XLVIII
You have reached Rank 50 of [ Mana Siphon - ? ? ? ].
Siphon up to 100 Mana Points from living and non-living mana sources. 10 second channel time, but upon damage or action, channeling will be interrupted along with a 5 second cooldown. Absorb 50% of Mana Points siphoned from channeling. Any element type of mana siphoned can be wielded within 5 minutes of siphoning. Any excess Mana Points will be released from the Mana Core, not recoverable by the living and/or non-living mana source. (Rank 50)
Kaz gawked at the message that his [ Archive ] interrupted him with. Rank 50? Already? He had been cycling the mana for maybe a few hours at most, and he already reached Rank 50? He felt giddy, unable to stop himself from rocking back and forth, hugging his knees. This was an amazing development, and no doubt he had the five-tailed fox Guardian to thank for allowing him to utilize the Realm’s mana.
Before Kaz could properly thank the benevolent fox, he heard her speak telepathically to him, a slight concern in her voice, “Are you alright, young one?”
Confusion hit him, and it must’ve shown, as the fox then followed up with, “Young one has been stilling his inner being for eleven sunrises, without break for any nourishment, while radiating a bright silver, releasing silver mana into the air.”
Kaz felt the blood drain from his head and his whole body. Eleven sunrises? He didn’t want to believe he spent eleven days in that state, which she called ‘stilling his inner being’. The silver glowing made sense to him, as he remembered that his Ability mentioned his mana core would release any excess mana, so it was no cause for concern. But he couldn’t help himself from asking the Guardian, “What do you mean by stilling my inner being, as I am unsure of what you mean?”
With a slight tilt to her head, she explained in a soft tone, “Stilling of one’s inner being is when one goes into a trance like state, able to silence the Realm around oneself. Mana flows against time without rush, leaving time to follow, causing one in that moment to journey for seconds to centuries, with the flow of mana. It is neither beneficial nor detrimental in nature, it is what the mana decides to reveal, for its true insight into oneself.”
Kaz nodded his head slowly, not fully understanding exactly what that all meant, as it sounded too deep for him to understand at his current stage. He merely bowed his head in thanks to the fox, and from there, he reached into his bag, eating the last of his rations, which were starting to go bad from the length of time he was in that state. He wanted to examine all the changes to his [ Status ] and his Abilities, as he no doubt also Ranked his [ Mana Regeneration ], but decided to first leave the grove, as he felt as if he had overstayed his welcome.
With another polite bow, he asked the Guardian of the forest to guide him back to the edge of the forest, or at least back to where he was led away from the first time. With a nod, the five-tailed fox guided him all the way out of the forest, back to the main road, even pointing out the way he came from. And with that, she disappeared back into the forest, not wasting a single moment. He positioned his bags into a comfortable position, hoisting his glaive onto his shoulder, and set off on the path, knowing that he will reach the junction in the road, and hopefully someone coming from Goset would allow him to ride with them to Sarus.
? ? ?
When the sun was setting behind the hills in the distance, he made it to the junction where the twins previously dropped him off at. He sat, drinking what little water he had left, and waited for someone with a wagon to come by. He decided that there would be no better time to check his [ Archive ] for all his changes. So, he brought it up, beginning with his both his [ Skill Abilities ] and [ Passive Abilities ]:
— [ Skill Abilities ] —
[ Mana Burst ]
Rank 23
[ Mana Shield ]
Rank 17
[ Mana Siphon - ? ? ? ]
Rank 10 > Rank 50
— [ Passive Abilities ] —
[ Mana Regeneration ]
Rank 19 > Rank 41
[ Evasive Step ]
Rank 21
[ Glaive Novice ]
Rank 15
With a satisfied grin, he noticed that his [ Mana Siphon ] truly was Rank 50, and in addition, his [ Mana Regeneration ] jumped all the way to Rank 41, which was surprising to say the least. He knew that he used it quite heavily to help regulate the rich mana that he was siphoning, but to receive such massive gains when he was struggling with Ranking the Ability, really showed how big of a help his enhancement was. Obviously his other Abilities received no updates to them, but there was no disappointment in that, as his already massive improvements were more than enough to make up for it.
