Cyril Sarnath
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Chapter 164
🕑 Added 2023-04-28 19:32:39 +0000 UTCKeynes turned to Kora as she suddenly exhaled in elation. His alarms quickly faded away, seeing her grin as she relaxed her pose. She had been doing these strange katas for a while now.
“Don’t tell me…”
“I did it.”
After a second of deliberation, he asked for clarification, “a stage or a technique?”
“Technique, of course. I told you I’m out of essence for now.”
“Yes, you did. Congratulations,” Keynes said.
I cannot help but notice a pang of jealousy radiating from you, master, Alice lazily said from his shoulder.
And I cannot help but notice that you should be scouting, he countered dryly.
I did and found nothing out of the ordinary. Monsters and trees everywhere.
No ascenders? He asked. So far they hadn’t run into anyone which seemed oddly unlikely.
None.
“So how does it feel? What does your profile say?”He turned his attention to Kora.
“Technique of Lesser Hand Combat with a word ‘innate’ in a bracket.”
“We were right then. Somehow, you’re able to form a technique by yourself by following an…instinct, was it?”
“I guess,” she admitted with a touch of hesitation. “But I wouldn’t have done it without you, Keynes. Your rate of improvement is also crazy high. You pushed me harder than Natalia had ever done. She’d have loved to train with you. She can be freaky about these things.”
“Yep but why am I not feeling the same instinct as you? There must be more to this.”
“There is,” Lem Solaris said, appearing in the clearing without a warning or stopping time. “But not what you’re thinking it is.” Keynes felt his bond go very quiet. Alice was terrified of Lem Solaris.
“Lem Solaris.” They awkwardly welcomed her. It was the first time she appeared to both of them at the same time. It was a good opportunity to learn more though.
“Your buffs—the Rapid Learning and the Photographic Memory—failed in learning the technique despite practising the same moves because buffs obey different spiritual laws. There’s a reason why the System wipes savant-level abilities upon ascension to Level 1. Your bodies are designed to function without them in the early stages of your development, that is prior to Level 11.”
“They helped me max out my attributes,” Keynes argued. If he only played it well…maybe he’d find out why the System hadn’t removed the Photographic Memory upon his ascension.
“They helped you so much that you’re stuck and clueless now. Perfect State should never be taken lightly and believing that a few mere buffs can trivialise it is audacious.” She replied.
“So, if the System clears all the peculiarities upon an ascension, does it mean we are technically blank slates at Level 1?” Kora inquired quietly as not really expecting them to hear her, but with their stats even a whisper was loud and clear.
Lem Solaris squinted at her, while standing straight like a stick. Even as a child, she was creepy or maybe because of it. He couldn’t decide.
“There is more to ascenders. You aren’t blank slates with different Talents and the same initial attributes. You all vary in character and aptitude and other very nuanced details. All these minor things pile up and make you all different from one another.” She raised her hand, stopping Keynes from asking questions. “I won’t speak about technicalities. It’s redundant information to both of you. But you have to remember that you will excel at different things, often unrelated to your Talents or skills. Kora Kowalska, you’re a natural-born hand combat fighter. And even though your Talent seems to be a support in nature, don’t forget that you can boost your own offensive skills. As for you Keynes Kid, well, hand combat isn’t your forte. And you should seek excellence elsewhere. That said, I must change the goal I gave you. With the Technique of Lesser Hand Combat, Kora Kowalska is out of reach for you. You’d have to level up to equalise or gain on her but you’re not ready to level up yet, you don’t even know how to max out your attributes at the current Level.”
“I—”
“I didn’t finish,” she cut him off. “For the time being, I want you to keep training daily. You may not feel it but it helps you. As for your new goal, you will focus on the current global sub-boss dominion’s ranking. You’ll take it seriously. The System doesn’t create these challenges for nothing.”
She extended her hand to Kora.
“Here, the reward for reaching your first goal.”
Kora accepted the skill shard with a trembling hand.
“[Empower]?”
“By channelling mana into the skill you can become physically stronger and faster with some benefits to recovery and stamina. It is useful in hand combat.”
“I…thank you.”
“Actually,” Lem Solaris muttered and Keynes asked himself how this tiny child could appear so threatening to him at times. Her aura was of a non-ascended person. She, of course, heard his thoughts as she gave him a glare but didn’t comment on them. “An additional goal for you, Keynes Kid, would be to find your own aptitude.”
“I like gardening,” he said but his hopes about learning some new secrets were immediately crushed.
“I didn’t mean hobby. Aptitude isn’t something you necessarily have to like. Discover what you’re good at and if I am satisfied, I would consider it a success.”
“You don’t sound very confident,” Keynes said before he realised what he did. For a split second, he thought Lem Solaris would slap him but she only scoffed like an annoyed kid.
“It’s because I don’t have experience in dealing with such fragile entities like you so I have to adjust my expectations and play by ear,” she said then sharply glanced at Kora who squeaked in surprise. “Ask your question, Kora Kowalska, you earned it.”
“I…am just curious what kind of ‘entities’ you are usually dealing with if we... You don’t need…” she trailed off, seeing Lem Solaris’ chilling stare.
“If they aren’t capable of busting a planet with a single spell, they are beneath my radar. Now focus, I will be watching your progress…” She trailed off and the atmosphere got heavier. “And be warned, if you recklessly head into danger and I will be forced to act and save you, you will regret it. Sorely. There will be punishment.”Her words were accompanied by an immense sense of dread that made them pathetic and insignificant. Somehow, Lem Solaris showed them her true nature or so Keynes thought.
