6 Chapter 6
(Ashborn POV)
When I woke up, the first thing that I felt was sadness around me. Mother, Father, and Twin-horns all of them wore a sad expression.
I felt the same way, but I had different reasons.
'How could I trust that voice? Why did I stop channeling mana? How is Arthur now? ' I kept asking myself those questions.
I had problems with using mana right now. The reason for that was of course strain on my body. A big amount of mana for such a young body is like venom. If I used even more than that my body would most likely explode... yes explode.
We reached teleportation gates on those damn mountains a day later I woke up. My mother calmed down after the incident, but she is still feeling down. Same with my father. But no matter what they have to continue and they know that.
They have to raise another child that is still not born... Also me... They won't leave me, right?
After we separated from Twin-horns we teleported into Xyrus City. There we met a friend of my father's.
Vincent Helstea, a thin proper man with glasses and parted hair in a suit, is how I will describe him.
Tabitha Helstea, the wife of Vincent.
And Lilia Helstea their daughter.
They happily accepted and offered us shelter and meals. Father started working for Vincent as Chief Guard Of The Helstea Auction House. It seems that somehow they are at least getting over the incident.
I, on the other hand, knew very well that Arthur was alive. After I rested up a little bit, I was able to at least try and sense mana.
And fortunately, the mana that I left on Arthur is still responding. I as well, identified that Arthur was for some reason happy?
'I guess that mysterious voice wasn't actually that bad... ' I commented in my mind.
That mysterious voice was suspicious, but for an individual like me, it doesn't matter how mysterious it is. As long as Arthur is all right, I don't care.
Father also started training me more roughly, always telling me that I should become stronger. I complied because I didn't want to upset him. He and I were training with other guards of the Helstea Auction House.
Soon the month will be up, If Arthur doesn't come back. I'll go and search for him myself. My mana is still on Arthur, and it shouldn't be a trouble to at least find direction.
It will be hard to find the exact location of Art, but I'll manage that.
Besides, I didn't want to use something, nor I ever planned to use it anywhere else. Yet circumstances are forcing me.
Forget it. for now, I'll just wait.
-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-
A month and a few weeks passed.
Still nothing from Arthur. Evidently, I'm by now concerned.
But Arthur is still alive. The last time when I tried to feel my mana it changed course and if my guess is true then...
Arthur is in the Forest Of Elshire.
'Why is he there? ' I wondered.
(Arthur POV)(Everything here Is from canon. You can skip it if you want. )
"Can you tell how far we are from Elenoir now, Tessia? " I asked on a particularly clear morning on the fifth day of our journey?
Her elongated ears twitched as she began surveying her surroundings. Suddenly, she ran to a particularly crooked tree and ran her fingers over the trunk. A few minutes of silence went by before she came, visibly excited.
"That tree is one I used to come with my Grandfather sometimes! I remember carving my name into the trunk of the tree when he wasn't looking. We're not too far anymore! I think that if we quicken our pace a little bit, we'll be able to make it by tonight! " She said, pointing to the tree.
"Sounds good," I answered, following behind her. As lovely as the journey had been, I needed to make my plans to somehow get home, and that wouldn't be possible until I got her home.
Although I admit, I'd probably miss her after this.
"Arthur? You said your family and the people close to you called you Art. I feel that, through this journey, I have gotten close enough to call you that as well." We were crossing a stream atop a moss-covered log bridge when she suddenly stopped.
"So... Can I call you Art as well?" Tessia turned around, revealing a wide smile.
Hmm? Sure, I don't mind," I said, returning her smile.
"You don't mind'? Tch, you could sound a bit more enthusiastic..." she stuck her tongue out at me.
"I would be honored to be called Art by you, your highness," I made a bow gracious enough for a noble despite my tattered clothes.
"Hehe, and you may also have the honor to call me Tess," she giggled, curtsying back at me before turning back around and hopping off the log...
It was dusk now and the fog around us seemed to be getting thicker. My sense of direction was all but useless in this blasted forest. Enough so that, if I were to get separated from Tess, I could wind up traveling in circles without even realizing it.
She suddenly turned to me, her face a mixture of happiness and hesitation before she muttered,
"We're here."
