Chapter 34 & 35: Hope And Promise |
For an ascendant, there were three things that were more significant than any other.
First was base talent, the higher the better. Any kind of bloodline, affinity, and even a knack for battles or certain skills were all welcome. Although all beings under the sky had an equal chance of ascent, their base talent usually decided how far an ascendant could reach.
Then came hard work, which was a no-brainer. The class, the tiers, the skills, all were configured in such a way that mere talent alone wasn’t enough to push one to Gold. Perhaps not even to Silver.
The third was resources, be it potions and elixirs, training facilities, skill stones, or treasures that could improve attunements. Even artifacts, weapons, and all useful tools fell into this category.
With sufficient resources, one could even bypass talent and hard work to some degree. Ember himself was a good example of that.
In his early years, his mana foundation grew at the pace of a snail. But once he was inducted into the Elementary Mana Chamber, his growth increased two- or threefold, and it continued to rise in the Copper Grade Mana Chamber.
After making it to Tier 3 in mana, he could also ingest the half-dozen mana elixirs he had gathered to improve his foundation even quicker.
There were also evolution potions that could forcibly raise one's skill levels. Even if they came with huge consequences, they were still something miraculous to someone who had no hope of advancing.
Resources became more prevalent for high rankers as they ascended higher, especially for the Mage Classes. As the requirement for mana foundation continued to double, there was no other way to push your mana forward in the short term without using high-quality mana elixirs. Adding in attunements, which were arguably the hardest aspect to gain proficiency in, no amount of hard work could push someone untalented beyond the minor rank.
As far as Ember was concerned, he deemed that the higher one climbed on the path, the less significant base talent became. Learning capability certainly rose along with the tiers and Insight. One could argue that the gifted became even more prodigious with advancement, but an ascendant’s base aptitude and potential didn’t remain still, either.
There might not be complete equality in the realms, but there was some fairness.
Now, Ember had gotten himself a good few of those resources from the clan and his family. Some of them would even aid him through the Class Trial. He had collected six minor mana elixirs simply by being at the very forefront of mana skills among his peers. There was also his protective ward, enchanted wands, sword, and hunter outfit. But the most significant among them all was the Silver Skill Stone his father had brought for him.
It would give him an almost certain chance of making it to Tier 7 before his trial.
The biggest regret in Cliff’s life had been that he fell short of the margin during his own time. He didn’t want that to happen with Ember. His father had gone above and beyond to procure the skill stone, one that was essentially tailor-made for him.
Now imagine his fury when an uncle of his, someone he was barely even familiar with, came to their home to ask to take it away.
“It’s out of the question,” Rain said after hearing their uncle, while Ember glared at the jolly-faced man. Rosanna had already gone through a series of refusals with him before the siblings returned, now sitting with a weary face across from their uncle. “The skill stone is not the property of the clan. Dad secured it himself for Ember. Neither you nor anyone in the clan has any right over it.”
Cloud clicked his lips in distaste, being berated by someone a third of his age. He was a few years older than Cliff and had a similar facial structure, too, with ebony-dark hair, defined jawlines, and a sharp nose, though he lacked both elegance and skill, his class being a Lifestyle one, something related to management.
“You don't understand, lass,” Uncle Cloud said. “Without the skill stone, Father would have to remain in his current state for who knows how long. Even Cliff won’t begrudge you if he knew how important it is that Father regains his strength and the full faculty of his body.”
Rain narrowed her eyes. “I don't think Grandpa is in such a bad state that he would need to harm his grandson's potential to heal himself.”
Ember let Rain talk it out with their uncle. It was not that he had nothing to say. He feared anything that came out of his mouth would be far from civil. According to Uncle Cloud, their grandfather would need a specialised healer of Gold rank to restore his leg and mana foundation, but a mender of such quality didn’t just deal with anyone who came their way.
