The Sixth School Ch. 059

"But... but, what's happening here has probably never happened before in the magical world! Wouldn't she, at least, be interested in that?" she countered.

"Why do you think she would even bother to glance this way?" Olivia questioned in a flat tone. "My true self has been alive for so long Alena, that it would break your mind to just consider it. The number of times she's encountered something that has never been seen before in the magical world is such that such things stopped garnering her interest thousands of cycles ago," Olivia informed her. "At the risk of sounding vain, the fact that you discovered something that actually interested my true self enough for her to descend is probably the biggest accolade of your life," She added with a shrug.

While it did indeed sound vain, Alena understood what the familiar meant. In a way, she shouldn't have been that surprised. Even the first time she descended, when Alena had tried to use Roka as a bargaining chip, Olivia's true self had countered that she had several backups to what it was she was doing with the boy. If Roka got himself killed, she highly doubted that Olivia's true self would notice let alone care. With a sigh, she turned back to the boy. "I'm going to give it another..."

The words faded from the healer's lips as her eyes caught something she hadn't noticed before. It took a few seconds for her to recognize what it was she was looking at. Alena remembered that she hadn't taken back the Azra's bead from the boy even as her eyes went round as saucers! Was... was the bead glowing brighter than before?...

***

Inevitably, the time came when he had to part ways with his mother. From start to end, they had been together for almost twenty years. Through all kinds of terrain and seasons they had stuck together, Greg slowly learning from his mother. Not only about his connection to the earth but also about how to survive in general. The best plants and trees to eat from and which to avoid. Which terrains they do best in and which ones to avoid. Which beasts they could afford to challenge and which ones were to be avoided completely. How to stay cool in the heat of summer and how to keep warm in the chill of winter. Everything from the big to the small, his mother had quietly passed on to him through the years.

In that time, he had grown, not only to match his mother's size but to actually tower over her. From running After her when he was younger, now he was the one pacing his steps so he didn't leave her behind. Whether it be instinct or something else, Greg wasn't sure how he knew it. He, however, knew that his mother was old among their kind. He was among her last, if not the last calf she would ever have. He probably had a few other siblings that came before him, but having never met them he was only concerned for his mother. Which was why it came as such a shock when she left.

After years of them going to sleep together and waking up together, it never even occurred to him to stay vigilant lest she leave in the middle of the night. But that's just what she did. After years of learning from her, Greg almost immediately knew that this was her final lesson. That he needed to learn how to make it on his own. The knowledge, however, didn't stop him from running around for hundreds of miles for almost a week looking for her. All for naught. Whether he was the one that went in the wrong direction, or his mother that knew how to evade his pursuit, he would never know. All he knew was that she was gone.

In the end, scared, sad, and angry, he'd searched out a mountain and dug a cave into it, just like his mother had once shown him how to. A cave big enough that his mother could also fit inside with him, and then lay on the floor waiting for her just like he used to when he was a calf. A week passed by in this manner and despite his hunger and thirst, he never left that cave, lest she come and not find him. This was the reason Greg was so elated when, through his earth connection, he felt the steps of another creature like himself. Probably delirious from hunger and thirst, it never even occurred to him that it could be anyone other than his mother. This was the first time the earth was turned against him.

Over the years, while they moved around with his mother, she had always avoided others of their kind whenever they encountered their territories. As such, the one thing his mother hadn't taught him, whether directly or by watching her do so, was how to fight. Sure, they had play-fought before, but it had all been in the spirit of play and not with any serious intent to harm. Which was why he was so unprepared for his first fight. When Greg left his cave and ran in the direction of the footsteps he felt through his earth connection, only to find another of his kind that he'd never met before, he was heartbroken. It felt like he'd been abandoned all over again. The pain quickly turned to anger and without thinking or care for his presently weakened state, he charged at the other male.

The only reason he made it out of that fight alive was because the other male was a juvenile just like him. A few years older and more experienced in fighting yes, but not quite as lethal as a mature bull would have been. The other male had been in enough fights that against a novice like him, he could easily dominate. He, however, hadn't refined the art of fighting enough to be able to take his life with ease despite Greg's inexperience and weakened state. On his part, Greg was stunned the first time the earth he had grown so used to and dependent on was turned against him. Boulders shot up into his belly and knocked the wind out of him, spikes sent into his armor trying to sink into his flesh, and dust sent up his nose trying to suffocate him from within. By the time Greg regained enough sense to turn and run, he cut a sorry figure. Battered and bloody, he barely managed to escape, the earth under him doing the bigger part in his escape...

***

It was the end of the sixth day since Roka received the obsidian earthmover's beast-core and sunk into an illusion. Seated opposite him also with her eyes closed trying to use the soul-tether formation to reach him inside the illusion, was his familiar Olivia. Alena, on the other hand, had a large tome out with the black quill independently flying across its pages. She was speaking out loud every single change that the boy's mana pathways exhibited so that the quill could record them. Kept stuck to the top of his head by a minor adhering spell, was the pathways scrying orb. The clear glass orb that she had used to track the development of Roka's mana pathways since they began using this new awakening method.

It's odd, almost unbelievable how things come together sometimes. Just six days ago, the boy had come up with the theory that one's affinities had something to do with their mana pathways. A day later, the evidence one would need to prove that theory presents itself. Of course, there were some prohibitively expensive potions out there that could help improve one's affinities, but no one had ever thought to look a the mana pathways of the ones taking it right after they took the potion. Besides, Alena doubted that the potions would have as pronounced an effect as the one she was witnessing in the boy.

Roka had a poor affinity for magic in general. That the earth element was his best affinity did not mean that he had a strong affinity with it. Put up against most other mages of the earth element and his affinity would be bottom of the barrel. He would have been an earth mage simply because it just happened to be the best one among his other, frankly, trash-tier affinities. Over the last five days, however, the light from the bead had been steadily increasing. Roka had gone from having a terrible affinity for the earth element to an average one.

Before, his best hope, if one was being realistic, was getting to the fourth tier and going no further. And even then, getting to the fourth tier would have required that he put everything he could into the effort. Her promise to get him to the fifth tier could only be made because it was in a school of magic that she herself had already ascended through before. Now, looking at the glowing bead in the boy's hands, the fifth tier wasn't too far-fetched for him. The sixth tier was a distinct possibility if he was diligent. The seventh tier could also be achieved if he put everything he had and more into the effort of ascending the tiers.

Alena was glad that she had been meticulous in tracking the development of the boy's mana pathways right from the start till now. It was because of this that she was able to pick up, not only on the more noticeable changes in his mana pathways but even the minor ones that would have been all too easy to miss. Without his theory, she would have never known where to look to understand the changes in his affinity. With it, however, not only did she know where to look, but she'd also gotten the direct proof that he'd been right, with the changes to his mana pathways, his affinity was also changing along with it.

Of course, she wasn't unaware of the fact that this new change rendered her previous study of the new awakening process moot. She had been closely studying how his mana pathways and possibly his core would develop as a result of awakening him through the sigil. The significant changes to his mana pathways over the past five days meant that she could no longer ascribe the end result to just the sigil. It was a bit annoying and frustrating to scrap all her previous work, but neither she nor the boy had known what to expect going into this. Neither could take the blame. As things stood, Alena just took it all in stride and hoped that it would all work out in the end.

A gasp from Olivia as she opened her eyes caused hope and anxiety to well up in Alena in equal measure as she turned to the familiar. "What is it? Did you connect to him?" She asked.

The familiar, however, shook her head. "No. I think the illusion has run its course," She reported with clear worry at what to expect, in her voice. "He... he's coming out on his own," she added...

***

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