Just Another Beginning After the End | TBATE

Asceticism Journey (3) - Nightmares

A/N: Another chapter. I'm on fire these days lol.

Anyways, have fun reading this one. The next chapter is gonna be another nightmare of an info dump so good luck with that.

Happy reading :D

Quite literally flying as I tore through the forest at breakneck speeds, I lauded myself on my ingenious stratagem.

By implanting some of my mana and threading it, I created a kind of thread made of mana that adhered to the core of the mystery mana beast, the only missing item from my bag.

I set this trap up in the case of theory number three being accurate. I didn't think it would be, but I didn't want to ignore my foreshadowing feeling, and it turned out I did the right thing.

The string led on for a while, twisting and turning in seemingly random locations. Fortunately, however, it looked like the thread was unnoticed.

Seeing the mana string suddenly rise, I followed it. Hopping onto a sturdy branch, I jumped off that and burst through the leafy canopy.

I appreciated the viridescent sea meeting the blue skyline and the warming sun before letting gravity drag me down.

It was funny to think that only around 2 weeks had passed on this journey supposedly dedicated towards training. Yet, I hadn't done any serious focus on training and was actually on the verge of uncovering a conspiracy.

I slid under an arching branch.

"Oho?"

Surprisingly, I could train, even like this.

I began maneuvering through the forest, practicing what most elven children would've mastered by my age.

Sliding and swinging on branches while clumsily changing the balance of my feet over roots, I practiced my movements.

"!"

I stumbled and crashed into the ground.

"Owie..."

I stood up and brushed myself off. It seemed I was a bit overconfident, but that was fine. I managed to keep up the pace for a reasonable amount of time, so this counted as training rather than just aimlessly doing something I was incapable of doing.

It was training for finesse and balance.

I lowered my center of gravity and started dashing again.

I jumped onto a tree and started leaping from branch to branch before swinging off an exceptionally high one and landing on the floor, rolling to cushion my fall.

Springing to my feet, unwilling to lose my momentum, I continued to sprint across the forest floor, doing my best to keep my usage of augmenting to the minimum.

It was surprisingly fun.

I also trained Shade Steps, finding that syncing it with my breathing helped tremendously with both utilizing the skill and breathing. It wasn't really addressed often, but breathing was essential*.

"...There!"

After a surprising amount of time, I reached what seemed to be where the mana string ended up.

It seemed there was a surprising amount of mana within the core. I must've covered at least 4 miles.

I gasped for breath, throwing off my poncho. I was hot and sticky with sweat.

"Ha, ha, haaa..."

Feeling that the heat was unbearable, I even threw off my robe, letting it drape down from my sash like I had tied a jacket around my waist.