Skill Hunter -Kill Monsters, Acquire Skills, Ascend to the Highest Rank!

Back at the castle, Ike didn't immediately go rest. He paced the battlements, watching the battle from close enough to jump in if he needed to. However, Scar and her men had the battle well in hand. With the tip about the fire from Wisp's dismantled trap, the five of them managed to set a fresh fire trap to lure the monsters into. Once they had that going, the flow of the battle changed to their favor. It wasn't like Rufus, where he barely held the ground. Scar and her men were able to hold Ike's superior line of defense with ease, once they knew the tricks and tips. They pushed back the front lines almost to the point where Wisp had held it. Relin and her men supported them from the walls. They weren't struggling, by any means, which gave the Old Guard the breathing room they needed to keep their weapons in good shape.

Rufus had simply descended into the castle to absorb mana from closer to the castle's mana vein. He hadn't bothered to check Ike's wall-mounted reinforcements, but maybe that was for the best. After the round lashing he'd taken from Ike and Scar together, he was best off not trying anything too radical for the sake of his own emotional state. At this rate, Rufus might end up with some kind of personality defect if they kept it up. He was already used to getting controlled. If he started to crave verbal abuse, too…

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Ike shivered, running his hands up and down his arms. Something about that thought made him distinctly uncomfortable. Wherever that road leads, I don't think I want to run down it.

There was nothing else for him to do at the moment, so he descended into the depths of the castle as well to absorb mana at the optimal rate. Shawn yawned himself awake as Ike approached the mana vein. "You know, it's strange."

"What is?" Ike asked.

Shawn nodded. "That there's no mountain spirit here. There's such thick mana veins, and so many of them, but no mountain spirit. I know it's a trial area, but even so, it's strange that there's nothing here at all. I don't sense any kind of spirit at all, not within the bounds of the entire trial."

"Is that strange? This area's been cut off from the world for a long time," Ike said.

"A long time for humans. The blink of an eye for a mountain. If there was a mountain spirit in the area, it should have remained here until now… no, for thousands of years after this trial burned out, the spirit would continue to live on. For such rich streams of mana to totally lack spirits is…" Shawn pursed his lips. He thought for a second, then sighed. "There's no way these streams didn't have one, or even several, attendant spirits before this trial realm was formed."

Ike opened his mouth, then shut it as the implications sunk in. Spirits didn't simply abandon mana veins. More rightly said, they couldn't. Not without losing a great deal of their power and risking death. Comparing Mont's power to Shawn's pitiful form, Ike couldn't say that he'd chose to take such a form, unless there was no other option. And that assumes the spirits had an option. If this trial realm formed the way he suspected it had, after the destruction of the original city, then did that mean the original mountain spirit, or spirits, had perished in the destruction?

He glanced at Shawn. Shawn didn't even know what kind of force it would take to kill him, and he was the weakest form of a mountain spirit. The power in an attack strong enough to slay a fully empowered mountain spirit, still hooked up to their mana veins… If my suspicions are correct, then the real question is, how do ruins remain, in a region destroyed so thoroughly that its mountain spirit died? Or rather, was killed?

"What?" Shawn asked.

Ike shook his head. "Nothing."

"Didn't look like nothing," Shawn grumbled, settling back down on Ike's shoulder.

Before he could fall asleep again, Ike nudged him. "Hey. Point me in the direction of the strongest mana vein."

"Getting greedy?" Shawn asked.

"I want to be ready to fight again as fast as possible. And it helps to know where to direct people, to get them back on the battlefield as fast as possible."

"Yeah, yeah. Typical mage nonsense. It's this way." Shawn pointed, not even having to think about it.

Ike extended his aether outside his body. He couldn't sense anything different about the mana flow in that direction, but he trusted Shawn. Keeping his aether extended, he walked in the direction Shawn pointed.

A minute or two later, he finally began to sense thicker mana on the air. He extended his senses even further, paying close attention to the slightest flow of the mana. Mana fluttered, almost imperceptible, but flowing. He closed his eyes, focusing all his senses on the flow of mana. It was faint at first, but slowly, the mana around him picked up speed. It hurtled away from the mana root, rushing out into the world. He adjusted his angle slightly, facing toward the mana flow. One step after another, he strode forward. With every step, he sensed the mana more strongly. He moved faster, conviction in his motions.

Shawn cleared his throat. "Is there a reason we're walking toward the wall?"

"Huh?" Ike opened his eyes and found himself half a step away from the dungeon wall. He jolted to a halt, barely digging in his toe in time. His nose brushed against the cool stone before he swayed back.

"That is where the mana flow's coming from, yes, but it's better if you navigate around the physical obstacles," Shawn lectured.

"I know," Ike muttered, turning to follow the hallway.

"I'm not the one who almost walked into a wall."

"Oh, come on. Anyone could've made that mistake," Ike grumbled.

"I don't know. I haven't seen many mages try to walk into walls. Aren't you guys supposed to be preternaturally graceful, and always move with beauty, or something?"

"Never heard any of that."

"That's obvious."

Ike shot him a look.

Shawn patted his shoulder. "I do appreciate you trying to sense mana flows, though. Most mages neglect their mana-flow senses, since it's often easy to find mana. But there's a difference between ambient mana and pure, deep mana from a mana vein or mana well. If you learn to sense mana flows like I can, you'll have the advantage of easily being able to locate dense mana, and consequently be able to recover more quickly after battles than most mages."

"I'll take any advantage at all." He couldn't beat Lord Brightbriar as he was. He needed everything he could get. Nothing was too inconsequential. Something like quick recovery could be the secret to his success.

Shawn nodded approvingly. "That's the right attitude, kid. Tell you what. Let's get to the mana vein, and I'll give you a few pointers, how's that sound?"n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

"Thanks, grandpa," Ike agreed.

One of Rufus' men passed by as Ike and Shawn chatted. When Ike called Shawn 'grandpa,' he whipped around and did a double take. Squinting, he shook his head at Ike's back and walked away.