A Gold ranker could live for as long as a thousand years. While silver and gold crowns had their uses, such ascendants mostly dealt in favours and things you couldn’t buy with coins. For example, a skill stone.
“A lost limb was already a massive thing,” Cloud continued, “worse yet, Father's entire mana channels had been eviscerated. The clan had to use all of their connections and a great deal of favours to even have a shot with someone from House Killjoy.”
“And they decided to pay for it with Ember's future?” Rain glared at the man, who, for all his tall stature and advanced age, flinched back.
It was only for a fraction of a moment before their uncle collected himself. Getting nowhere with his elder sister, the man turned towards Ember. “At least try to empathise, Little Flame? For the family and clan, we all need to make some sacrifices. And you don't even have the slots for the skill yet; there will be other opportunities for sure once Father returns to power. You're losing nothing.
"Besides, it is your own grandfather that we are talking about.”
Before Ember could retort, Rain snapped at their uncle. “Do not try to deceive him,” she snarled. “And if we are talking about sacrifices, let me know what kind of sacrifices you have made for the clan to ask this of him.”
Cloud at least had the decency to appear flustered. Even Ember was quite astonished. His sister had never been demure, but to shout at an elder? Even their mother thought twice before raising her voice.
Seeing Rain obstructing him from getting through to Ember, Cloud finally turned to the only person he found much easier to deal with. “Rosanna, explain it to your children. Without Father shouldering the blame, they might have already banished your family to some corner. Even sending Rain on some foreign mission isn’t off the table. If Father still had his powers, would those older kids have the gall to bully Ember on a daily basis?”
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
Rosanna’s gaze drifted towards the siblings, a line forming between her brows. “I have already told you there is no room for negotiation,” she said. “Cliff bought that skill stone for Ember. Now that he's not home, I won't let Ember give it away even if he decides it.”
“Don't be childish,” Cloud admonished, his expression scrunched up. “I thought you would understand what is at stake here.”
“Enough already,” Rain interjected. “If Grandpa really wants the skill stone to pay for his healing, get him to come here and ask for it himself.”
With his management class, Cloud’s persuasion might have worked on some nobody, but today, he had no choice but to carry himself out without success.
Rosanna's expression eased a little, as did Ember’s, though he feared it wouldn’t end there.
She let out a heavy breath, shaking her head. “When did the clan fall so low for a skill stone? If Cliff were here...”
“Grandpa is unavailable for a week,” Rain said, huffing in anger. “Uncle Cloud is clearly up to no good, demanding the skill stone in his name.”
Well, the clan might have had a couple more Silver Skill Stones in the treasury. But if there was one thing about skill stones, it was that it was never a bad thing to have too many. Besides, defensive ones of silver grade were extremely rare.
Ember had read enough about them to know that the rarity and usability of his skill stone alone could even count for two other skill stones of the same grade.
Though it made him wonder how they had even got wind of his skill stone. Cliff definitely had not publicised the news, and neither had any of them. Ember was unsure if anybody in his father’s company knew about the reward he had gotten for clearing a rift. Considering the importance of a Silver Skill Stone, anybody could leak the news.
Cliff had also hired an appraiser to assess it, though such dealings usually came with confidentiality.
Not every rift gave skill stones as rewards. In most cases, there was hardly any specialised reward other than what you got out of the pocket dimension. Of course, the rich ores and monster materials were nothing to scoff at either, though that only spoke to the importance of a Silver Skill Stone.
After all, the only thing superior to a Silver Skill Stone was a Gold-Ranked one.
Then again, a Gold Skill would require a whopping eighty-one skill slots, three times that of its Silver counterpart, which was also the reason why a Silver Skill Stone was so significant to promising young ascendants. Give it to the right person at the right time, and they’d have a sure chance of making it to Tier 7 before the age of fourteen.
...
A couple of days passed by, but Timber Blackstone didn't charge into their home demanding the skill stone. The family had barely relaxed when, on a pleasant morning, the current patriarch's successor presented himself with the request.
