Chapter 11
Once the feast was over, he slipped away. Merely greeting and exchanging pleasantries with the main family elders.
The servant's shafts were busy and tight. People carrying large trays of food or clothes made him squat against the metal walls.
Before long, he escaped the towering castle. In the shadow of the Keep, were small shops, blacksmiths, stables, training halls, and the like.
And Liam's stall was his destination. A small shop with three wooden banquet tables in front. Liam's mum usually left the shop with him to work shifts in the castle.
The shop was currently dry, all its customers feasting in the great hall today. Liam had his elbow on the counter and wore a bored look till he saw Lucen.
"Goldie! Haha, our freaking Knight is here!"
"I'm going to need the back room and a couple moments of silence," said Lucen quickly, darting into the shop.
Before Liam could complain, two customers arrived.
Lucen immediately accepted once inside and held his breath.
[User has requested skill fusion…]
[Current compatibility is high…]
[Expected loss: 20%...]
Lucen curled his fingers, he needed this to be good. High-level at minimum.
But he was also worried. Channelling worked by calling mana from a source; elemental mana was all around them, but divine came from…well, god.
Would it not work if the divine sensed his heresy?
And Breath… What category was it in?
Elemental or Divine?
Warren had warned them against the manipulation of Life mana, not only was it dangerous, but it was reserved for a select few Imperial Alchemists.
[Fusion complete…]
His eyes were closed, trying to release all the frustration and anger accumulated today.
It was now or never.
If this didn't work, then the next step may be becoming a vagabond or thief.
And he didn't want to put Selene through that, especially now when she was finding her feet.
"No matter what," he promised himself, "I'll choose my destiny."
He opened his eyes.
[New skill created…]
[Heroic-level channelling technique…]
[Song of light…]
He smiled, a heavy breath falling. "Thank god."
He read through the description of the channelling technique, each word making his jaw drop lower. This… was something he could let no one know he could do.
[Song of Light (Heroic): Most channelling types are limited in one way or another. Elemental types are limited by the element. At the Minor level, you gain control of two elements, at the high level, three.]
[Divine types are limited by spell types instead. Enhancement, Healing, buffs, seals, defence, and long-range spells (armaments) are split between different techniques, and you gain more types the higher the rank of the technique.]
[So at heroic rank, Song of Light can use Fire, wind, and earth elements and has the Divine types of Enhancement, seals, and armaments…]
This was beyond good. Lucen skipped around the confined space of the backroom, barely holding back his voice.
Armaments and Enhancement—those were the two he wanted the most. Not to talk about the three elements. Coming by Spells was not easy, so increasing the range of what he could use was huge.
He had wanted healing, but you couldn't get everything, this was already perfect.
[I am not done…]
[Please calm yourself…]
[Life channelling technique, Breath, has also reached the Heroic-rank upon fusion. Its limitations are similar to Divine's. The spell types are Enhancement, Healing, Transformation, Defence, Curses and Divination.]
[You have gained three spell types: Enhancement, Transformation, and Healing.]
[Heroic rank techniques also nourish body, mind, and soul.]
[Begin your training soon…]
[Approximate time to inescapable danger: three months…]
■——■
A few minutes later, Lucen was anxiously chewing on a piece of bread and sitting at one of Liam's banquet tables.
Why did the countdown speed up? He was meant to turn sixteen before the danger found him.
Was the prediction wrong? The system might have been faulty. Piece of crap.
But none of that mattered, he needed spells now.
Life channelling technique… So Life mana was something very distinct from Elemental and Divine?
He shelved those thoughts for now, his time was quite literally limited.
An inhumanly powerful channelling technique was nice, but it only helped him increase his mana capacity and determine his types of spells.
His types were plenty, it seems, so now he needed more mana to cast.
But using [Song of Light] was far different from using [Breath], which had taken him a short time to learn.
To channel all three types of Elemental mana, Divine and Life mana at the same time was not easy.
He not only had to center himself and align with Life mana in the air, but he had to do that while whistling a tune to the rhythm of the elemental and Divine mana around him.
[User is being ungrateful…]
[Creating suggestions for channelling…]
[Suggestions:]
Practice and become used to the two separate actions. Complete the first quest given to you—its reward will help. Shut up and get to work.
The chicken cracked between his teeth.
Before he could start cursing, Liam, finally free, plopped next to him.
"Okay, now tell me everything."
Lucejn sighed, going over the memory of the ceremony and finally the technique he got from Chester, trying to keep the rage out of his voice.
"That's so unfair!" Liam exclaimed, "You'd beat half of those kids in a duel at once."
Lucen highly doubted that, but it really depended on his mood and the weapon available.
"It is what it is," he sighed. "That just means I have to prove myself in front of the patriarch."
Liam gulped and looked to the darkness spreading behind the castle.
"The Sea of Light… I can't believe you're related to him. There are stories about him from hundreds of years ago."
Lucen vaguely felt offended by that but understood the sentiment.
Alger did seem rather ancient, yet timeless. He hadn't met his great-grandfather in person, but his image was seared into his mind.
He knew Alger would be even more unwilling to give him a better technique. Lucen calmed down; he had expected too much from people who did not want him.
He did his best to lament with Liam, knowing he actually had an even greater treasure hidden. No one could know, they would kill him on the spot or pick him apart to learn what was different.
He brought his hands to his face briefly as Liam's gaze lingered on him, feeling uncomfortable. He tapped the table, thinking.
"I need to go to town… fight and hunt."
Liam looked a bit confused by this but supported him nonetheless.
"Of course, it'll take your mind off things. But get this, I heard of this old sage that's in town, she may have a channelling technique!"
He cocked his head, slightly interested.
Lucen didn't believe that she would be able to give it to him. Many people swore oaths against the Pillar of Eternity, a mystical object that enforces oaths sworn in its name.
Even if she were stupid enough to give out her precious, blood-earned power, the Pillar of Eternity would kill her with its retribution.
He definitely couldn't get a channelling technique from her.
But maybe he could get a Spell from her if she believed he couldn't use it…