Chapter 160: Ashen Afternoon (1/2)
Edwin stopped on a big stone and moved the unconscious Maria onto his left shoulder, pushing some mana into her to wake her up. He had no other choice.
“What… Edwin…,” the woman said as he unsheathed one of his swords. Moving his right arm towards his mouth, he bit down hard and slashed his blade upwards. Wincing at the pain, at least his bite didn’t cause any more of it as he used his blood magic to close the wound on his partially removed shoulder.
Dropping the arm on the ground, he looked to Maria who was barely awake, stroking his cheek as tears streamed down her face. She looked to the ground and activated her magic, the arm vanishing with a chunk of the ground and all the blood that had dripped down.
“Now s… sleep.” Edwin said and sheathed his sword, holding her with one arm as he continued his dash.
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Ilea felt the embers tearing at her skin, the heat merely a slight distraction as she held her eyes closed and concentrated on the feeling on her body. The ash was warm and comfortable, her Heat and Pain resistances making the torturous experience much simpler compared to the acquisition of her Fire Mage class.
Kyrian had looked for a cave with a metal vein inside to train his magic after they had cut down enough wood to burn ten or more bonfires for Ilea. She was lying naked and covered in the burning ash as she breathed in and out calmly, trying to feel the magic in the elements around her. It had taken her hours to even prepare the fire and now she was in the ash for at least as long. They had decided to build the bonfire in the forest half an hour away from her house to not arouse a monster’s or person’s suspicions. A big pile of wood was stacked ten meters away from the fire, neatly cut and placed by Kyrian whose metal magic really made the process as simple as one could wish for.
Ilea wasn’t exactly spiritual but in this world, magic truly existed. That fact made it easier to justify her current position and not think of herself as some crazy cult member sacrificing themselves to the gods of fire and pain. Her resistances made it easier for her to concentrate on the magic, on the feeling on her skin and the itching she felt that wanted her to use her Manipulation skill to connect to the ash. She didn’t allow it, wanting to understand the connection and the element beforehand.
It felt like the opposite and yet the same as her training with fire. More difficult as her body and mind wanted to simply touch the ash and move it around her, becoming the master of the element. And yet she wanted to understand it, just as she had forced herself to understand fire. Not its chemical or scientific composition, no, its magical nature. Something she was sure by now existed on earth as well, just to a much lower degree.
The way she had stared into the fire in a hearth, or the way the ocean made her feel, the waves moving up and down as they crashed into the earth and sand of the beach. The way they clashed against the boat in a fury and. She stopped her thoughts, concentrating again on the now as she tried to catch that feeling again, the feeling that made her mana and spirit connect to the very elements around her.
It felt stronger. The feeling of fear and overwhelming power she felt when she looked out into the ocean was real, graspable and true. The feeling of a roaring flame, consuming houses and living beings alike, the feeling of lightning, coursing through her.
The feeling of embers, the last sparks of life burning away, glowing in a sea of gray and black flakes. The last remaining life before it returns to nature itself. Flakes of black and gray as it floats upwards, carried by the wind.
Ilea opened her eyes, her hand moving upwards into the air, the ash on her body trembling at the sudden magic released by her. Not the usage of her skills but raw magic that exited from her body as she accepted the elements around her. Its magical nature and unlimited potential. She smiled as the particles of ash danced a little on her body.
‘ding’ ‘Ash and Ember Manipulation reaches 2nd lvl 20’
She stood up and lifted her arms, feeling the ash around her as it moved upwards, her connection to the element established as she allowed her magic to take over, to become one with the ash. She studied it with her Sphere, with the feeling in her magic as she held her eyes closed and the vortex of ash around her intensified, speeding up and cutting her body where it grazed her.
It had been a long journey to level her Manipulation skill and she truly felt like she had made a breakthrough now. She was at the highest point the skill would allow her to get, for now at least. Still she felt small, she felt that while her understanding had made a big jump, she was still just grasping at a sea of knowledge, a sea of power. Ilea understood then and there that in the long run, this would be her most powerful weapon and her most solid defense. The possibilities of her manipulation and creation skills combined meant the control of an element. Not the use of it, like her fire magic had been, it meant true control.
Time passed and Ilea felt her magic drain as she refused to activate her Meditation skill, allowing her body and mind to fully focus on the ash around her, as it cut into her body, the ground below and now even the trees further back. The stack of wood was covered in flakes, as were the trees and the snow still clinging to life in these high altitudes. An unknown time later, Ilea collapsed.
She coughed and started meditating, having lost the connection she had felt until but a moment ago. The ash that had been swirling around her fell, covering herself and the ground in a sea of gray and black. There was too much of it, way too much to come from the amount of wood she had burned. The answer lay in her mind as she checked the notification.
‘ding’ ‘Ash Creation reaches 2nd lvl 19’
‘Nearly there as well…,’ she thought and smiled before a shiver went through her. Not because of the cold. The connection to the raw magic and the element of ash was an experience incomparable to anything else Ilea had ever went through. Perhaps a spiritual awakening as she had seen portrayed in movies or books was the closest she could think of. She didn’t feel spiritual, nor did she feel enlightened, no Ilea felt powerful. She smiled as she held out her hands and made the ash rise once more, her control having increased a non proportional amount to the few levels she had gained.
There were things in this world not represented by numbers alone. Or perhaps numbers unseen? She asked herself but was happy non the less. Dale had taught her to trust in her skills more, to let them guide her. Perhaps this was similar. Still she had refused to use her skill while she was lying in the ash so her interpretation might be wrong. The ash still swirled and as Ilea lifted more and more of the element, she realized just how much there was around her.
The trees bent downwards by the sheer weight of it and the snow was gray instead of white for farther than her Sphere portrayed. In the midst of the gray vortex was Ilea, standing steadily as she ignored the small bleeding cuts on her body. In her hand was a sphere, a small black swirling sphere of ash. More and more of the surrounding element joined the small sphere as it got darker and darker, its form solidifying more and more.
She didn’t force it to become more dense, more solid, it felt to her as if she simply asked it to do so. The approach of her manipulation chanced from a forceful one, one that required her understanding, to a more passionate and trusting one. A weird feeling, especially now that she had come to accept the mathematical system in this world governed by skills, levels and stats. Again, she thought about the possibility of displaying emotions and feelings in numbers but ultimately gave up on it. She was neither an AI, nor was she a philosopher.
What she was, was a friend of ash. The thought was a little embarrassing, even to Ilea. Something near childlike but it was the closest she could describe the feeling as. The sphere in her hand was solid by now, easily mistaken for a black pearl or ammunition for a rifle. It was still around five centimeters in diameter, quite a big rifle that would be. She let the sphere become as small as possible before she opened a tunnel in the vortex around her, letting the little ball flash forwards.
She watched on with full attention and interest as the ball smashed into a tree with a thud. The vortex continued as the still naked Ilea walked through, moving the vortex to ignore her frame. The sphere was stuck in the tree, at least ten centimeters deep and to her surprise, still solid. This would easily be enough to kill a small animal or a human on Earth. And it was a ranged attack that used nothing but mana. Her bow, Ilea had learned, was a little inefficient to use in the midst of a fast paced battle. She needed time to summon it, to draw it and to shoot it. Of course with her necklace it wasn’t as big of an issue but something like the spheres of ash would be preferable against an enemy as quick as that demon or Trian.