The Grand Weave

Once again, we were treated like royalty. Another champion vanquished, another night of celebration. The looks of the people were beyond happy. At first, I thought I saw the same emotion, the same feeling as the last time.

But I was wrong. The people radiated more than just hope and joy. It was confidence. The villagers were no longer jumping at every noise, and their eyes held more than relief-filled tears. They were still worried, and there was still fear, but now? The fear was bashed away, shoved aside to make room for a new feeling. Their confidence helped hold them above the drowning waters of despair. It was a fragile yet solid thing. So ready to crumble and fall, to rock their balance and tip them overboard, but it was there.

Or so I was told by Orsk.

He made his rounds amongst the team, checking up on us individually. Despite the beastkin hanging back at the town hall during the waves, he was never idle. He had to run his mental communication and ward skills constantly and would mix more potions.

Besides Sam, I was the only other person with dimensional storage. That meant the number of supplies the expedition team carried was vastly limited. Without Orsk, our mana potions would have run dry a while ago; the Champion of Wrath drained more potions than was expected. Just because he was in the background did not lessen the impact of what he contributed.

After eating till my belly felt like a bowling ball, I headed off for the night, but Orsk stopped me on the way out.

"Orsk?" I asked.

"Cyrus. I wanted to remind you to stay nearby. We don't know if Arz'odral will show themselves again, but it's best to be cautious," he explained.

"Oh, yeah, okay. I'll pick the closest building I can find. Is there anything else you need?"

He paused but shook his head.

"No, that'll be all. Get as much rest as you can, but be up before noon. We'll have another strategy meeting, and I'll hand out more supplies." He patted me on my shoulder and turned to leave before he stopped. "Did you meditate before sleep?"

I frowned. During the aftermath of the morning incident, I completely forgot about Orsk's advice. Reflexively checking my system, I noticed a hidden notification blip itself back into visibility. During the pandemonium, I must have subconsciously suppressed the changes to my status.

STATUS

Name: Cyrus

Race: Reborn ( Felkin)

Age: ??

Tier: 0

Active Skills:

(T:0 R:3)Summon Familiar: Verdant Healer: (Áine)

(T:0 R:2)Summon Familiar: Resplendent Inferno: (Zharia)

(T:0 R:2)Racial Skill: Dimensional Storage: (Chomperz)

Passive Skills:

Perks:

Legacy of the Obsidian Crown

Scion of Calstrax

Demonic Blood

"Wait, what? How did my skills go up in rank? My healing skill is even third rank now."

Orsk had a brief look of shock on his face when I looked at him.

"Err...huh. I expected a skill to rank up once but not twice," he absently responded. His eyebrows furrowed, and he looked me up and down. "The books weren't lying when they said your kind had unfair advantages. Even with the rift energy helping out, that's still impressive growth for only a dozen minutes of meditation."

"Wait, hold up for a second. What do you mean about the rift energy helping me out? Is the energy different from what I normally absorb?" I asked.

"Ah, well, the answer is yes and no. Ambient mana in the air is absorbed passively. It can be sped up through meditation or other means. Brelten informed me in his report that he's already instructed you on achieving your first rank. Do you remember how you did it?" he said.

"Yeah, it wasn't that hard of a process. I used the energy I absorbed from killing all the forest beasts. I never actually questioned what that energy was."

"Most people have different ways of imagining their mana. Some people who practice advanced meditation techniques build entire worlds in their minds to help them. If I remember correctly, Brelten used to practice the way of the sea of souls." My confusion must have been evident on my face because he chuckled lightly before continuing. "It's a visualization technique that allows one to view their inner mana as a liquid. You start with a few drops of mana, and they form a pond in your soul. Eventually, as your mana pool grows, you move on from a pond to a lake and eventually an ocean. Your mana channels are rivers during the lake stage and currents during the ocean stage."

It was interesting to know that there were different techniques for carving one's mana channels. I honestly thought that everyone viewed their mana as a liquid concept. When Brelten was helping me carve my first channels, I instinctively took to the idea of my mana being a lake. If I gained enough power, would my mana pool make an ocean?

"Couple of questions for ya. Is mana not normally in a liquid state? What you've said implies that some people view their mana as something else. And two, you still need to explain how rift energy differs from normal energy. Also, we're using the term energy; is it not mana?" I asked.

A loud noise came from the main hall that briefly drowned out all the other noises. I summoned my weapon, and I saw Orsk do the same. After pausing for a moment, it was easy to make out the rowdy laughter and cheers from the crowd.

After the cheering settled, Orsk resheathed a dagger he pulled from his belt and turned towards me.

"It's good to see the team relax. and, the answer to your first question is yes. Mana is most often found in the environment around us. It exists as a gas, like the air that you breathe. That's the most common form of mana you'll find. Inside creatures such as beasts, monsters, and people, you'll discover mana usually takes on a liquid state. That's only sometimes the case when it comes to certain races. Our bodies are different, and mana, the ever-adaptable energy it is, can change. Crystalized mana is the easiest-found alternative," he said. He took a moment to let me digest the information. "For your other question, that's where it gets complicated. Unless you spend an annoying amount of time with scholars studying how mana works, you'll find the answer is never that simple. You have in your body a pool of mana, and we use this mana to fuel our skills and other things. The ambient mana we absorb is generally converted to our own version of mana, refined in a way. When you kill a dungeon monster or slay a magical beast in a forest, you absorb something called essence. This essence is mana in another form. It's a mixture of different mana types. Rift energy is an essence refined and purified to an even more potent form."

After the brief lecture on the topic of mana, Orsk gave me a congratulatory pat on the shoulder and excused himself back to the party. When I left the town hall, I found the closest and most intact building to sleep in for the night. If Arz'odral came in for a second visit, I should be within screaming distance of everyone else.

