The act of learning is the process of cultivating the mind. In this way, even mortals could gain immortality through the legacy they leave behind.

~Ogma, God of Eloquence and Inspiration

The art of studying a new technique was different for everyone. It was a matter of focus and frame of mind. Crow used his breathing techniques and Soul Carving to settle his mind and prepare himself to focus on the content within the ring. As always, he let the wood under his hands and knife tell him what was within, and he brought it out.

After a few hours, he couldn’t maintain his focus and let the energy flowing through his carving solidify. No matter how many carvings he made, feeling that little bit of his Soul infusing into the wood was euphoric. It never bothered him that he lost a part of his Soul’s energy because, with his Soulverse, it recovered fairly quickly. However, his connection with each carving couldn’t be erased—or at least he didn’t think so.

It made him wonder what would happen if he died. The idea of his carvings losing their energy somehow upset him. Still, if that happened, he wondered if others would be able to imbue it with their own power. Maybe it’d become a Soul-Linked item. The more he thought about it, the more he felt that was probably what would happen. It could already be considered a Soul-Linked artifact, but it was linked to him. If their Soul was powerful enough, they might even be able to refine it and erase his mark on it.

Looking down at the figurine in his hand, he frowned. It was a woman he’d never seen before and yet knew who it was. The face was blank, like all his figurines, but her curly hair was shoulder-length, and the curve of her jaw was familiar. The thing that threw him off was her chest was definitely not flat.

The energy coming off it was unique to her, but Crow wasn’t quite sure what it was. Holding it for a while, the only thing that came to mind was ‘indomitable.’ An unwillingness to be conquered, which only led him to question her background even more.

Despite his questions, he felt at peace and his Mindspace at its prime state to absorb knowledge. He tossed the figurine into his Vortex Pin and sent his consciousness into the wooden ring attached to his finger. The first thing that caught his eyes was its name—Blood Thorn. However, as he absorbed all the stages, his eyes grew as wide as his gaping mouth.

This was a Wood affinity technique similar to what he’d taught himself. His method was crude in comparison—no, if he was honest, it was complete trash. The technique listed in the ring was simply a piece of art—a masterwork technique. There was no way everyone had a similar ability. It made him think that the gates closer to the center of the henge might contain the best techniques, while the outer ring most likely had supplementary skills. If that was the case, they had already gifted them part of the legacy, but only if they had the eyes to see it.

In fact, Crow couldn’t imagine a more fitting gift for him, and if he left with nothing else, he’d be content. This Blood Thorn technique easily reached low Heaven grade, or at the very least, high Sky grade. It might even rank higher than he thought because he couldn’t understand one of the circles. It was so profound that he’d need a bit of luck to gain an initial understanding.

This was the first time he’d heard the term ‘circle’ associated with a technique, but a small diagram explained it. The ability had four circles independent of each other, meaning he could learn any of them without understanding the others. Three circles overlapped each other while the fourth surrounded them. It represented how they were linked together and remained independent.

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Each circle on its own was maybe a low Sky grade skill, and he could learn the entire thing while ignoring the other circles. However, their overlapping parts made it hard to determine the technique’s actual grade. The last circle was called Seeding. It wasn’t something he fully grasped because it was like a foundational method that would make the technique even more profound.

The diagram was enlightening because it resembled how he’d staged his other techniques. Following that line of thought, Seeding would be like his Auras, which he could use to enhance the different skills within the technique. He felt Seeding contained something much more profound—a concept beyond or above an aura. Hidden within that circle was a secret, and he thirsted for that knowledge.

Sighing, he took his focus from it because he lacked the time. Instead, he focused on the other three: Bramble, Vine, and Barrier. Of those three, he only had time to gain a minor success in one of them, so he had to choose.

Bramble was the study of using the wood element to harden his skin. Bramble, Bark, Wood, and Petrification was the linear growth within that circle, and each stage had multiple sub-stages. Interestingly, it explained merge points between this circle and the other ones at each stage.

Vine was an attack, but Crow felt it would shine if used as a control type ability. It could entangle, whip, restrict his opponent, and be a nuisance to anyone contending against it. There was no linear growth like Bramble, but it had its own set of circles that acted like modifications to the Vine spell. Thorns, Petrification, and Elasticity were just a few of the mods, and each of those had a linear growth. For example, Thorns could upgrade to Blood Drinker Thorns which was like a vampiric ability. The initial Vine spell was more like a whip that he could summon, but the best part was he could call it out of anything with dense Wood Mana, including his own body.

The third circle was Barrier, similar to what he’d created in the past. However, this circle put his measly accomplishments to shame. The method described in his artifact was the proper way to generate thorn walls or barriers. It even had diagrams for several shapes he could use to create his bramble-like barriers, and it explained why they’d be beneficial in specific scenarios. It had the least variation out of all the circles, mainly because it had one purpose. Its true capabilities were only showcased when he learned the other circles and combined those skills with his barrier. Blood Drinker Thorns mixed with Petrification would ensure the barrier was practically impenetrable against anyone on the same level as him.

That sounded awesome but would take a lot of time and comprehension. Of the three, he wasn’t sure what to choose and realized he had made a mistake. He should have asked Hooligan and Munro what their artifact ability was. It would help him decide which circle would help his team the most.

Without Ghosting, he had lost a significant advantage in speed and movement. Without Myriad of Beasts, he couldn’t just fly away. Both of which eliminated his escape techniques. The only thing was confident in was his ability to fight. Because of his Body tempering, he was sure that those physical changes couldn’t be suppressed. Also, Night Fire was not a technique, but he’d save that as a trump card because anyone who saw it would have to die. Knowing his abilities were suppressed, it wouldn’t take much for them to guess he had a type of earthly or heavenly flame in his body, making him a target.

Last, he still had his weapons and could summon whatever supplies from his Shield. Out of those three choices, he really couldn’t decide which to choose. On the one hand, he was weak, and Bramble would make up that deficit—Barrier, to a lesser extent, would help too, but both choices were more passive. They were suited for supplementary skills.

After debating it for thirty minutes, he felt Vine was the best choice for him, but maybe not for the group. If that was the case, he could always switch focus after the first Shrine. Either way, Crow liked the idea of using Vine to help him jam up his enemy and give him time to gain some distance to focus on archery. He didn’t feel close combat was the best option without his other abilities, especially against beasts.

After a week, he was satisfied with his progress and met up with the others at the predetermined time.