Chapter 125: Awakening [ V ]
Three days passed slowly after the arrival of Vishirk.
In those three days, the villagers grew accustomed to Vishirk's presence. He gradually became the talk of every household in the village after they discovered he could use magic.
Since magic was rare and only a thing of myth and legend in Winterseed, the people naturally became curious. They would meet Vishirk whenever they had the chance and beg him to show them his magic powers.
Vishirk wasn't bothered by the people's curiosity, which slowly became a distraction. Since there were pretty girls among them, he decided to perform his coolest magic to impress them.
Yesterday, he even called a group of ladies himself and started performing magic for them. He juggled some fireballs and used wind magic to fly himself a little bit. He even used wind magic on the young ladies, filling them with thrills and laughter.
Back in his school, Vishirk was a below-average mage and couldn't win the interest of any girl, as they were all in love with the talented mages. Thus, when the chance to become the superior one came, he took it without hesitation and enjoyed the benefits.
Nevertheless, he didn't get enough time on his hands to enjoy the attention from the beauties, as he still had to work on making Rowan's awakening potion.
Vishirk would go into the forest at night to look for some special herbs which could only be harvested at night. Sometimes, he even went with Dragun, since Dragun was a senior mage who had already explored some parts of the dark forest and had knowledge about the special herbs he needed.
On the first day, he went alone and returned after only two hours because he was scared the white-haired dark mages would suddenly appear and slaughter him the way they did his schoolmates.
On the second day, he spotted Dragun and quickly followed him. In the village, Dragun was the only one he felt really comfortable with, he saw Dragun as his savior and father figure.
As an experienced mage and potion brewer, Dragun caught on to the type of potion Vishirk was going to make when he heard the ingredients. Vishirk explained to him and told him Rowan wanted the potion.
Dragun had a lot of questions but didn't ask and just went with the flow.
He had already started his tutoring of Riela and studied the signs in her body.
His prediction about her being talented in magic was correct. Not only was she talented, she seemed to possess a special blessing that Dragun couldn't understand, no matter how he tried.
While the mages and those gifted with magic talents were busy advancing in their fields, Rowan didn't stop working on his village and ensuring its prosperity.
The construction was still ongoing and moving at an incredible pace. The building of the houses became really quick, one thousand soldiers were able to complete 7 to 10 houses per day due to the simple structures and materials needed, as well as the productivity boost added by the territory evolution.
The farms had also improved drastically—the uncultivated parts had been cleared and new seeds had been planted, most of which were already showing signs of germination. Under the supervision of Elara and her colleagues and with the availability of a stable water supply, the yield of the crops in the farm had increased manifold.
Yesterday, Elara even approached Rowan and told him she would appreciate it if they could start rearing their own livestock so the village would have a stable supply of meat.
Hunting was not common among Winterseed, thus, the only sources of meat were from the supplies Rowan provided.
"With the addition of livestock to the farmlands, not only would we have a stable meat supply but we would also get manure for the farms," she said.
Rowan was amazed by her intellect in the field of agriculture, it far surpassed his, who had only read about it in school.
Rowan promised to bring livestock after his visit to Winterseed II, which would be in a few days. His promise made Elara really excited.
Skipping to the current day and current moment, Rowan could be seen standing in his room checking the novice ranking. It was early morning, and the light had already descended upon the village.
----[ NOVICE RANKING ]----
-Total positions - 9028
-Your position - 8910 (▲12)
--> Current reoccurring rewards: NONE
---------------------
In the past three days, every morning, Rowan made sure to check his ranking to see if some sort of miracle had taken place and shot him up the list.
'Ah, only 12 today, at this rate, reaching the top 1000 would take a very long time,' Rowan sighed.
"What are you thinking about, Rowan?"
Riela's sweet voice came from behind as her hands wrapped around Rowan and her head relaxed on his back.
"Nothing much, what are you up to today?" Rowan replied with a smile.
"I already told you last night, Sir Dragun said the final phase of my awakening will take place today! Did you forget?" Riela asked.
Rowan felt her hand leaving his body and immediately understood that she was upset he forgot about such an important event.
He turned to her, and just as he predicted, there she was, looking at him with a cute, angry pout on her lips, with her hands folded and her head tilted in another direction. Even when she tried to be pissed, she couldn't help but appear even more attractive.
'How did you expect me to remember? You told me during the heat of sex!' Rowan yelled inwardly but kept a straight face.
"I did not forget, I just wanted to hear the good news from your mouth again," he lied.
"Really?" Riela's eyes lit up.
"Yes, and not just that—once you finally awaken your mana core and step into the first stage of magic cultivation, you'll become the first woman in Winterseed to ever use magic!" Rowan added, spicing it up to make her happy.
And as usual, he was able to make her forget her anger.
Both of them had a few nice talks before leaving in separate directions. Riela went to meet Dragun at the village square, while Rowan went to resume his daily supervision, beginning with the farms.
Riela strolled down to the village square, receiving tons of greetings from the people on her way.
When she got to the village square, she met Dragun standing beside a strange and large-looking fireplace with a weirdly shaped pot on top of it.
There were some idle villagers gathered at the village square watching him in awe.
"Did you see that just now? Something like a dragon flew out of that pot, I swear I really saw it!"
"Look at those smokes, what kind of food brings out multicolored smokes?"
Some of them voiced their shock.
The villagers didn't get close to Dragun because he had already warned them beforehand not to. Those who tried to disobey him and come closer fell unconscious due to the strange smell of the strange stuff Dragun was preparing.
Riela strolled past them and towards Dragun. As she got closer, she began to hear the strange bubbly sound coming from the pot, as well as the unfamiliar smell which caused her body to experience strange reactions.
"Riela, you are here."
Dragun sensed her presence and greeted her without looking.
"You came a few minutes earlier than I expected, but don't worry, the anesthetic concoction would soon be ready. It will numb the pain of awakening your mana core," Dragun continued.
Riela nodded and waited for a few minutes.
After everything was done, he brought out a mat from his spatial pouch and laid it on the ground for her.
She sat on it in the meditative sitting position she had learned from him.
Dragun then proceeded to bring out strange-looking, glowing crystals and laid them at different angles around her, then he connected the angles with chalk.
Riela and the villagers watched, pretty confused as to what he was doing.
After Dragun was done, a pentagonal drawing mixed with spiral shapes and strange symbols was drawn on the ground.
Dragun checked everything over and over again to prevent any mistakes, as even a single misdrawn line could bring about unmeasurable disasters.
"This part is done," Dragun muttered to himself.
He brought out a clean wooden bowl, scooped out some of the concoction he had just made, and gave it to Riela to drink.
Afterwards, he told her to close her eyes and brace herself before he proceeded to chant.