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Then, he opened his [ Status ], which displayed:
— Status —
Name
Kazimoriel
Race
Gnome*
Calling
Mage ? ? ?
Enhancement (1)
[ Mantle of the Adventurer ]
Wood
Resonance
29
Mana Points – Health Points
204 - 131
29 Resonance. An eleven Resonance increase to his Calling. That was at a rate of one Resonance a day, which was too mind boggling for his young mind to comprehend. He was in a sense over halfway towards to his first Revelation, which caused butterflies to fly around in his stomach, anxious for what’s to come next, as his Awakening was rough to say the least.
Kaz stared at his Mana Points, sitting at 204, a number so large he could only dream of that when he first began, but recently, with his mana core unlocking and his ring, provided him with a number that was almost double his Health Points. This whole boost to his overall [ Status ], Calling, and Abilities, gave him that reassurance that he needed, that he would amount to something.
Thankfully, a wagon approached the junction, which he almost failed to notice while examining his new advancements for his Calling through his [ Archive ]. Kaz quickly jumped to his feet, and waved down the wagon, calling out to the driver of the well put together wagon, “Excuse me, sir!”
The driver pulled on the reins of his horses, and they crawled to a stop, with the elegant looking Dwarf speaking up, “Howdy ho, traveler! How may I assist you? Are you possibly interested in my wares?”
Kaz tried speaking up but was baffled by the sudden transition into a business deal. This guy was definitely a Merchant through and through. He calmly replied, trying to not get swayed by the business tactics of the Merchant, “I was wondering if sir was heading towards Sarus, and if so, if I may accompany you on your wagon?”
The Merchant chuckled and scooted over on his bench that he was sitting on, patting the spot next to him, beckoning him, “Of course, hop on and join me towards Sarus, young Warrior!”
Kaz didn’t have the heart to correct him at the moment, waiting till they were on the road again to correct him, so he wouldn’t offend the Merchant. Hopping on the wagon with relative ease, he settled on the padded bench, instantly sinking into the comfortable seating. Kaz quickly thanked the Merchant, introducing himself in the process, “Thank you, kind sir. I am Kaz, a Mage who has been out on Quests for weeks now, and on my way back to Sarus. I appreciate you allowing me to join you, as I am tired from my Questing and was hoping for an uneventful ride back.”
“Ah! You are a Mage then, not a Warrior, apologies for the confusion. I saw your spear like weapon and assumed you were some kind of Fighter,” the Dwarf Merchant explained himself.
“No worries, common mistake,” Kaz said, waving it off.
The Dwarf grinned and introduced himself to Kaz, “I am Orjal, a humble Merchant who delivers wares from the Capital to towns in the Northern part of our Realm.”
Kaz was about to ask the man about the Capital, as he was interested in it, but suddenly he heard horses trotting approaching them from the back. He quickly picked up his glaive and turned around to see two heavily armed people riding horses coming up to them.
Orjal quickly reached over and softly held him back, assuring him, “Do not worry, these are my men.” Then with a grin, he added, “You think a Merchant like me would travel alone through the Realm?”
The two men, which were a Dwarf and a Human, approached them, the Human briefly analyzed Kaz, eyeing the glaive he was currently gripping tightly, and the Dwarf asked Orjal, “Everything good boss? He a friendly?”
Orjal chuckled and nodded, replying, “Yes Konjrul, he is a friendly Mage who needed a lift to Sarus.”
The Dwarf guard nodded, and the two guards then slowed down, only resuming following once the wagon was further ahead. He found this weird, but chose to ignore it, instead opting for the burning question he had, which was, “You mentioned you were from the Capital, sir Orjal. How is it living there?”
