Chapter 29: Death Toll

Paragon of Mana

Ember awoke with a heavy head. Through bleary eyes, he saw a plastered white ceiling overhead and sighed in relief.

He didn’t find any missing limbs or fingers. Despite the lingering weakness in his body, he was alive and in one piece. Nothing was more important than that.

Flopping down onto the bedroll, Ember examined his surroundings. There were many other bedrolls like his, arrayed throughout the chamber, all occupied by patients of various ages. Most were unconscious, and their condition was far worse than his. He even caught sight of Talon, sleeping just one person over.

It seemed they were in some hall rooms that had been repurposed into an emergency infirmary. There was also a healer present. An elderly man with grey hair and a clean-shaven face, only marred by the wrinkles lining it. He didn’t seem to have noticed him, fully focused on attending to his patient on the other row.

Ember didn't bother him right away. Instead, he opened his status to note the changes. He had a deep premonition about some of them, though not all might be beneficial.

As he had presumed, there were more than a few things that baffled him.

Firstly, he seemed to have gained a new attunement. It was almost unprecedented before Class ascension.

It was probably a result of the skill Mind Wall that he didn't remember acquiring. And yet, here it was already at the third level.

While he was happy seeing progress in his racial tiers, Ember felt a headache mounting when thinking of the silver skill stone. He was supposed to keep nine skill slots free so that he could assimilate the skill stone once he reached Tier 5. Now, with Mind Wall taking up the space, he would have to wait until Tier 6 to have enough slots for the silver skill.

Unless, of course, he could get some slots through titles. Unfortunately, it was not quite as easy as it sounded. The Hunter title was the easiest, but it came with a skill of its own, taking away all its merit. Upgrading Gifted was no go either. The benefit it provided was far greater, but so were the requirements of Tier 7 in Race and Tier 4 in his mana. Most ascendants couldn’t even manage one of the requirements in their lifetime, much less achieve both before the age of fourteen.

Ember had high hopes of making it, but he feared it wouldn’t be any time soon. Perhaps he could find a mage to take him as their apprentice. If only it were easy to find a silver-class mage. Only they could take apprentices, and even then, it was limited to only two.

Lady Evelyn was his strongest bet, but she had likely used her privilege on her niece and nephews, not to mention she was on the northern plains on the same expedition as his father.

Ember didn't rack his brain over the topic and instead deliberated over the other changes in his mana foundation.

His mana circuit had improved a lot from the ordeal. Nearing completion, even one percent was a month’s work, but here he had gained a few months’ worth of progress in a few minutes.

His Mana Apertures had grown by five as well. Ember was delighted to have more apertures, though his expression stiffened upon noting the change in his breath of mana. From thirty-five breaths of mana, it had dwindled to twenty-nine. It was like they had been burned beyond recovery.

Hopefully, there was no lasting damage to his mana foundation. He didn't feel anything amiss. In contrast, his mana threaded far more smoothly through his channels, but that was decidedly due to the increased apertures and improvement in his mana circuit.

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Well, no matter, he thought, rising from the makeshift bed. With Mana Shaping, it would only take about three months to recover those lost breaths of mana.

As for his skill slots, Ember had reached Tier 4 from nothing; he wasn't afraid of hard work. Now, with four iron skills in his arsenal, Tier 5 would likely be a breeze.

On that note, he checked the description of his newly acquired skill.

[Mind Wall:

Reinforces mental defences against illusion, intrusion, compulsion, emotions, and other psionic disruptions.]

At least it wasn’t a useless skill. It was probably due to Mind Wall that he could still manage coherent thoughts; otherwise, that level sixty-eight lizard might already have fractured his mind.

Not only was his mind safe, it had also even opened his maiden attunement for him. Ember had thought he would have to wait until gaining some elemental skills to acquire one. Well, Mind was an element, though a rare one. Considering all of his other mental skills, it wasn’t truly inconceivable. Besides, if there were skills like mind control, it was prudent to have a skill like Mind Wall.

Finally, he accessed the status log to see if there was anything out of the ordinary. There were a lot of notifications on the creatures he was able to kill, and surprisingly, he got prompts for two mana skills as well.

Mana Augmentation and Mana Syphon. Both were of Iron rank. Unfortunately, he lacked slots to even claim one.

Done with all his inspections, Ember waved the screen off and stood up. Gingerly, he began creeping out of the chamber, only to be stopped by the elderly healer, who almost jumped to block his way.

It wasn't until the healer thoroughly examined him inside and out that he allowed him to leave.

Getting under the open sky, he found it was already noon. Ember had slept through the night. His stomach reeled at the realisation. Still, he asked around about everything he had missed after he fell unconscious.

The town of Desir was more active after yesterday’s incident. Small groups of Ascendant infantry marched around the town, with more deployed towards the hunting zones, while many busybodies paced about, none having the patience to talk to him.

