: 17 → 18
Perception 14 → 15
Appearance: 8
Charisma: 8
Luck: 10
Attribute Upgrade Points: 4
Traits:
Sacrificial Guardian
Abilities:
Burning Blood (Rank 1) Proficiency: Low → Mid
Control Blood (Rank 1) Proficiency: Low
Ability Upgrade Points: 4
Profession Skills:
Pain Tolerance 4 → 5
Severe Wound Recovery 3 → 5
Berserker Knife Arts 1
Spear 9
Club 8
Focus Rage 2 → 3
Combat Awareness 3
Intimidate 2
Skills:
Theravos Language (Speaking) 15
Theravos Language (Reading/Writing) 10
Religion 10
Meditation 5
Bone Strengthening 3
Hunting 20
Butchering 13
Archery 19
Stealth 17 → 18
Arithmetic 4
Foraging 16
Tree Felling 6
Running 12
Mana Sensing 14
Danger Sensing 1
Wound Binding 8』