Chapter 10

Seasons

Lykan and Octavia quickly fell into a pattern of training in the martial training grounds in the morning. Then joining a hunting team to either tend to the fields or, as was more often the case, cut down animals and predators that spread too far into the lands. During these days, Lykan learned how to hunt, survive out in the wilderness and track animals. Most importantly, he learned to look for signs that nature was out of balance. Others would point out different tracks denoting a lopsided gate, while Lykan could see the signs of corruption easily through his Energy Sensing. Soon the tracking teams he was assigned to quickly learned to defer to him and his enhanced senses to find parts of nature that were damaged or broken.

Once their daily excursions were over, Lykan and Octavia would go to the Library, where Lykan would spend his time reading the old texts and converting a few from the old tongue to the modern. There were, of course, some issues. Some words like the name of the Great Forest Spirit could not be directly translated. Lykan got the impression that a few things were not meant to be translated. He, of course, got these feelings when he was writing a particular passage about how males and females could conjoin their energies through intimate acts. As he was writing that particular passage, a bolt of lightning struck the Library in warning at the same time the ground beneath the Library began to shake.

When people came to observe what had happened, Lykan briefly described the passage in question and what it would mean. He said how he felt there was something wrong with the passage, that he got a feeling of foreboding before he started copying it and that the elemental strikes only happened directly after he failed to listen to the warning. After that, he was allowed to skip such sections, just making a note that they were skipped and to move on. Once he had finished an hour of translating, he would then be free to practice magical theories he had learned or read ahead on his own.

He quickly found that the magic of the human lands and the magic being utilized by the High Wood Elves were entirely different. That or it was the fact that his own innate understanding of magic was broken down into the component parts of Energy. Everything he did or could do was focused on this tiny building block. In a way, this made learning for him easier, and he soon learned that a few things about magic were universal.

The first and most important part was that energy was the base of any spell or magical effect. The second was that energy flowed differently in each person and at different rates. The third was that while the size of everyone’s source of magic differed, some people could increase their mana capacity by thickening the mana inside them. He had noticed this last part, especially when he viewed the mana in the High Priestess or the Head Healer. Both of them had thick streams of mana that reminded Lykan of dark gravy. While the mana coursing through his body was little more than river water in comparison. The differences were easy to notice but hard to explain how they got to such points.

Life moved, at least for Lykan, at a constant pace ever forward. He realized soon on that he was purposefully given more things to do, so he would have less time to think about leaving. This suited Lykan well, as he rather liked the heart of the forest and its many secrets. Better still, there were many books that he had never seen or even heard about before. Reading new books was a particular treat and part of why he pushed his way through his morning and afternoon chores. Even translating the great works from before the Great Forest Spirit took back their knowledge was fun. Especially with the fact that he could read anything he wanted from that section, the only problem came when he tried to pass on that information to others.

There was a clear mental barrier that all High Wood Elves seemed to have. Lykan did his best to match up the texts word for word and line for line as he could. Translation was never easy, but he tried his best to make the copied text at least appear in the same grouping as the text he was copying it from. Yet even with this direct near one-for-one translation, the words and Ability to learn the old tongue were beyond the High Wood Elves. Even the High Priestess who would spend hours trying to force her mind to comprehend the symbols in the ancient texts to the words shown before her on the page was at a loss. They were forever cursed, it seemed, though the truth the High Priestess told them seemed to make sense.

“The loss or inability for us to ever learn the old tongue is part of our pact with the Great Forest Spirit. After we were cast out and denied the warmth of the Great Spirit, many tried to make it on their own. Those few who managed to leave later became known as the Wood Elves that you are well aware of today. A few of us who cherished the old ways tried to appease the Great Forest Spirit. For a hundred years, our ancestors prayed nightly to the Great Forest Spirit until one day he found the few who constantly prayed worthy enough to take back on. He allowed our ancestors to come back into his bountiful harvest, but at a cost. That cost was that they would start anew. They would forget the old tongue and never be able to utter more than the most basic of greetings. They would be allowed back in the sacred halls of their ancestors and only be able to see the words they left, never able to understand their true meanings. We, of course, knew most of the phrases of greeting we share. The words on the outside of the great stronghold were passed down from generation to generation during the great purge. But the words inside were lost to us.”