Neither of them could move or even speak as Lem Solaris continued her monologue.
“I was tasked with training you but the specifics were left to me. If you disappoint me, young ascenders, you will regret it for millenia. Now go, and show me that you aren’t only a key to open rifts or a booster to others.”
She vanished and with her the oppressive pressure that kept them immobilised. They exhaled, then shared a shocked look. How could they expect Lem Solaris to go ballistic?
She is terrifying, master, Alice whispered as if afraid that the god-like child could overhear her. Perhaps she did.
I know, Keynes agreed. Any idea who she is?
No, master. I do not wish to think of…her.
After Alice fled somewhere, Keynes and Kora returned to their temporary house. The warning still echoed in their heads and it made them hesitate. They knew Lem Solaris was watching and listening and they didn’t know what to do with this information.
“We should rethink the plan,” Kora said.
Was the plan that set off Lem Solaris’s reaction? After farming some extra items and skill shards in the last week, they felt confident enough for Keynes to fly ahead and scout the strength of the forest’s debuff. Kora’s cultivation helped her resist the debuff at the moment but she wanted to be at least in the Medium stage before crossing the 50-kilometre mark.
“I don’t think this is it.” Keynes shook his head. “It sounds like she doesn’t want us to rely on her when it comes to risk taking.”
“That’s…a good point,” Kora agreed. “It’s kinda weird once she pointed it out though. Knowing it could definitely affect our decisions. But at the same time, I can’t help but worry about the other ascenders in the dominion. What if we run into a large group and they have powerful spells?”
“You’re thinking of Hunter and his team,” he noticed.
“Not precisely about him but it would be presumptuous on our part to believe others aren’t doing the same thing. Sooner or later we will run into someone and the closer to the centre it happens, the stronger such a group would be.”
“We don’t know how exactly the debuff works. It may not be based on strength.”Even as he said these words, Keynes knew he wasn’t fooling anyone. Each time they moved their camp closer to the centre, the monster got stronger and the debuff’s effect increased, though they were still clueless what it did. They quietly worried that the moment the debuff would become obvious it would be too late but tried to not think too hard about it.
Once they realised that their discussion about Lem Solaris’s possible motive was pointless they fell into silence. The self-assembling house was a true wonder but at the same time it didn’t have dimensional runes or formations built in yet. They couldn’t be stored in the dimensional pouches which made carrying the house futile as it was quite bulky and heavy even for ascenders with 35 points in Strength.
“What would you say about sparring to test out the technique?”
***
An innate technique was busted. Keynes marvelled at Kora’s fluid and precise movements. But he also noticed an emergence of a pattern. The realisation didn’t help him much as there was always a surprise waiting for him. No matter how ready he was, he always was a little off balance or too late. It only motivated him to push himself harder. It also sucked that his attributes remained at 0%.
Lem Solaris knew he was having a problem but decided to not help him. Either he wasn’t ready to learn it or the System was stopping her from sharing the information. One way or another, he was screwed for now.
Their sparring did not last for an hour like usual as the chasm between Kora and Keynes was too wide now and she defeated him in a matter of seconds. If he stayed on his feet for longer than five minutes without hitting the ground, it meant she toyed with him.
He didn’t want to learn how badly the fight would go with [Empower]. And on top of that, once she got to the Medium stage, she was going to level up while he was stuck at his current Level.
I have to find out what is a thing I am good at. It was easier said than done. But I will figure it out.
“Shoot me with [Mana Shot],” Kora said. “Just don’t charge up too much mana into it.”
[Mana Shot] was one of six skill shards they had found so far and one of two offensive ones they badly needed. Keynes took [Mana Shot] while Kora got [Conjure Weapon]. [Mana Shot] was a very straightforward skill that dealt damage based on the amount of mana channelled into it. At its minimum it one-shot any Level 1 and Level 2s up to rare rarity. A few Level 3s they encountered took 2-3 shots or 3 seconds of charging up to die from a single shot.
[Conjure Weapon] was a very different skill. It had a learning curve which made Kora excited for some reason. From what she explained, [Conjure Weapon] required strong mental control and without it the skill was rather useless. The upside seemed to be a high modifiability of the conjured weapon. Similar to [Mana Shot] it could be charged up to strengthen durability and attack value of the conjured weapon. Kora claimed that thanks to [Mental Link] it felt easy to use the skill.
The other four skills were borderline useful to them; [Light Bomb] didn’t do any damage and when Kora used it, it also blinded Keynes. [Enhanced Arrow] was for an archer, which neither of them was. [Nature Aura] sounded appealing, especially in the middle of a forest but their location worked against her and she was overwhelmed by the amount of information and stopped testing it for now. The last skill shard they found was called… [Wicked Laugh]. Nope. They didn’t even want to try this one.
“Ready?” Keynes took position at the other end of the clearing.
“Ready.”
“[Mana Shot]”A arrow-like projectile made out of pale blue energy shot toward Kora. She twisted to dodge it but its speed was too much even for Level 5 and it hit her in the shoulder.
“Ouch, that hurts.”
“Sorry.” Keynes took out a health potion and handed it to her. “Were you hoping to dodge my spell with your new technique?”
“No,” she replied. “Better. I have a feeling that it is time to learn another technique.”
Keynes shook his head in disbelief.
“You must be joking.”