The revelation of my increased skills made me think back to the beast waves. After a while, I concluded that there was a change, but it wasn't noticeable during the fighting. The tier and rank disparity of the monsters versus my summons was enough to make my level-ups negligible. I looked inside myself, I found my mana pool slightly bigger than before and my channels between my skills and the pool wider.

I summoned all my familiars and found that while my pool was bigger, my summons continued to reserve large chunks of the pool. When I questioned Áine and Zharia, I discovered they also had bigger mana pools. Unfortunately, Chomperz showed no changes to his dimension space. I'd likely have to increase his rank several times or wait until a tier-up to see changes in him.

That meant that even if my mana grew in size, it directly correlated to how much mana my familiars could use. It wasn't the worst trade off, but it would have been nice to reduce to cost.

The ranks were good, and being in the rift was a great opportunity. I meditated for a few hours before going to bed. When I woke up, I stayed utterly still and tried to sense whether or not everything was clear of danger. After a few minutes of silence, I cautiously made my way to the living room and sighed in relief after finding no one there.

Status.

STATUS

Name: Cyrus

Race: Reborn ( Felkin)

Age: ??

Tier: 0

Active Skills:

(T:0 R:3)Summon Familiar: Verdant Healer: (Áine )

(T:0 R:3)Summon Familiar: Resplendent Inferno: (Zharia)

(T:0 R:2)Racial Skill: Dimensional Storage: (Chomperz)

Passive Skills:

Perks:

Legacy of the Obsidian Crown

Scion of Calstrax

Demonic Blood

I did a little dance in celebration after seeing another rank up to Resplendent Inferno. It was sad to see my other skill hadn't gone up, but progress was progress.

During meditation I noticed the pool of energy floating above my mana pool wasn't that large. Whatever energy or essence I acquired since my last meditation must have been smaller due to the decreased number of monsters during the waves.

But even with the decreased energy, I grinned at the sight. Whatever happens by the time the rift ends, I was walking out of here with more power than before.

There were still several hours left before the next wave started, so I took the morning slow and practiced with my spear. About an hour in, I managed to work out a decent amount and wanted a bath to relax in. Sadly, the building I stayed in for the night lacked the enchantments that Oleander's sported. Luckily, all I had to do was find the one person on our team who could conjure magical water from the palm of his hand.

Xertalus was already awake when I found him, and I asked him to hose me down. He didn't bat an eye at my weird request and blasted me with a torrent of water. There may or may not have been a round of laughter when Petraeus and Matias came out of the building to see what the commotion was. Apparently, it was pretty common for adventurers with water-aspected skills to serve as the team's shower services.

With a quick flash of heat from Zharia and a fresh pair of clothes, the brothers and I joined Sam for breakfast. Sam started complaining about having to eat only fish again but stopped when I pulled out an already steaming hot meal from my inventory. Her slack-jawed response was exactly what I was hoping for.

The smell was enough for her to quickly reclaim her composure and grab the plate of roast and gravy from my hands. With exaggerated whiffs of air, she summoned a fork and dug in.

"With how she acts, one would think she hasn't eaten in days," Matias mocked.

"Hrg-ey! Thish is somf good sthuff. I'm a grawing womenf," she replied with food still in her mouth as she gesticulated wildly in the elf's direction.

He backed up slightly in response and used Xertalus as a shield to protect him from the stray food particles.

"Nevermind, make that weeks," he added.

We laughed, and as everyone sat down, I summoned more plates of hot food. It was a decent spread of mostly meat, but there were some fresh rolls of bread to accompany it. Petraeus picked at his food suspiciously while the others had already begun chowing down.

"Is this food from the feast last night?" he asked.

I set down several cups of juice for everyone before answering. "Yeah, I figured there was no harm in taking food already offered. Besides, I'm not even sure me taking it matters. There isn't even a kitchen in the town hall, and there's no way the people cooked this up while we fought the champion. And did you notice it completely disappeared last time? I wasn't going to waste not having to eat fish and jerky again," I replied.

Petraeus hummed but dug in. An hour later, we were all contentedly rubbing our bellies and melting into our chairs. Little moments like these were a welcome reprieve from all the stress of fighting hordes of monsters.

"Cy, if we have another feast after the ninth wave, remind me to pack a table's worth of food in my inventory. When we get out of this rift, I'm going to stockpile a lot of food from Bera. Camping is fun, but that was great," she said while rubbing her stomach.

"Sure thing. That's probably one of the smartest things you've ever said, Sammy. As masculating as it was to hunt down boars and grill it over a fire, I think I'll stick to real food if I can," I said.

"Hardy har har, Watch out; I'll bribe Bera against you. You'll never eat delicious bacon strips ever aga-" a loud shout from the window interrupted her.

"Everyone! Wards have been breached! Come to the town hall now!"

We all stood up the moment we heard the words. Sam summoned her hammer, and I pulled out my spear.

"Was that Orsk? We gotta go," I said.

"Everyone, make yourself battle ready. We don't have time to run for our weapons, so we'll have to make do with what we can," Petraeus ordered.

We readied ourselves, and with a nod from each of us, Xertalus opened the door. My vision quickly disappeared as the large elf jumped back and knocked Matias and Sam over. Despite the confusion, I swiveled my head towards the open door and saw a wall of red. My confusion was cleared up when a snout as large as my head shoved its way through the doorframe. With a loud screech, the blood beast's body began to rumble and bulge.

Petraeus started to create a mud wall, but it was too late. The monster exploded like a popped balloon, and I found myself once again losing consciousness.