Master Of None

”What’s wrong? You suddenly looked back?” Gik had taken a few moments while they moved to check his arrows. He had a feeling that as they chased the immortal king again that he would need them. That he would have to have the strongest and best made arrows at the ready.

”I just had a feeling that everything was going well.” There was just a small gut feeling Walker had that things had gone well for the dragon’s leading the battle against the remaining body of the immortal king.

That they had managed to succeed. That the party could move forward without worrying about Genesis and the safety of the people there. ”I think I get what you are feeling. Things feel like they are less heavy maybe?” from what Gil felt, that was the same feeling he had after he had checked his arrows.

”We are getting close to another weird place again, aren’t we?” Su’s senses had picked up on this. She and Midnight had been meditating together. Sui to understand the manas that she could use as her shields because she had managed to sense a slight change in her body, and Midnight because Midnight had felt a deeper change in her breath attacks.

Specifically, Su had been able to slowly learn how to use the other manas that she did not have an innate affinity for. While her earth related skills were powerful because of her partner, the grand earth spirit resting in her spirit mark, she still had learned a lot about earth mana.

If Su wa sina deadly situation, she had learned to use the heart mana to greatly boost ehr defenses physically and magically for a very short time. It was one of her trump cards in case she was in a situation where she had no other choice.

Yet, when she had tapped in to the light mana of the light elemental plane, she had learned that the manas around were here for the use of defense as well. That because she was half dragon now and also able to manipulate all manas, that she could improve her natural defenses much more.

Midnight had sensed that as a draconic guardian, Su was attempting to grasp these deeper changes and growth so her body. Therefore, Midnight had focused on the changes she felt.

The changes that Midnight had grasped while Walker moved them quickly through the light elemental plane were not simple. She had been absorbing the denser manas and felt them entering her body. But as any dragon, when midnight breathed in, that mana within the space around her was drawn in.

Because of this, she had sensed the growing density of manas in her heart, in the core of her being. It was not a bad feeling. It was an uplifting one since they matched her various affinities due to being a truc dragon champion. This was why she was able to make multiple forms of dragon breaths in the first place. That and the training she did with Walker, which felt like a lifetime ago with how much they had done since then.

These denser manas swirled around and circulated through her body waking up some aspects of her body which were weaker because of the way the world was. Lingering injuries that she had not realized existed even after being healed had repaired themselves.

Everyone had injuries like that. Scar tissues that were not considered injuries but still made the body feel weaker or generally slower. The manas which she unintentionally gathered were allowing her body to acclimate and better heal. In turn, she was grasping the concepts of purer dragon breaths.

Between the two, Su and Midnight had deeply connected to their bond. As a dragon champion, the draconic guardian was their protector as they grew. A being that would remain their closest partner in battle no matter what. Therefore, sharing their feelings through their bonds was easy.

Midnight picked up on the unique sense that Su had gained when she had drawn light mana from the elemental plane itself. That smoothed out the rate at which she was absorbing mana as a whale. Sy picked up on the feelings that midnight had about the manas reacting with her muscles and altering the way she breathed in and out, especially dragon breaths.

Su had gained a bit of dragon breath, flames in particular, as a one time use skill until she had to rest for a long time to use such an attack again. It wasn’t something she could use often because she had changed over time to become a half dragon, she was not a full dragon. But she now understood why her body was damaged because she used that skill. She knew how to make that less of the case.

When Walker glanced at Remey, he was not surprised to see she had maintained a connection to the nearby fire elemental apne. She had been drawing wisps of purer fire mana in to her body with every breath. It was more like she naturally attracted it now rather than focused on drawing it in.

He could tell just from the small smoldering flames around her that the fire manas were being used in different ways now. That she had grasped a deeper understanding of all flames by comparison to how she had used them before. Especially when it came to her spirit marks.

They had spread along her arms significantly, flowing with dense fire mana. The grand fire spirit was surely the cause of this. Working with Remey at a level that was deeper and deeper by the moment.

Remey was learning about fire mana. In turn, that meant she was learning about her partner. A grand fire spirit which had made its body from purer and denser fire mana. It all made a lot of sense. Walker had done the same with Fleur when they meditated together.

The only one that seemed to be unmoving entirely was Onyx. He had maintained a smaller form on Walker’s shoulders for every single second that they were traveling. Yet, Walker could feel that the light mana all around them had been pulled in. a hungry beast was attracting it all and devouring it like it was nothing.

That was Onyx.

He was absorbing light mana rapidly. The idea that he might run in to another serpent here made him feel that he had to prepare himself. He was going to live up to and beyond what was expected of him. He could take in dark mana. He could take in light mana. He would stand as the pinnacle of balance between the two as the young serpents grew up. And he would stand to represent them as they found their ancestors within the elemental planes one day.

Walker sensed every single bit of this. The unwavering determination was what let him trust Onyx. he didn’t push or prod, nor did he worry. He knew that Onyx was doing his best to ensure that he had the strength to achieve his goals while also defeating their enemy. What more could Walker say?

”I can still sense him ahead, that monster he is riding which spit up more undead isn’t the same as it was. The immortal king is improving it while they move.” The idea that came to all their minds was that the immortal king was creating an even more powerful enemy.

Remey’s eyes shot open as she heard what Walker had just said. ”He didn’t get any poison mana, did he?” She knew that if the immortal king wielded that, then she would be limited in how she fought. She only had so many explosive potions with her. She relied on her fists.

”No, he failed since we beat the skeleton warriors. I think it’s worse though. The manas are thinning out ahead. The boundaries are off. Like we are nearing a place where the boundary is weaker or something.” From what Walker could feel, the manas were also denser too. Both weak and dense at the same time. It made him worry about what ways the immortal king would use this area.

Would the immortal king still be able to wield powerful attacks and control the undead? Or would he also be weakened like others would by being in an odd area with less mana? Walker didn’t believe that this would be the case though. He had a feeling that they were nearing an edge where he needed to be wary. A place where there might be something more dangerous than the undead who wanted true power over death.

”Let’s just deal with it when we can.” Remey didn’t care what the immortal king had. She was sure that they would win this fight.