Pine Blackstone was merely a generation older than Cliff, yet he had already reached Tier 8 in his class and consolidated his claim over the patriarch's seat, now that Timber Blackstone had lost most of his power and prestige in the clan.
Ember had seen him in passing at the ball his grandfather had thrown on account of his father's advancement to the Silver Class. The man certainly didn’t look much of a fighter, a lanky fellow with an angular face, which could perhaps be called handsome, though not as strikingly so as his father or some other blokes Ember had seen.
He appeared to be in his mid-twenties, clean-shaven with dark hair waxed to his scalp. Draped in his fair shirt and coat, he merely looked like a good-natured, wealthy man. There was an ease about how he carried himself that made others feel comfortable while talking to him. Like how he asked to enter their home instead of barging in like their prodigal uncle.
But Ember and his family were still cautious while inviting him in. It wasn’t as if they could turn away the next clan head.
Rosanna served him coffee while Ember and Rain sat uncomfortably in their seats. It was one thing yelling at their uncle Cloud, and another entirely at someone nearing Level 200, let alone the successor of the clan.
"I have heard you had some hard experiences during the hunting assignment," Pine said, gazing at Ember. "It's good that you returned safely. The clan have lost so many of its talents already. What happened to Cliff was a true tragedy. I have seen him grow from a silent child to a stalwart man whom people could depend on."
Ember wasn’t surprised the clan had already written off his father, but to hear it, his heart wrenched inside his chest.
"There's no need to feel uneasy," he continued, sipping his coffee. "It is your home, after all."
Rosanna stood behind the couch, her palms over the shoulders of both her children, as she spoke hesitantly, "May I ask the reason behind your presence, Lord Blackstone?"
"Just call me Uncle Pine. We are all family here." He paused, resting the cup. "As for the reason why I am here, you may have guessed it."
Ember adjusted in his seat, though it still felt like he was sitting on a rugged stone.
Despite the politeness the man was showing, Pine Blackstone wouldn't even need to use a fraction of his power to forcibly take away his skill stone if he so desired. But being the future patriarch, he had to maintain a certain image.
"It's for Ember's skill stone?" his sister enquired.
The silver ranker inclined his head. "Yes. I loathe to admit it, but it's the reason I am here. We have been searching far and wide for a potential Silver Skill Stone for Hope, after the Oberons have forsaken their promise of rewarding her with one.”
"Ah," he paused, "you might not be familiar with Hope yet. I'm not just saying it because she is my daughter, but Hope is our only chance for our clan, now that we have been relegated in the eyes of our liege.”
“I have heard of her,” Rain said with an incline of her head.
Ember had not. Well, mostly because he always kept to himself, while his sister had been a huge gossipmonger.
“I’m ashamed to admit this,” Pine sipped his coffee, “that even after reaching Level 200, I don’t have much of a chance of reaching Gold Class. There are none among the older generations either, while Father has been hovering at the very precipice for over a decade.
“Our only hope is that someone from the clan, someone from the younger generation, will make it. My daughter had shown promise since birth and had already reached Tier 7 before her trial. You must know, even among the three Bloodline clans, only a handful could reach Tier 7 before their class ascension."
Ember sat even more uncomfortably, as if there were pebbles within his trousers.
"Even an old Gold Ranker in House Oberon had taken her as his apprentice. Unfortunately, in the wake of the whole incident, the Oberons have withdrawn their support for her. I have already gone through a series of arguments with them, explaining that none of us could have predicted or prevented it from occurring. Rifts are unpredictable to begin with. Even a Gold Ranker might have been useless against what transpired there.
"Unfortunately, as we have lost a good many of our elites, the Oberons have lost even more. Nine of their Silver Rankers, including Lady Evelyn, have disappeared. Now they want to make up for their losses and replenish their own instead of being generous with their retainers.