Ember looked for someone familiar. The town itself hadn't faced any direct consequences. Most of the creatures hadn’t managed to breach past the valley, though many of its people weren’t as lucky. At least the reinforcements hadn't taken too long to arrive. Otherwise, even a few powerful silver-ranked beasts could have erased the town from the map.

He found Sunny in the dining hall of the inn. Sitting alone at a table, his little uncle was playing with his food, his eyes blank as he stared into the void.

"Hey.”

"Ah, Ember." Sunny jumped from his seat and pulled Ember into a hug. "How are you feeling?"

"I was fine," Ember said, hiding a smile. "But then you came hugging me."

Sunny smiled a little and offered him a seat next to him. It was a rare consideration from him.

Ember flopped down without ceremony. "How's the situation?"

Sunny had been awake throughout the night and had glimpsed all that had unfolded since the evening. According to him, only those who had ventured into the wilderness had suffered the worst from the monsters, their own group being the prime example. The town was almost fine, defended by its sentries, though a few of them had lost their lives in the defence.

"Where is Zephyr?" Ember asked. "She returned, didn’t she?"

"She's fine. Well, wounded defending against the silver creature..." Sunny paused.

“What is it?”

"It's Autumn and Lark... They... they've fallen to those creatures.”

Ember's face became ghastly pale. He opened his lips to say something but found no words.

"There's barely anything left of them," Sunny continued, bowing his head. "One of our guards also died trying to protect us, whereas the other groups were luckier, only losing three in total."

"But how?" Ember found his voice. "Autumn and Lark, they had protective amulets, no?"

Ember didn't need to hear the answer to that. He, too, had one. Unfortunately, against the relentless pursuit of a powerful iron creature, it almost became useless, burning away all the mana. Besides, his Tier 6 protective ward was of the finest quality. Not only could it recover mana, its craftsmanship was also impeccable. His father had been very prudent in getting it for him.

Yet even that hadn't managed to save him. The shield had only bought the necessary time for someone to rescue him from the ordeal.

With nothing else to do, Ember got himself a bowl of porridge. Sunny remained silent throughout, contrary to his usual behaviour, while Ember still couldn't believe that two of his companions were dead. Yes, he hadn't known them for long. Autumn was even kinda bratty and imperious towards him, but that was merely part and parcel of childish spontaneity. They were so young, so full of confidence and hope about their future, just like him.

Ember hadn’t even gotten to lead them in formation once, nor had he gotten any apology from Autumn for her... A forlorn sigh escaped his lips.

With meditation and deep focus, he tried to empty his mind. The task proved difficult. Ultimately, he left the inn to get some fresh air.

Ember strolled aimlessly. He didn’t cry, but images of their exuberant faces surfaced in his mind as he walked. He had thought himself much more insensitive towards others. It was one of the reasons he hadn’t managed to make a friend yet. But he wasn’t that insensitive. He just...

Unwittingly, he found himself on the road towards the wilderness. Despite recognising it, he still took the path. There were more sentries and soldiers stationed in the vicinity, obstructing anyone from venturing out into the wilderness.

Ember had no intention of doing so. He merely walked by the valley, eyeing the deep forest ahead.

Until he heard a shout. "It's you!"

He turned to find a girl.

"Why are you here? Planning on challenging some iron monster again?"

Ember was infuriated at once, but then he examined her with a more perceptive gaze. The girl was about Rain's age, draped in worn-out attire with dirt and grime caking her face. She might have been pretty, judging by her oval, symmetrical facial features, but incomparable to someone like Lady Evelyn or his mother. She also seemed to lack refined elegance, carrying herself more like a tomboy with a sword hung on her back, sheathed in a golden scabbard.

Immediately, it dawned upon him. "Are you the one who saved me?"

The girl smiled. "You could say that, though you saved yourself first."

"Thank you," he said. Then, unsure what else to follow it with, he saluted her in the full ascendant manner, clasping a fist over his heart and bowing.

"Well, I saved you; you should know what that means." She displayed a knowing smile.

Ember frowned. "I'll return the favour once..."

"Nothing. Nothing. I'm just kidding," She chuckled, patting him. "You owe me nothing."

Ember looked at her peculiarly.

"Anyway, aren’t you supposed to be resting? I remember you had quite the backlash."

"I am fine."

"Well, try not to overdo yourself."

They conversed a little more, only introducing themselves before both found themselves short of words. Bidding him goodbye, the girl left, and Ember returned to the inn to meet up with Zephyr. She thoroughly asked about the details of his experience before announcing they’d be leaving that afternoon.

Nobody opposed that. Their first outing into the wild had turned out to be nothing less than a disaster. A total of six of their people had died, including three children, whereas the cumulative death toll of the town was nearing fifty, with twice as many heavily injured.

If only that were the end of the bad news, for upon reaching home, Ember found something even worse awaiting him.