Pauwna sighed, falling back against the ravine wall and gazing at the sky dreamily. “Things were good for a time. The Empire suffered horrific losses, and its territory shrunk back to its original size, then diminished further. The neighboring kingdoms rejoiced at it’s fall and provided aid. The Ahsmati began to establish their nation, where they had no masters and their path was their own. In the moment of victory, the Ahsmati forgot one crucial detail.”
Bitterness had entered her tone here and she clenched both fists. “That they had created new masters, the Primordial Dragons, and failed to impart the dream to them. When the dragons were born, they were blank slates. Like children. And they were sent straight to the battlefield, where they bathed in violence. Where they were stronger then anything else and had no role models.
Finally seeming to take notice of Dante again, she smiled ruefully. “The full story of the turning of the Ahsmati’s dream is a long one. Perhaps I will tell it to you another time.”
Dante shrugged. “I truly didn’t mind. It was good to hear why this war — that nearly killed me multiple times mind you — started. But … ” He hesitated, not wanting to pry, but decided to go with his true feelings. “I mostly want to hear where you fit into this.”
She laughed.
“A fair point. I was getting there. Ahem. In short, as you can imagine, this was not a recipe for healthy individuals. Without anyone to teach them, they became arrogant and eventually became dictators as bad as the queen. In desperation, the Empire decided to create a second race. One more similar to them but still fast growing. So that they could grow the army they needed fast and so tighter controls could be placed on them. Created from the same material as the Ahsmati, the Empire created — ”
“Your kind! The Naula.” Dante exclaimed, realization dawning on him. “That’s horrible!”
“Just so. Though the project was ultimately a failure. When the Ahsmati found out, they expended a lot of resources to stamp it out. Those few of us that remained were absorbed into the army. Fortunetly, the research into the oaths hadn’t been completed yet so they relied on propaganda. Something like ‘We created you so you are obligated to fight for us.’ It worked at first, but many of us came to question in time. Me included.”
“Ok,” Dante said, his mind reeling with possibilities. “Given what you told me, I get why you hate the Empire. Hell, I would despire them too. But why did the Black Wind recognize you? Did you try to get their help?”
“Pffft, if you can call it that. No, the Ahsmati were no help. The only way they would help is if we became part of their ‘hierachy’. It would be trading one master for another. Our relationship is purely mercantile. I do them a service and they pay me back, which I use to help my people in turn. I just happened to be good enough at it to catch the attention of the Black Wind. He was very young then and was looking for a way to stand out among his kin. Which has been both a boon and a curse.”
“The Black Wind is young? Actually, how long ago did this all happen?”
“I am not exactly sure, it’s not like this is talked about frequently in the Empire. I think it all kicked off about half a century ago? The Black Wind was created about fourteen years ago, I still remember it clearly. The mood in the army was dismal for quite a while.”
“So they are still making the dragons?”
“Yes, every few decades or so. Whenever the loss of levels won’t hamper the war effort. It’s actually about time for another.”
[Warding Flesh] has advanced to Level 9
Dante had barely absorbed the text when the force on him redoubled. It was approaching the level he had felt when he was out there. While keeping his mind on the problem at hand, Dante activated [Hyper Focus]. The pain faded somewhat into the background, still present but ignored. Dante looked into what his aura senses were telling him.
The problem is two fold. Not only has the area of [Overloaded Warding Flesh] has increased, but it has also gotten more potent. I need to limit where the swarm is touching me.
Giving up on his current aura shaping, Dante shoved his aura back into the stone behind him. The pressure immediately diminished and he could breathe again. At least he tried. The air around him was very thin. Ren was gasping like a fist and Pauwna seemed to be holding her breath. Dante added a breathing hole to his aura shape with some effort.
“It seems worse now,” Pauwna noted, taking a deep breath. “Next time might be the end of Ren if you are not careful.”
Dante did not want that on his conscience.
“We should have a good amount of time now, I can find a solution before that happens.”
“Don’t get complacent. You can hardly find a better leveling setup for a ability then what has accidentally been created here. It will be difficult to level any other skill anywhere close to that rate.”
