[STT] Chapter 82: Trail (Patreon)

Sitting there working on [Healing Mark], or at least trying to, Ben shifted uncomfortably from time to time. No, the construct wasn't hard. Given time he would be able to improve it a lot more.

Since advancing to Tier 2, he'd noticed a lot more to some of his skills. Like [Warforged]. And what he realized about [Warforged] made him consider if he could make some changes to [Healing Mark], and whether that could push [Mana Construct] over the edge.

After all, he only needed one level more. He was so close. But it wasn't easy.

Especially with this goddamn hunger.

He knew it was coming. The food he had in his holding bag had run out this morning. And now he was left with nothing. He was going to have to go out to hunt, but more importantly...

This is bad. If it's going to be this bad of a hunger, how will I even survive?

He was almost at a breaking point, and the hunger had just started. Was this what normal people experienced when they advanced? Did they also feel like their stomachs were eating themselves?

It was maddening.

He shook his head, forcing himself to ignore it and focus on what he was doing. He needed to concentrate.

[Warforged] was a simple skill in hindsight, and that the concept of the skill was so vague was only a good thing. Being able to reinforce—or strengthen—almost anything was great. It's just him who had been too narrow minded previously, to only use it on his body.

Why not reinforce something else?

And that's what he was trying to do now. He was reinforcing the [Healing Mark] construct by pushing the concept through it, trying to carve it better, trying to increase the effectiveness of the construct by reinforcing it to accept and more importantly be able to bear the extra mana, and he was trying to make it more stable by reinforcing it with the core concept of stability itself.

Well, at least he was trying to do that, working with concepts wasn't really easy per se. All he was doing was fumbling around in the dark and hoping for the best that he did not fall down, did not slam into some wall he couldn't see, or break his ankle by stepping into a hole.

A long, long time later, he opened his eyes, and realized he couldn't do it. He was too hungry.

And he was getting a bit annoyed at Marcus sitting there grinning at him as he tried his best to do this. The older boy knew what was going on. He knew what was wrong with Ben. He was sitting there grinning like an idiot. Like Ben hadn't fed him for as long as he had. Made him good delicious food.

It was annoying.

The hunger was just too much.

Sighing, Ben stood up. "I'm gonna go get some food," he said. "Maybe hunt a rabbit or maybe a deer. I don't know. I need something to eat."

Marcus nodded sagely. "I'll leave you to it."

Ben glared. "You're such a dick."

"Just a bit of payback for making me clean that gunk."

"What? But you said you would! I didn't force you."

Marcus laughed. "I know. It was still pretty gross though."

Ben frowned.

"Anyway, I can give you a few pills, if you want."

Ben stared at the older teen.

"Are you serious?" He asked, exasperated, "If you had some to give and were going to anyway, why didn't you give it to me when I was fumbling around trying to make my constructs better?"

"It was fun watching you."

"Fun?"

"Yup."

Ben groaned and fell on the bed.

"Fine. Give me one."

Marcus pulled some out of his spatial ring and handed them over. Ben grabbed them and looked at them, only to realize they looked like normal pills. They didn't look that impressive. But he appreciated them regardless.

"Thanks," he muttered and swallowed one down, and put the rest in his bag of holding. There were a dozen pills or so, so it should last him at least a few days if he rationed them.

As he swallowed it, he felt the hunger fade away, just like that. It was immediate, and it was glorious. He closed his eyes and just let the relief wash over him, enjoying the feeling of a full stomach.

"Ah... That's so much better."

He sat down in relief, relishing in the feeling of not being hungry.

Marcus shook his head and walked off.

With the hunger gone, Ben noticed something that the hunger had been hiding. A pull, of sorts, inside his chest. A feeling. He hadn't really been able to sense it before, but now that he wasn't starving, he could feel it.

What's this?

He wondered, confused, but there was a sense of... rightness to it. He just followed it. It was like a gut instinct, and it told him to follow it, and that's what he did. He walked out of the tent, following the pull.

Focusing on the strange sensation, he realized it wasn't just a single pull.