"Personally, I was against asking this of your family. You have already lost so much. However, it seems we have no other choice within our limited time. Hope will enter the trial in the coming month."
"Lord Pine,” Rosanna said, “the skill stone is something Cliff had brought specially for our son. It is tailor-made to his skill set. Ember had already reached Tier 4. With the silver skill, he could easily make it to Tier 7 himself.”
"I understand nobody will want to give up on something so precious, even if their children are untalented. But..." Lord Pine's piercing blue eyes gazed at him. "But Ember is still far away from having enough skill slots to acquire a silver skill. The way I see it, it would take him at least three years to attain the slots."
Ember exchanged another look with Rain, both sitting in silence, wondering how the silver ranker could tell all that.
"I promise you that before you even gain the skill slots, the clan will obtain a Silver Skill for you. There are always one or two auctioned off every year in Seynhold. In three years' time, we can get a skill which is by no means inferior to yours. Besides, if you do have a shot at Tier 7, the clan will want to empower you either way."
There was only silence as he finished.
"I know it's a selfish request on my part, but I want you to consider it as being part of the whole clan. For our clan to persist, we need backing. The Oberons might not help with resources, but they will sponsor Hope to Songrise Academy if she manages to get a promising class. The second layer of the trials was always cutthroat. I know it, Cliff knew it, and so does anybody who aspires high. We didn’t want to take chances with Hope.
“Ember, Rosanna, we need a Gold Ranker with the Blackstone surname,” Lord Pine empathised, “if only not to be dismissed by our overlords. The Oberons treat us like we are nothing but their loyal dogs, easy to push the blame our way, even though it was they who were supposed to scout the rift. They, who were in charge of the region, and they who were and are reaping most of the benefits while leaving the breadcrumbs our way."
Pine Blackstone finished his coffee before standing up.
"There's still time before the trial, so you don't have to decide immediately," he said, eyeing the way out. "But please make the decision quickly, as it takes quite a while to get used to higher-grade skills."
As the man walked his way out, Ember wondered how much he could believe him. It was optimistic to believe the clan would help those who showed potential. Ember had gained some of the privileges, but that was when his father and grandfather were in power. If anything was to go by the rest of the clan, Ember really didn’t want to put his hopes in a mere promise.
Pine Blackstone faltered at the doorframe. "And Rosanna, you don't need to worry about your children being bullied. Nor about your father-in-law's condition. No matter what you decide, the clan will take care of their own."
If he was being that generous, Ember wanted to ask him for a permit to the Iron Grade Mana Chamber. But that would mean owing him a favour, so he let it pass, watching the man's figure fade away outside.
"Who is Hope?" Ember asked after a quiet while. "Did she really reach Tier 7, or was our Uncle Pine selling his own daughter too hard?"
“She might be,” Rain sighed, "though I'm more surprised that you haven't heard of her. Anyway, in the past couple of centuries, Hope was the only one in our clan who was born at Tier 4.”
Ember almost let out a curse.
“Delighted at her birth, the Patriarch had named her Hope, as if she would revitalise the clan's standing in Seynhold, second only to the three Bloodline clans. To make that wish into reality, they even had her acquire a Silver Skill before she could even walk or talk."
"And now they want another one for her," Ember said, setting his jaw.
Rain flopped down on the couch. "At least he was polite."
He wondered how long that would remain the case.
From then on, every other day, their Uncle Cloud would come to their house and ask if they had come to a decision. The frequency turned to once a day after a week. If that wasn’t enough, somehow word began to spread among the clan that their family of three had been hiding a Silver Skill Stone.
Ember didn’t have to guess who was behind that.
As if the pressure from the mainline of the clan and his uncle weren’t enough, now every nobody that came their way poked a jab about why they should hand over the skill stone.
If only Dad was here...
Regrettably, there was still no news from the Northern Plains. He’d even miss the birth of his third child, as Rosanna could give birth any day now.
==================