“Consider me sufficiently motivated,” Dante said drly. “You mentioned that I should acquire those three aura skills skills earlier? I already have [Aura Manipulation], so how do I get the others?”
“You are already on the right track for one. You get Aura Reinforcement from holding complicated forms as long as possible. Aura Compression … honestly I am not so sure about that one.” She patted his shoulder. “You are smart, I have faith you will figure it out.”
“Helpful.” He grumbled. It wasn’t anything out of the ordinary anyway. Dante had been figuring things out alone since he came to this world.
“Get to it then. I don’t want you to crush yourself to death, it would also be hazardous to my health. Don’t forget to keep up the bug smashing. Some extra strength or fortitude never hurts.”
“Yeah, yeah.” He muttered, already trying to spin up his hourglass crystal bug farming construct. Despite his practice, holding it and the new outer shape of his aura took all of his practice. Dante reached out to grab one of the spawn, but the distraction caused his aura shaping to immediately waver, forcing him to redirect his focus.
This was going to take some practice.
Eventually, he did manage to keep slaying the spawn. All it took was grabbing out blindly while keeping the bulk of his attention on his aura. It did mean that Dante was less selective about where he grabbed the crystal insects and he was beginning to accumulate a bevy of painful but harmless cuts on his hand. At a certain point, he was forced to switch to his left hand. Which was worse. The awkwardness made hold the insects longer. His diligence was rewarded in due time however.
[Martial Arts] had advanced to Level 7
Congratulations! You have advanced to Level 6
That was strange. Dante had received both notifications at the same time. If he recalled correctly, it wasn’t the first time this had happened. It was almost as if …
“Does increasing skill or ability levels give you experience for you level?” Dante asked Pauwna. She had rejoined him in exterminating the spawn. It was getting quite uncomfortable sitting on the piles of crystal shards from their bodies. They must have killed of thousands of them at this point and there was no sign of the swarm diminishing.
“I keep forgetting how ignorant you about these kinds of things. Advancing anything will give you experience. The higher the skill, ability, or trait, the more experience it gives. It is actually how most people level. Not everyone can fight in a war.”
“What, can they not slay the occasional monster?”
Pauwna paused in her extermination to give him a strange look. “The occasional monster? What do you mean by that?”
It was Dante’s turn to get thrown off. If what he remember from the stories he had read, random roaming monsters were a staple.
“Well, take these [Chausus Spawn] for an example. They are a random roaming disaster. I imagine that a villager picking a few of them off would give them more experience then months of grinding at skills.”
“Is this type of thing common in your homeland?”
“What? No, but we got stories about this kind of thing.”
“Stories they shall hopefully remain. Only sentient creatures give experience. If this kind of thing was common I couldn’t imagine the devastation it would cause. War is enough devastation for me.”
Dante was kind of disappointed. He had pictured himself wandering around, killing monsters, and saving town folk after he had escaped from this.
Does this mean that I will struggle to gain levels if I don’t kill people?
Not wanting to think about that particular moral conundrum, Dante turned his attention to his new level and the four free stats it gave him. The obvious choice would have been to put all of them into strength. It would immediately make it easier for him to resist the pressure [Overloaded Warding Flesh] exerted on him. However, Dante was still holding out hope of increasing it naturally. He had managed a few weeks ago, so another increase must be due soon. He should start working out his body inbetween breaks. In that case, fortitude made the most sense as it hardened his body. Dante would have also like to put some points into alacrity as he was still far too slow on the battlefield, but now was not the time for that.
+1 to Constitution, +5 to Fortitude, +2 Endurance
As the itching and heat entered his body, Dante felt the strain on his body alleviate. It wasn’t that it disappeared, he could still feel the pressure, but it no longer effect him as it did before. Dante opened his status to check his progress.
Skills
Abilities
Traits
Something had changed. The number in parenthesis next to his endurance value. When he first had the system, it had been two higher, then had risen to three, and now it was four. It was clear to him now that about twenty percent of his endurance was being added back onto it. Something was causing this and it could only be Human Tenacity or Fickle Fate. Of the two, he had a guess.
