Invisible Reputation
The children started running as soon as the gates were open.
In contrast to the excitedly running children, Ise and Elantra, who were walking leisurely, stood out like sore thumbs.
Duke Max nodded his head in approval, while King Andy looked on in worry.
Ise's cultivation started soaring, as did Elantra's.
" Interesting " One of the noble women commented, as she observed Ise and Elantra with aura eyes.
She's an Yin, Yin body, which means small reserves, small meridian system. This is also a rare talent. Yin, Yin made for supreme scouts, the most sensitive of them being able to sense a snow wolf pack thousand miles away.
Their total numbers are less than hundred in the entire county of frigia.
They make phenomenal scouts.
This lady is not talented enough to join military scouts. However, even she, who did not make it to the finish line of ' Sensitive enough to be tracker ' could detect the aura of Reotanarch tumbling over to Ise and Elantra.
Just from that one could tell how fast the mana absorption of Ise and Elantra is going.
Her husband is a real tracker, and one of the elite from the military.
" Not just interesting, it's mind blowing. " he said, with his eyes still closed.
The lady also closed her eyes, trying to see what her husband was seeing.
The nobles around them looked at them curiously, trying to figure out what they were doing or saying. After all, everyone is hungry for gossip.
The man was there as a favor to most of them, so he could track their children's progress. However, they are more interested in this royal gossip and princess Ise than their own children's progress right now.
After all, their children are still in front of their eyes now, if they want to see their progress, they could see it with their own eyes.
But the information about the royal family ? That's only going to come by at this party. They are dying to know.
The tracker of the military, knight Halfur Magne was given his knighthood recently for winning a snow wolf hunting expedition. It is said he is the best tracker in two hundred years.
While his wife entertained the guests with gossip, Halfur lost himself in detecting changes in the aura of Reotanarch.
The children who rushed forward eagerly slowed down after some time.
The cold aura came with a freezing chill.
Even the toddlers of Frigia know they can't stand still on Reotanarch.
If they do, they will freeze to death.
Unlike the runners in warm areas, they can't bend over to pant, nor could they stop moving for a single second. That's the key to survival in the cold.
Even if they move at snail's pace, they must keep moving.
The children who ran excitedly on to the mountain slowed down.
At this point, the aura on the mountain changed.
Ise and Elantra were absorbing the icy aura at an incredible pace, creating a low pressure area for icy mana above them.
Thus, the mana from other dense locations rushed towards them, creating a denser aura atmosphere to move in for all the children who ran forward.
They got stuck where they were.
If before the aura density was like a pleasant breeze touching them, now it is like a wind pressing them down to the ground with all it's strength.
One must commend the tenacity of children of Frigia, for even under such oppressive strength of Reotanarch, none of them turned back.
They moved a leg if they couldn't move their body, a foot if they couldn't move their legs and crawled forward, if they could not stand on their feet.
Elantra and Ise walked with no such problems.
No matter how much aura came in, it got absorbed by Ise.
Elantra, for the first time in her life, became aware of cold mana's aura. She had always been insensitive to the pressure of aura, given her immense strength. Yet, the storm of cold mana pressing on them now made her aware what mana oppression feels like for the first time in her life.
Slowly but surely, Ise and Elantra passed by their peers.
The moment Ise crossed a threshold, the aura pressure in that area eased like anything.
The children, who were struggling due to mana oppression, were immediately relieved.
They lifted their heads only to see the back of princess Ise.
The awe they felt in their little impressionable minds could not be described in words.
Ise became almost a divine existence in the minds of the children, for warmth spread where she walked.
Almost unconsciously, the children started following Ise's lead.
Soon, a reverse 'V' shaped formation formed on the mountain, with Ise at the pointy end.
When Ise saw struggling children, she made a detour to make sure all of them are covered.
Elantra stood by her side like a stalwart guard.
Not all children were happy to be rescued.
" I don't need your help. " The Yid Greenmont snarked at Ise.
He slapped away the hand Ise extended towards him.
Elantra fixed her cold eyes on him and glared.
Even Yid Greenmont, who is a typical villain, did not have the guts to speak once more in the face of Elantra.
Yid had the typical features of a water kingdom. His hair is brown, his eyes are muddy green, and he has a slim build. On top of all this, he is a water type mage, thus, it's least useful for him to climb Reotanarch.
However, social status of nobles in Frigia is directly proportional to how far you climbed Reotanarch. Thus, despite the climb being only suffering and no advantages, Yid must do it all the way, or at least just before the point he dies.
' just before the point he dies ' is not a joke but a real threat from his father.
Yid is a second son.
He ought to make his own way in the world , even if he did not understand much about his future, Yid understood how far he got in Reotanarch decided whether he had hard bread or scones for breakfast.
All of this suffering could have been avoided, if only the blasted royal family did not open this conferring. He hated the royal family with passion for all the trouble they put him through.
Ise did not humiliate him.
However, Elantra is not the same as Ise.
She glared at him down, till Yid fell back on his arse on the ground.
Ise did not stop her.
If there's one thing she learned from her past, it is that things easily obtained are not appreciated.
After Yid is almost scared to tears, it is only then Ise calls Elantra.
" We will be late if we tarry here. Let's go. " She called her off.
No matter what, she has offered help. It is the boy who disdained it. Leaving such disdain with no repercussions would be bad for the royal family's reputation.
As Ise and Elantra walked by the boy, another girl who was walking behind Ise offered help. Yid stood up and followed in the wake of Ise, like most kids here.
They made it to the second camping ground just as the sun was about to set.
The second camping ground is a collection of flat plateau like structures. There are no tents here, for the children are supposed to make them on their own.
Ise looked at her own cultivation progress state.
Cultivation has nine levels.
Neonate, youngling , young , prospect , student , apprentice , junior , senior , master.
Yin neonate spirit seed is the smallest.
Yang neonate stage is equal to master stage of Yin spirit core.
That is why the simple and rude method of disconnecting the spirit core and meridian system, and upgrading them separately is the only hope for Yin-yang mismatch. This way, they will at least have a fighting chance when their yin spirit core reaches master level, despite such a feat taking decades.
When you attach supreme to that Yin and Yang in there, the difficulty increases exponentially. First, mana strength has to upgrade through all the levels. When mana strength reaches master level, spirit seed upgrades.
With mana absorption, mana strength increases.
Her neonate spirit core had been at 'Prospect' state when she began climbing. Now, her spirit core has already become a youngling, and her spirit strength is at master level.
Ise, wanting to feel the spirit seed upgrade, took the highest plateau, then she started actively absorbing energy.
Her entire focus is inward.
She stood in a vast plain of void.
Underneath her, her spirit core could be seen the size of a vat, while the meridian systems are the size of water channels dug to irrigate the fields.
The channels are disconnected from her core, leaving a vast moat of nothing around her spirit core.
As her spirit core upgrades, it will reach the channels, then, she would be able to channel mana.
Every time her meridian system goes up a level, she would be powerless till her spirit core upgrades enough to accommodate the meridian system.
After all, a person could explode from the spirit oppression if the spirit core is larger than one's meridian system could support.
Thus, she could only upgrade the meridian system first, then let her spirit core catch up if she wants to develop stably.
In front of Ise, the vat made of thin ice cracked into a thousand little pieces, splattering into void like hard snow does under the feet of reindeer.
The little snow splatter melted away, then reformed into a six foot ice cube, swirling slowly in the center of the void.
Ise could see her rate of absorption of mana had increased once again. This time, the cold mana poured into her like a waterfall, with each moment, the color of the ice cube grew bluer.