Looking around, the only things visible were clusters of trees and fog. Confused, I was about to ask where we were, but I stopped myself when I saw Tess placing both her palms on a tree and muttering a chant.
Suddenly, the fog around us was sucked into the same tree and what came into vision was a giant wooden door that seemed to be propped up by itself on the ground.
Tess grabbed my hand and pulled me towards the door. When she opened it, I was reminded of the portal that Sylvia had pushed me through. The experience didn't feel any better the second time but I at least knew what to expect. As we softly landed on our feet, arriving at our destination, I immediately rummaged through my bag to make sure I still had the stone Sylvia entrusted me with. It was only after confirming that it was still there did I finally look up and take in the scene around us.
(Ashborn POV.)
"Dad, can I ask you something? "
"Yes, Ash? " My father turned to me with a raised eyebrow.
"Can I get a beast's core? I want to get to the next stage. " I lied. I intended to do something entirely different
"That's not impossible, but hey you never told me on what stage you are? "
"I'm about to enter the Dark-Orange stage. " I answered again with a lie. If I wanted I could form an even higher stage.
"That's my son! He is catching up with his old man. " My father hugged me and tears of happiness formed in his eyes.
"Dad, stop, I can't breathe…" I managed to force out words from my mouth.
"Oh, sorry, I can get you a beast's core. " Dad said and went somewhere in a rush.
(Few Minutes Later)
"Ash, Vincent had some beast cores without use, and he gave us some of them. " My father showed me 3 beast cores.
I needed as many mana cores as I could get. If it could, it would be good if it was fresh, I mean from a newly killed mana beast.
If it had beast will inside it would be even better, but I doubt that any of those cores are A-Rank...
(Ashborn learned about beast wills after coming to Xyrus City)
"Those cores should be from B-Class beasts, maybe even lower. But it should be enough to break through the stage. "
"Thanks, I'll go meditate someplace in silence."
"Oh yeah, take them. " Father handed me Beast Cores and went somewhere
-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-
I'm presently in the woods of Helstea Manor's backyard.
'Since all mana of those beasts is in cores... it should be possible. ' I thought and looked at the first beast's core that I positioned on the ground.
"I haven't done this for quite some time. " small smile emerged on my face as I said this.
"Arise"
I said in a commanding voice, forcing mana in the beast's cores to shake. I washed my mana over it, bolstering the shake.
Small cracks started appearing on the beast's core and shadows commenced leaking out of it.
Once shadows started coming out cracks on the beast's core got even bigger. In the end, the beast's core blew up into small pieces and flew around.
In the spot of the previous mana-core stood a beast with wings and the head of an eagle. Its body was in colors of bright blue and black. (Imagine an eagle, but bigger than average.)
'Shadow Soldier 'has a bright blue color instead of purple. So this is how poor my mana pool is in reality? '
(I don't exactly know if it works like that, but when Sung received Black Heart in manhwa his mana had a different color. Maybe it's just because of black heart, but maybe it is because the mana pool got bigger.)
Shadow in front of me lowered its head showing me his loyalty towards me. I just approached and patted it.
"Your name from now is Adler. " I dubbed my newly acquired Shadow Soldier and as well in my mind ordered him to hide in my shadow to which it complied.
'This beast had to be around the B-Rank beast, but under the influence of my mana, it seems that it evolved. It is now absorbing mana from its environment rapidly.' I noted.
Now it was time for other beast cores.
I placed both cores on the ground after I walked away freeing some space between us.
"Arise"
Both cores fractured and shadows began leaking out from them. Soon the shadows grew bigger and cores exploded.
Shadows finally formed the figures of animals.
One appears to be another flying creature. It had the body of a lion with wings, but its face was like a hawk's. His wings were glowing blue and leaked mana from them.
The second shadow had the form of a bear. Its size was 5 meters in height, but he shall be able to alter the size. Its mana pool is kind of big for such a little body.
"I already know how I shall name you." I told the shadowy figure of the bear.
"You are going to be Tank. "
"As for you... You look like a hawk, so your name is going to be Hawky. Now both of you, in my shadows." As the first soldiers in my army, they had to have names so I just gave them one.
'Experiment was successful. '