Kaz cringed inside with how vague he phrased that, but the Merchant didn’t seem to mind. He replied, dumping a lot of information to him, “The Capital is full of power, greed, and corruption to put it straight. It doesn’t help that this year there were four Awakened three-stars, which has seemed to put everyone in a frenzy at the Capital.”
Well, five people, but Kaz didn’t feel the need to correct him, or anyone, this was a secret only for him, with the exception of Elder Aelon. Instead, he followed up with the following question, “What do you mean corruption?”
Orjal stayed quiet for a bit, staring ahead, causing Kaz to sink back into the seat, wondering if he shouldn’t have asked that. After some time, the Dwarf spoke up softly, “You know kid, I would usually keep this kind of information away from young people like you, but something is going on in this Realm. To sum it up without going into great detail, it seems like the Royal family is being controlled by Galas, of the Faedusk House. Everyone can tell it is happening, but no one dares to bring it up. This is nothing new, but according to some rumors that have been going around, a relatively large Faction from our Cosmos has taken a small interest in our Realm, and they have been in contact with Galas.”
Kaz nodded, seeing the reason why people would be concerned about this, but it couldn’t be all that bad, right? He decided to share this thought with Orjal, “If I am being honest, sir, I do not see why the people would really care too much about that?”
Orjal rubbed his beard, combing through it with his fingers, and then explained to the young Gnome, “Usually, when a big Faction is interested in a Realm, especially of our stature, which is very weak in the terms of the Cosmos, that isn’t a good thing. In the course of history of our Cosmos, whenever a Faction takes over a small Realm, they absorb all of the raw and material wealth of the Realm, poach the talented, and then offer off the Realm to a Faction controlled Realm that needs to Ascend.”
Kaz stared blankly at the Dwarf, not fully understanding what was being explained to him. It makes sense that the Faction would desire to obtain wealth, that is the nature of greed among people. But what was the whole thing about a Realm being offered for another Realm to Ascend?
Before he could ask that, Orjal interrupted his thoughts, saying, “I will not explain that to you, because I do not fully understand it myself, but with these rumors spreading around, the Awakening of four three-stars and the son of Galas being included in this party of newly Awakened prodigies despite being a two-star, it is all lining up. I personally do not care too much about this, as it is all rumors and speculation, but just keep your eyes open to everything around you.”
With that, the Dwarf went quiet, no doubt to let the young Gnome process the information for himself. It does make sense, but Kaz didn’t care for all this speculation on the Faction finding interest in their small Realm. What did interest Kaz was two things, one, was the party of the three-stars, which left a bitter taste in his mouth, especially since that definitely included Syvis, and two, the name Faedusk.
If he recalled correctly, the annoying brat that attacked him was a Faedusk as well. He now understood why he thought he was untouchable, and it made him wince because he truly disrespected the biggest name in the Realm, apart from the Royal family. Kaz hoped he would never run into the Faedusk Elf or any of his relatives again, because they were to be avoided. They just spelled trouble. And it made sense why Elder Aelon implied that getting their attention was a nuisance for him, as they were powerful throughout the whole Realm. He shook his head as he processed all that and just hoped he would be able to just go his own path throughout his life, just adventuring and progressing his Resonance.
Orjal and Kaz fell into a comfortable silence, and it wasn’t long before Orjal began telling Kaz about his various journeys throughout the Realm, mentioning the best and the worst, with a lot of laughing in between, raising Kaz’s mood tremendously. Hearing these stories about the Realm sparked something within him, a hunger for the road to see all the Realm has to offer, and even beyond the Realm itself. As their conversation lulled deep into the night, Kaz dozed off.
Orjal lightly shook him awake, and he had to squint his eyes as the sun pierced his eyes. Once he rubbed his eyes to fully wake himself up, he noticed the bulky walls of Sarus in the distance, a rush of excitement flowing through him as he thought about seeing the people who he had met there and be behind walls of safety, and who could forget, the best bed he could sleep on at the Guild.