When he actually paid attention, it was three distinct threads. And all of them pointed the exact same way, leading straight into the heart of the camp. He still had absolutely no idea what they were.

Following the invisible tugs, however, he arrived at the source and hid himself away with [Lurker], which had gotten a lot better since he advanced to Tier 2, apparently. He was just noticing the difference as it made people's eyes just glaze over him.

And there they were. The three idiots who had jumped him in the forest were standing right in front of another older teen.

Wait.

Recognizing them, Ben suddenly remembered his newest title. Titles were just passive powers the system handed out, or at least that's what he assumed they were.

So…

Is this [Hound]?

He had snagged that specific title back when he completed the rift. The only thing the system ever told him about was a simple: never lose a trail. But it had never actually done anything for him until right this second.

Was I just too low tier before?

Now that he was Tier 2, it must have finally booted up. And now that he felt it working, he knew exactly what [Hound] actually did.

Analyzing the threads in his chest, he realized how limited the system power was.

It didn't show him glowing footprints or let him hear super-secret whispers. It only told him the direction of his targets, and whether he was getting closer or further away. That was it.

So he had just blindly assumed it would guide him right to the three idiots, and it had.

Leaning against a nearby tent, he watched the group from a safe distance.

The three boys were standing in front of the older teen with their heads bowed down like scolded dogs. Ben knew that older guy's face perfectly.

Not long ago, that exact same guy had stopped Ben to offer him a spot in his House or something and Ben had denied. So was this the guy who sent them after Ben? He wasn't certain. Straining his ears, he tried to catch their voices.

But he was way too far away to hear a single word, and [Hound] was absolutely useless for eavesdropping. He had no clue if this noble had actually given the order to attack him.

Maybe the three boys were just casually hanging out with the guy right now. But Ben figured it was a safe bet the rich kid was pulling the strings.

Still, I can't be sure.

He didn't want to jump to conclusions without hard proof, and he definitely wasn't about to walk closer and get caught snooping.

As he turned around and walked back to his tent, though, he pulled his status screen and checked his notifications just to be safe.

Right there next to the [Hound] title, the counter had gone up.

Ben smiled.

###

Slipping back into his tent, he immediately sat down on his bed and got back to work. He pulled up the [Healing Mark] construct in his mind. It was basically just two small containers that he had to fill with mana ahead of time. And whenever he got badly hurt, they would burst and dump healing energy right into his system.

Pushing his new Tier 2 mana into the empty containers, he felt an immediate pushback. This new mana was so much heavier than what he had before. Feeling the construct tremble, he realized the walls of the containers were straining just to hold the denser energy. So he had to remake the whole thing.

Scrapping the shaking containers, he started building it from scratch with what he assumed was Tier 2 ink, though he had no idea what said ink was. Channeling the reinforcement skill, he shoved the concept of [Warforged] straight into the magical construct.

Blinking in surprise, he watched it actually work. The walls instantly went firm and rigid, and the heavy Tier 2 mana suddenly sat perfectly still inside the newly reinforced shell.

It had actually worked perfectly. And that immediately made him wonder about the crazy possibilities.

He could clearly feel that his [Mana Construct] skill was right on the edge of leveling up.

It was the only thing that let him build these things in the first place, and it was practically begging for a push. Thus, he pushed his tinkering even further and shoved more mana into the reinforced containers. He kept at it until he successfully improved [Healing Mark] to properly heal his tougher Tier 2 body.

It only held two heal bombs for now, but it was objectively better than before.

And the system recognized his efforts, reminding him he'd been rather lax in training ever since he returned from the rift. Then again, he'd been trying to deal with his advancement and injuries.

Still, he was excited.

[Mana Manipulation Lvl 15 > Lvl 16]

[Warforged Lvl 13 > Lvl 14]

[Focus Lvl 15 > Lvl 16]

[Regeneration Lvl 17 > Lvl 18]

[Mana Construct Lvl 9 > Lvl 10]

Congratulations! [Mana Construct] has reached the pinnacle of its current rank.

Evolution Requirements met. You have four paths you can walk forward in. Do you wish to proceed?

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