“Even when we were allowed back in, we found the words to be beyond our comprehension. We found the Library was filled with books of knowledge that were forever denied to us. Looking at them is our penance, our price for begging to come back. While it is a small price to pay, we always dreamed of having more. Thus, when the Great Forest Spirit, in his infinite wisdom, bound you to Octavia, at first, we thought it was a curse. But now, we know it for what it was, another test. A sign that we are, in fact, on the right path. The knowledge that you have shared with us means that we are one step closer to being forgiven as a people. That our betrayal to the great one is being slowly forgiven. I don’t think we will ever truly be fully forgiven as a people, but being able to hear of our history. To hear the great stories being retold first hand is a blessing in and of itself.”

Her words truly moved Lykan, that was after he finished translating the first of what would become many stories from the old tongue. Each day he would diligently translate and transcribe the ancient texts to their new books that had a section that directly mirrored the ones they were being copied from. Lykan would write until his hand hurt from mana withdrawal, then he would stop to read, practice his forms, then end his night by reading some more.

Octavia, for her part, always found it fun to be the first to read the translations provided by Lykan. She would sit and watch him work diligently every afternoon. Writing, his head turning back and forth between the two texts until he got the wording exactly correct. Then he would infuse mana into his fingers that would then be absorbed by the giant leaves and turned into words. Watching Lykan work, she felt pride and admiration for his work ethic. Despite how the others would glare at him, he would pay them no mind and instead continue with the tasks he had been given.

It was both a relief and a curse for Octavia when the one-year anniversary of their chance encounter with Lykan came and then went. By now, everyone knew the story full and well, how not one but two pacts of peace had been made with Lykan and broken. Even if the breaking was caused by another, that other was still in the Priestess’ party, and therefore, he should have known the warnings as well as anyone. The breaking and bending of rules were but one of many rules abused by the High Wood Elves of old that led to the abandonment from the Great Forest Spirit.

Ghane, for his part, kept his contempt low, while his eyes often betrayed his inner thoughts of anger. His body and actions spoke of someone who was genuinely sorry for what they had done. All the while, his inner anger festered and solidified. If he had a chance to step back and analyze why he was so angry every time he looked at Lykan, he would realize the key reason was jealousy. Lykan had the life he wanted. He was skilled and clearly blessed by the Gods, he was bound to Octavia, and most importantly, he had a legendary weapon that made him near-invincible in combat. Given all of these reasons, it was not hard to see why many were angry with the outsider who suddenly held a high position within their community.

One year quickly turned into two, but still no sign of the Great Forest Spirit forgiving the sleight. Still, Lykan kept busy, slowly growing used to the near-constant contact of Octavia, who had become like a big sister to him. While the two had to spend much time together, it soon became more of a habit than a chore for the two. Octavia was much older than Lykan, especially as she had already had her Class of Priestess assigned. While Lykan was still in the process of getting enough acknowledgments and accolades from the Gods as possible to change his fate and get awarded with a good Class. He had already managed to change his fate slightly by changing his Magic Ability away from Magic Immunity to Energy Absorption and Energy Sensing. From there, following the one, one, two method, he had opened up Energy Control and Energy Alter, which he worked on daily to improve.

He worked daily to improve his Spear Mastery and Regeneration. Regeneration was easy to improve as he would often purposefully let himself get cut or injured during his martial training sessions in the morning. Then as the day went on, he would let minor wounds constantly afflict him throughout the day. Many of these wounds would barely be healed by the time he went to bed for the day, only to start over. His Spear Mastery was tougher to improve upon as he could only do this during his Martial Training sessions in the day or while out on patrols when they encountered wild animals. As Lykan could not meld with the forest the way the other Elves could, he often had to face many more encounters than the others would. These feats, of course, were rewarded during the dinner when everyone was able to partake in the bounty of his kills provided by the Great Forest Spirit.

As the years went on, he managed to increase everything slightly. He first became a Sage of Regeneration and then Mastered it. Once he got to the maximum rank allowed, that Skill split off into two new advanced Skills.

