Chapter 551: Zach and Anrosh |
Future
Zach and Naha sat on the ground, both of them were exhausted by the fights. It had taken a lot out of them.,
Naha unwrapped the bandage from his left hand, then looked over the wound again. It wasn’t healing properly. He had used the most powerful healing and regeneration potions that he had, and none of them had done much. They’ve closed the wound, somewhat, at least it wasn’t bleeding anymore. But it was still raw, the flesh hadn’t completely healed.
Naha clicked his tongue, then started cleaning the wound again. He was in her male ravzor form, hadn’t had the time to change from the battle. He could sense, and with his [Aspect True Sight] see, the Essences of Decay and of Disease coming into being. It didn’t bother him much, his stats were too high for it to be an issue for a long time, and it was unlikely that it could progress beyond the wound itself, the rest of his body was in perfect condition and would fight off the Essences easily enough.
Naha still cleaned the wound, destroying the budding Essences in the process.
“You need a healer,” he told him, not for the first time. “A Soul healer.”
He knew it too. The wound that Kael had inflicted had destroyed a piece of him, and it wasn’t looking like it was getting better on its own.
“We’ll find one once we get back,” Zach told him. “It’s not a priority.”
Zach closed his eyes, a sudden tiredness washing over him. The battle had shown him how unprepared for Ra’azel he was. The yeti had prepared, while Zach remained the same.
He had to do more. “I need to advance my Class.”
Naha tilted his head. “Zach… You’ve just resolved your focus madness, now you want more of it.”
Zach grimaced. “I think that if I finish advancing my skills first, it will not be an issue. I still have two skills to advance, and two free slots.”
“You put faith in others ideas too much,” Naha said.
“Only when they make sense,” he smiled. “You should advance too, advance your Class to the end. I’m certain that you’ve fulfilled enough requirement for an easy path to the end.”
Naha had reached the peak of Skills, had gained a full Image. Had a fully anchored Soul, unchangeable. Naha understood the meaning of their being. Zach didn’t have any doubt that Naha would be able to reach the peak without issues.
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“You are right,” he said finally, with a sigh, then put a hand over his chest, just above his heart. “I can feel it. I know that I won’t have any issues if I advance. I just worry. It’s what I do.”
Zach smiled. “I’m going to do the same. I have some skill tomes from the Wardens stores. And I think that I’ll see if I can find something good on the auctions.”
Zach had an idea of what he wanted to do. He didn’t come out of this fight just with an injury. He had become the Sage of the Wind. He didn’t get a glimpse or a grasp, he didn’t need them. He had just solidified his understanding of an Essence. Let his Soul understand what his mind already knew.
He had always been about knowledge, about pursuing a better future. Understanding Essences was a part of that. It felt like a good path for him. But before he could walk down it, he needed to finish his skills. Most of them were forged with the Essences of the Mind, Knowledge, and Time, his newest skill was made with Wind. The different Essences fit with the ideas behind his Class, the Lord Of Aspects, so he wasn’t as worried about focus madness as Naha perhaps was.
But he still had a few steps to go before his skills reached the peak of their focus.
As Naha finished putting on a new bandage on his arm, he looked out in the distance where Ryun and his partners rested.
They had taken steps forward on their paths too. Following their roads to power.
Zach had to do the same.
“I’ve been thinking about starting on my dream,” Zach said. “And I need to start utilizing the Castle of Knowledge to its full potential.”
Naha met his eyes. “What about Ra’azel? Ryun wants to hunt him down.”
“He won’t find him, not easily at least,” Zach said with a sigh. He understood Ra’azel more than he wished he did. The short clash they had gave him insights. Knowledge was tumbling inside of his mind, pieces coming together. He didn’t like any of what it was telling him.
“Ra’azel won’t attack us again, not until he is certain that he can win,” Zach said.
Naha grimaced, but then nodded, agreeing. “So what now?”
“Now, I’ll go and ask Ryun for a favor,” Zach said slowly. “I need land, a territory where I can build something great. Something lasting that not even Ra’azel can take down.”
It was time for him to build something for himself.
Anrosh sat at her table, looking over the papers. Trade agreements, treaties, various offers… taxes, those were her life now it seemed. She both loathed and loved it if she was being honest with herself.
And now that she got word from Ryun and the others she could finally relax and focus on working without worrying. Anatalien was with the healers, and though she was physically fine, they were still unable to wake her up.
She had sent word to other major sects, asking for aid. All of them had responded that they would be sending their best healers as soon as possible. The Twilight Melody Sect had fostered a lot of good will, and Anrosh wasn’t hesitant to use it.
Hopefully someone would be able to figure out what was wrong.
Her assistant entered the room without knocking, as she almost always did, at Anrosh’s insistence. There was room for Sect customs, and then there was what made things more expedient. She didn’t need to have her bow down and kowtow every time she entered the room.
“Sect Leader,” she said as she approached, a scroll in her hand.
“What is it?”
“A message from the Exalted Empire,” she answered.
Anrosh frowned. Their relations with the Empire were… not the best. The fact that the Herald of the Machine and Ryun had a kind of rivalry going didn’t help at all.
She sighed and took it in hand, then opened the scroll and started to read. As soon as she was done, she dropped her head to the table.
“He can’t help but make my life harder, can’t he?” Anrosh grumbled to herself. But that was the job she had taken, cleaning up Ryun’s messes.
