บท 35: CHAPTER 35
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CHAPTER 35
283 ac
After the connection was made, I could feel it like how I felt Poe and Erebus before, but rather than a conversation, it is more primal. I think it is because snakes are not as smart as ravens, and I never believed Poe and Erebus could talk before bonding with me. Even before I became a level 2 druid, both of them were so much smarter than other ravens. My hypothesis was ravens are intelligent creatures already. Hence, it is a fact they are able to relay basic info among themselves, so Poe and Erebus couldn't differentiate raven talk from consciously speaking. If my thinking is correct, in time, this snake should be able to learn to speak and get smarter with time, or because of the mana, when I become level 2, the mana inside the training space becomes equal to Godswood level of mana. So I don't have to go there for now.
"What should we name you?" the snake raised its head, came close to my arm, and started coiling on it, then slowly started to slither up my arm to my neck. It basically becomes a necklace around my neck.
"Are you a male or a female?" the thought of the snake started to flow into my mind. It is a male.
"I will call you Imu." The second I named it, I could feel the mana around the air start to whirl around it and flow inside Imu. I didn't feel like this when I named Poe and Erebus, me becoming a level 2 druid must be the reason. With that, I become more proficient with controlling and feeling mana; that must be why I can sense it now. So this is how they learn to collect mana; when I name them, it is like opening the floodgates, and then they start collecting it themselves, but what I gathered talking with the ravens, it becomes easier to collect mana when they touch me while I'm replenishing my mana.
Like when I bounded with the ravens, I can feel I got a new buff too. Even though my eyes are closed but can see heat; is this what a snake's heat sensors feel like? It isn't like the predator sight in the movie; it is more jumbled. I can tell Erebus and Poe are behind me, and I can feel them as heat sources, but I can't tell their exact shape. It is like a heat mass, but when I turn my head, it becomes more defined, It becomes like I'm looking at a really low-definition screen, and I can tell they are birds. I thought of something and right away connected with Poe, then started looking at my face to see if I had pits on my face like the snakes. That was a relief; I don't have pits like a snake's sensory organs, so it is an entirely magical buff. Moving around with this while my eyes are open is a bit weird. It is going to take some time to adjust to it completely, but I can't wait to hunt while using this, and the good part is it isn't costing me any mana to open or close this sense.
After that, I worked on my mana until I spent it all, then went to bed. I slept for five hours and woke up to the rising sun. Today I don't want to leave for the wolfswood immediately; I want to train with other squires in the morning training session. So I got ready and went to the keep's kitchen to break my fast and talked with Brise a bit. She is a really good woman; I would like it if she started a new family. It is such a pity she is all alone in this harsh world. Once in a while, I try to talk with her so she wouldn't feel alone, but after her husband died, she pulled herself into her shell and never interacted with other men. I think it has been four years since he died, but it looks like she still misses him. Sometimes I see her looking at a wooden whistle carved like a bird; it was the last thing he gave her before going to war, and he never returned from it. I hope she will find happiness one more time.
"How are you today, aunt Brise." she looked at me lovingly and said.
"ohh, I'm alright, sweetheart. How is your training going? Are the noble children treating you right?"
"it is not bad, and I don't care what they think or do. as long as they don't stand in my way. I have no problem with them."
She looked around nervously, then got up and sat beside me. She spoke with a whispering voice.
"Sweetheart, you shouldn't talk like that. in a castle, even the walls have ears, Lord Stark might be favoring you right now, but as a commoner, you should never genuinely trust the nobles. To them, we are expendable, Don't get me wrong, Lord Stark is one of the most honorable and trustworthy men I have ever seen, but he is still a noble. He wouldn't mind sacrificing you for his greater cause. He might treasure you today, but if you force his hand; morrow, he can discard you to keep his peace."
She made sense; nobles will sacrifice smallfolk without a second thought. It is clear from all their wars. Lord Stark is no different on that part. How many levies die in every battle? Is there any song written for that smallfolks? No, but if one noble dies in a battle or one noble family is massacred? There are epics written about them. I can see her pain in losing her husband in the noble's fight.
"if you are going to work for a noble, it is best to work for a Stark, but never give them your hundred percent."
Aunt Brise has a mind as sharp as a steel trap; if she was born in modern earth time, I bet she could become someone important. After chatting with her a bit more, I got up and headed to the training grounds.
When I reached the training grounds, I could only see hostile eyes. Felt like a prey entering a hunting ground. I was matched with a 14 years old squire, he was full of aggression, and it was like he had a vendetta against me. We started the spar, but I wasn't going to use my buffs because he was only 0.3 stat stronger and faster than my base stats. If I use my buffs, he wouldn't be a challenge. He started charging me immediately; it was a quick but controlled assault. He wasn't moving without a plan. He began to do an overhead slash when I saw that I was getting ready to deflect him to the side, but the second his sword started to slide to my side, he let go of his sword and tried to tackle me. I wasn't expecting this, but he wasn't the first one to try and tackle the nine years old to the ground. He was trying to turn this into a grappling match, so I obliged. I, too, let go of my sword, slipped under his left arm, grabbed that arm, turned around, and started a judo throw. I used all of his forward momentum against him and threw him to the ground. Today I was feeling a bit different. If this happened yesterday, it feels like I couldn't act this fast. It is like I have better dynamic vision and better reflexes.
"What is your problem, man!"
"you... you are our problem, mister perfect."
After him, I fought with three more guys around 13 to 15 years old and beat them all, but they were so aggressive against me, like the first guy. To beat the 15-year-old one, I had to sacrifice flesh to take bone. I had to block one of his strikes with my right arm to strike his chest. Morrow, it is going to bruise really bad.
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