Skill Rating Regeneration (Maximum) Meditation Novice Focus Novice

The two new Skills were both considered to be higher-level Skills. Only the High Priestess had Meditation. While she had mastered it a long time ago, it was still a rare Skill. When he asked about why so few seemed to have the Skill, the High Priestess gave a chuckle and replied, “The new Skills we acquire are based on two things. First, what we are doing, and second where the Great Forest Spirit thinks you will need to go next. Meditation is important as it helps you to focus your mind and allows you to focus not just on what you should do next, but how to do what must next be done.”

Hearing the words, Lykan only nodded. He understood the meaning of her words, though a bit of it was still lost on him. Fortunately for him, his mind was sharp enough to realize that most of this would only make sense once he had more understanding of the world around him.

The person with the Focus Skill was the Head Healer. She had a similarly cryptic response for him, “Focus is about being in a moment when you need to do one task and do it well. As a healer, this helps me to dismiss all external stimuli and focus directly on a patient that needs my attention then and there. The fact that you have been blessed with this advanced Skill likely means that you have already been showing focus. Likely while you are diligently training or when you are working tirelessly to transcribe and translate the sacred texts to our modern tongue. As for why you would need Focus, it has many uses and can be applied almost anywhere.”

Hearing this, he realized he had truly been blessed by having such a wide array of Skills. There seemed to be a pattern, though he couldn’t tell if this was intentional or if it was just a coincidence. But he did seem to think there was a sort of pattern to the Skills he got. The first two were academic or mental Skills being for Literacy and Linguistics. The next two were combat-oriented with weapons mastery and regeneration, while it could be said that the reason he got those particular Skills was due to the fact he earned them while in combat at the time. Regeneration was likely the only reason he had been able to leave the active volcano before it covered him with molten lava.

These two Skills were more academic or mental. While they could have combat uses, they seemed to be more universal with the way they could be applied.

Aided with his new Skills, he proceeded to spend the majority of his free time at the Martial Training fields. While this had a direct impact on his Energy Control and Energy Altering, he felt Skills, at least at this point in his life, were more important. So he spent the final year before his Class naming day focusing on improving his Spear Mastery to its final evolution. It had already been at the Sage rank for over a year, so with the increased benefit of having Focus and Meditation to help him realize his mistakes and ways to improve, he quickly gained the insight needed to advance to Master or Maximum in the Skill. Just as expected, this Skill spawned two new advanced Skills.

Skill Rating Spear Mastery (Maximum) Sword Mastery Novice Quick Step Novice

Sword Mastery was almost an exact copy of the Skill he mastered to unlock this new Skill. Only instead of spears, the focus was on swords. Once again, he was reminded of the stories of weapons Masters who would focus their entire being on one particular weapon before mastering it, only to repeat the process with the next weapon they then unlocked.

Quick Step was as Lykan had predicted, a combat-oriented Skill. This Skill allowed the user to cover a greater distance with only simple motions. While the motions were theoretically simple to do, their use in combat was tough to execute properly. When he first unlocked the two new Skills, his first reaction was to try them out. He quickly learned that not only was Quick Step just as likely to trip him up at first, but his inability to fully trust his weapon led to problems. The first time he tried to use both Skills, with only a sword in hand, he was trounced easily, going down to massive injuries when finally three attackers came forward to face him.

Seeing this, Ghane inwardly smiled. He came up with the basis of a plan to alleviate Lykan from his mythical weapon. Lykan, of course, was too focused on his own personal improvement to even notice the change in demeanor as he truly enjoyed the idea and act of learning and pushing his body beyond its mortal limits. Over the years, he was even certain that he had managed to get many of his Attributes to increase. While he did have the divine blessings that added to his base Attributes, he was still able to increase his base Attributes up to the human maximum. This meant that the divine blessings were only applied later on, meaning that the more Lykan pushed himself, the more he could force himself to improve.

In a word, life was perfect. Or as near perfect as Lykan could ask for. This was why on the day of his Class day, his whole world suddenly felt like it had unraveled before him.