“Hey Pauwna, you ever heard of a Trait called Human Tenacity? It’s a Racial.”
“Human? Is that what your species is called?”
Dante froze. He had not actively thought about it, but it would make sense he was different from the locals despite looking identical. They would have no common ancestors after all. It was a shame Pauwna had figured this out, that was one of the subjects that he would have not shared with her. Being the only member of his race made him even more unusal then he already was. Besides, it was another piece in the puzzle of proving that he was not from this world.
“Oh, so you didn’t know? Interesting.”
Frustration flared at her words, which he damped down. Being read like that was annoying, but at least he know knew it was a problem. If Pauwna was able to do this, how much had his team intuited. For that matter, he must be an open book to the likes of Ahzi. If anything, she had been rather merciful to him. Pauwna had skirted nearly all of his sensitive topics and had only asked questions about the more practical ones. It was clear that she could have gotten a lot of information just from asking those questions, even if he didn’t answer.
“No. I wasn’t aware of it. Everyone here looks identical to me so I never considered it. How did you manage to figure it out?”
For some reason, this of all things made her seem uncomfortable. “Lets just say that …” Pauwna’s eyes darted to the side. “It was a lot of small things. You smell different and your heartbeat has a different rhythm. Amongst other things.”
He smelt different? That was going to make him self conscious for a while. No wonder everyone here was obsessed with cleanliness even in a war.
“Anyways, I have no idea what that trait does. The Sūnsian equivalent is called [Sūnsian Camaraderie], which allows one Sūnsian to use anothers mana as their own. It is one of the reasons why the Empire is at the forefront of all magical research.”
Dante toyed with the idea of asking about [Fickle Fate] but decided against it. He had given out too many secrets today. At least he had learned that important detail. There was just remaining question.
“How do I level it?”
She flashed him a sympathetic look. “You have to spend time around members of your race. Create relationships. Help out your community.”
… Well, shit.
The rest of the day passed without event. Dante was forced to correct himself on his belief that it was impossible to sleep under the droning. Without even realizing it, Dante found his eyes closing. The poor sleep from last night and the constant excretion of killing the spawn while concentrating on the aura wore him down. Only the occasional sharp jab from Pauwna when his focus wavered kept him awake.
He had to keep up the air to Ren or else she would die.
Dante began to hear things. A constant background ringing in his ears. Sometimes the chiming notes in the swarm would harmonize in way that he sworn had a pattern. Occasionally, he would even think he would hear Pauwna say something and then be looked at strangely when he asked what she said.
He was pretty sure that this was the longest he had ever gone without sleep. Even the time when the Ahsmati had breached the trenches and they were fighting full time wasn’t like this. The period between where Pauwna had to jog hime awaking grew shorter and shorter.
A stinging pain to the side of his head. Pauwna had slapped him. It wasn’t that painful, but the shock of it roused him somewhat.
“Hey, you have got to hang in here. I understand that it feels bad, but you are close. I am sure of it.”
His thoughts slowed to a crawl and he found himself spacing out. When that happened, he would activate [Hyper Focus] and be back on topic for a few minutes more. More hours passed and they were well into the night.
If it had been just him, Dante was certain he would have given up, damn the consequences. It was a familiar train of thought. There had been certain dark periods where he had considered letting go. Those considerations had evolved into plans in some cases, but he had never gone through with them for a sole reason. Sophia would never recover. But here …
He was startled back to wakefulness as a cool cloth was draped over his head. Jerking his eyes open, he had saw that Pauwna had ripped a strip off their most tattered blanket and used some of their dwindling water to create it. It felt soothing against his skin. She pressed hard tack softened by soaking in water up to his lips.
Dante supposed that he would be alright afterall.
The first light rays peaked over the horizon, stinging his eyes. That marked two nights without sleep under constant assault. The realization caused him to miss the blinking notification in the corner of his vision for a while.
[Aura Manipulation] had advanced to Level 5
[Specializations] are available
Some vigor returned to Dante and he opened the new specialization menu.
Aura Molding (Rare)
Nimble Aura (Rare)
Adroit Aura (Rare)
Synchronized Aura (Rare)