He read slowly.
Skills were not abilities gained freely. They were constructed through attuned nodes, and each skill permanently occupied a fixed number of those nodes once ford.
The logic was simple.
A Basic skill required a minimum of 3 attuned nodes, with most stabilizing between 3 and 6. An Interdiate skill required at least 7, extending up to 15.
He paused there. That ant no one could use skills without first attuning at least three nodes. It also ant every decision mattered.
If soone attuned three nodes imdiately, they could form a Basic skill and gain imdiate strength. But those sa nodes would remain locked. They could not be reused for sothing else later.
He continued reading.
A Basic skill using four nodes would leave only twenty available before reaching Initiate requirents. But if soone waited until seven nodes were attuned, they could construct an Interdiate skill directly, gaining a stronger and more efficient ability at the cost of delayed growth.
The difference was not just strength. It was efficiency. Four nodes for Basic output. Seven nodes for Interdiate output. The Interdiate version did not simply add strength. It refined it. Reduced waste. Improved control. He understood the implication imdiately.
Soone with twenty-four attuned nodes could have six Basic skills. Or three Interdiate skills. Or a mixture. But the total output would not be equal.
Fewer, stronger skills could surpass many weaker ones. It was about quality.
He unrolled the second scroll.
This one described specific applications.
Umbra-aligned Basic Skill | Shadow Reinforcent | Nodes Required: 4
This skill allowed the user to reinforce their body using condensed umbra-aspected mana. It increased physical strength and stability temporarily, allowing greater force output during strikes and improved resistance against external impact.
The Interdiate version followed below it.
Umbra-aligned Interdiate Skill | Shadow Convergence | Nodes Required: 7
Instead of reinforcing only the physical body, this skill allowed umbra mana to converge along specific points of movent. This increased not only strength but also precision and acceleration, allowing faster directional changes and stronger controlled strikes with significantly reduced mana waste.
He could see the difference clearly. The Basic version strengthened. The Interdiate version optimized.
He opened the third scroll.
Umbra-aligned Basic Skill | Shade Step | Nodes Required: 4
This skill enhanced short-distance movent by reducing resistance between the user and surrounding mana. It allowed faster bursts of motion, useful for repositioning during combat.
Below it, the Interdiate evolution.
Umbra-aligned Interdiate Skill | Shade Shift | Nodes Required: 7
This version refined movent further, allowing controlled displacent over short distances with minimal delay. The user’s motion beca smoother, harder to predict, and required less recovery between movents.
Just as he was about to continue, the pain struck.
It ca without warning, far sharper than before, tearing through his skull with such force that his vision shattered into white for a brief instant. His grip failed imdiately. The scroll slipped from his fingers and fell onto the branch beside him.
His hand rose instinctively toward his face, but it never reached.
The pressure behind his eyes surged violently, spreading through his head and down his spine, overwhelming everything else. His breathing broke apart, his body unable to endure it any longer.
Then the strength left him.
His body slumped sideways against the trunk, his head tilting forward as consciousness slipped away from him completely.
For a few monts, nothing moved.
Then, slowly, the mana around him began to shift.
It gathered first in faint, uneven currents, drawn toward his body without command or structure. The flow was unstable, hesitant, as though responding to sothing it did not yet understand.
A faint warmth pulsed once beneath his skin.
Tiny embers blood briefly in the air around him, no larger than sparks, appearing and vanishing before they could fully form. They drifted without heat, without fla, dissolving into the stillness as quickly as they appeared.
The leaves around him trembled softly.
Their dull green surface deepened, veins darkening as vitality pulsed through them in quiet response. The bark beneath his back darkened slightly, its texture tightening as if bracing under an unseen weight.
Then, just as suddenly, everything stilled.
The embers vanished.
The mana settled.
And the forest returned to silence. Unaware, Ivor remained unconscious.
********
The next morning had long settled over the Scar.
Light filtered through the forest canopy in pale shafts, illuminating a clearing where nine boys stood forming a wide circle. Each bore the marks of recent combat—faded bruises, torn clothing, and dried blood still clinging to fabric.
Yet their bodies had healed.
The injuries Ivor had caused were completely gone, as if they had never existed.
Inside that circle stood three more boys.
They did not stand with the others.
They stood apart.
At the center of those three was the tallest among them.
He held a naked blade loosely in his hand, its edge clean and unmarked, the tal catching faint light as it rested at his side. His posture was relaxed, but all nine boys around him kept their eyes fixed on him.
He did not speak.
He listened.
"He ca out of nowhere," one of the injured boys said, his voice tight with restrained anger. "He waited until we finished the skeletons. He didn’t say anything. Just attacked."
Another nodded. "He was fast and brutal. Did not use any skill though."
"He robbed us," soone added bitterly. "Crystals. Frostvine. Scrolls. Everything."
The tall boy’s gaze moved across them slowly.
"Did any of you recognize him?" he asked.
None of them answered imdiately.
Finally, one shook his head. "No."
Silence followed. The tall boy’s grip on the blade tightened slightly.
"You let a single person disrupt the entire day," he said.
There was no shouting.
No visible anger.
But the words carried weight.
"Because of your failure, no one gathered properly. No progress was made. Everyone scattered. The entire day was wasted."
None of them t his eyes.
"And you still don’t know who he is."
No one spoke.
He exhaled once, slowly, as if pushing the frustration away.
"Spread out," he said.
They looked up imdiately.
"Search every section. If you find anyone from our side, tell them to join the hunt. No one moves alone anymore."
His gaze hardened slightly.
"And when you find him," he continued, his voice quieter now, "do not engage."
He lifted the blade slightly, letting its edge catch the light.
"I will punish him myself."
No one questioned it. They turned and began moving imdiately, disappearing into different sections of the forest as the hunt began.
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