Soon after, he heard a swishing sound and when he jerked around towards the noise, he found a bundle of leaves. Unpacking it, he found the two kilos of Demonic Boar fillet promised by Malia. He had seen her neither enter nor leave.
Ikaris, who was feeling quite good about his recent progress, turned glum again, a sullen grimace on his face. With the danger posed by Oliver and the possibility that he might leak his secret to other villagers, he decided to step up his plans.
Most worryingly, with the failure of his Appraisal Spell on Malia the boy now knew that magic wasn't foolproof. He was sure he had successfully cast his spell, so the problem lay with Malia. She must have developed some sort of Anti-Magic Spark that was designed to counteract these kinds of devious spells.
It was understandable. Without the means to counter this kind of simple, effective and instantaneous spell, even a formidable warrior or sorcerer could be defeated in a heartbeat under the right circumstances. It was a major weakness that any self-respecting sorcerer would seek to eradicate at all costs.
Ikaris was certain that if he had more Magic Power or his Secondary Sparks were more developed, his spells would succeed on anyone, but the difficulty would be increased accordingly.
'I can always upgrade my System and Appraisal spells later. Right now, I need to develop a multipurpose spell that allows me to both attack and protect myself.'
Black Veil and Heart-Puncturing were the two most obvious choices since he wasn't starting from scratch. Black Veil was definitely easier to cast and upgrade than Heart-Puncturing so he decided to make it his priority.
The Passive Effects of Krold's lvl 3 Campfire Spark had increased his interest in the spell tenfold. What kind of affinity would he develop by upgrading his Black Veil Spark to level 3?
The teenager couldn't wait to see.
The other, more rational reason was that, like the System Spell, it was a spell that could easily be built upon to become something more complex and fearsome. The Black Veil currently blinded only one target, but in time would perhaps affect multiple targets within a designated radius, and would affect not just one sense, but all five. It was also the perfect spell for stealth or hiding from enemies.
Before resuming his training, he took a short nap to recover his lost stamina, and then feeling up to it again he left his tent. The villagers had returned from their excursions, most of them empty-handed and forlorn.
Unapologetically, Ikaris targeted the aborigine Tuari who was entering his tent with his son Koko, a 14 year old who looked almost 30, and whispered under his breath,
"Black Veil."
Koko let out a startled yelp and bumped into his father, who began cursing at him in native swear words. Ikaris watched the father-son quarrel with amusement, then after a few seconds deactivated the spell.
"Black Veil."
The boy cast the spell again on other targets, wreaking havoc ahead of time in Karragin. When he started to run out of breath and sweaty, he decided to take a short break and his footsteps led him to the prisoners watching him with a confused look.
For the other villagers it was not clear who the culprit was, but for these prisoners who had nothing to do but kneel and watch their surroundings, the teenager's laid-back demeanor stood out. Since he was the only one who had spoken to them during the whole day, they had kept a strong impression of him.
Meeting their gazes, Ikaris smiled amiably at them, then looking up to see the setting sun, he again told them seriously,
"Don't forget what I told you this morning." Then he left, returning to his tent before nightfall.
Malia, who could hear everything from inside her thatched cottage, did not miss this exchange but merely sighed softly.
'Fool... It won't make any difference."
At that moment, Grallu limped up beside the young woman, patting her shoulder heavily.
"Thanks for the fruit, I feel much better." The shaman flashed her toothless smile as if to reassure her, but her face was a little stiff.
Malia saw through her and inquired sternly,
"Enough to fight tonight?"
" It will have to be. " Grallu replied grimly, a red glow faintly flashing in her turbid eyes. "Fresh blood has almost no effect on me anymore. I'm too old and my Sparks are damaging my body and mind more and more every day, my wounds will stabilize as long as I don't get any new ones."
An expression of unspeakable sadness weighed down the angelic features of Malia's face as she heard the old woman, who was like a second grandmother to her, announce her impending demise.
"I'm sorry we didn't meet sooner..." The young chiefess apologized out of the blue. "If I could have converted you even ten years earlier, your life could have been extended by at least half a century and you wouldn't have to drink this warm, half-clotted blood every night."
"I agreed in good conscience." The old shaman cackled with pride. "I knew what I was getting into. Without this sacrifice, Karragin would have been wiped out long ago."
"A sacrifice in vain. The way things are going, Karragin will be history in a matter of days..." Malia disclosed with a conflicted expression. "The number of Crawlers climbing the Wall is on the rise, and the spike in refugees drawn to Elsisn Stele is beginning to wane. Soon it will not be able to compensate for our human losses."
Grallu remained silent for a few seconds, then she blatantly changed the topic,
"Eight prisoners... That's not enough to satisfy the Crawlers, and it will give us less time to exterminate them. If you could convert even one or two new Guardians the situation wouldn't be so precarious..."
"We're not going to go over this again..." Malia scolded coldly before softening. "The answer is no. You're the only person in this village I care about, and I've already broken the rules by converting you. The fact that you gave me the chief position won't change that."
"Sigh... You little liar..."
*****
Ikaris was obviously oblivious to their conversation. Once in his tent, he ended his training to preserve his strength and reinstalled the traps he had designed with the remaining goblin sinew.
Just a hair's breadth of wire, but taut enough and in sufficient quantity to stop or at least slow down the charge of any intruder. This was not only to protect himself from the Crawlers, but also to guard against other villagers. Ever since a villager had died the third night in his tent, he refused to let luck decide his fate.
With his wires in place, the boy closed his eyes and fell asleep with a smile, his bone knife tucked against his chest.
[Black Veil lvl1: 0.05>0.26 points.]
[Self-Healing lvl1: 0.02 points.]
[System lvl2: 1.01>1.26 points. Passive Effect: The System can now be accessed subconsciously at the cost of immense concentration]
[Appraisal lvl2: 1.00 points. Passive Effect 1: It is now possible to roughly Appraise the targets of your choice]
His Appraisal Spark had grown meteorically, taking only a short afternoon to reach level 2. His System skill had also grown a bit, no doubt due to the similarity between these two spells.
As for his Black Veil, the growth was also very fast, although not as exaggerated. With more Magic Power and a threefold increase in stamina, this result was within his expectations. He could now hold the Black Veil for over 10 seconds, 30 if he enjoyed the Heart Strawberry buff.
ROOARR!
As Ikaris began to drift off to sleep, a roar extremely close to him jolted him awake. He heard one of the outer tents of his formation collapse as if something heavy had just crashed into it.
This thing was growling in pain and rage and even after it got up it continued to stagger, knocking over another tent even closer to him.
'Shit!' Ikaris cursed inwardly.
In a split second, his sleep-fogged mind became ultra-alert from adrenaline and he silently unsheathed his bone knife in his left hand, while equipping the Mosquito Proboscis in his right.
Grrrrrrrrr!
'It's coming closer!'
His heart hammering in his chest, Ikaris held his breath, praying that the monster or creature he couldn't see in that pitch black night would somehow turn around. Unfortunately, it seemed to have caught his scent. The thing kept creeping closer, the boy discerning its movements through the rustling of the fabric.
His heart cold and resolute, the teenager raised both his weapons and braced himself to strike whenever the thing became entangled in its traps. Right now, he wasn't so sure that his web of wires installed in a hurry would be enough to stop it.
ROOOARR!
Jumping to his feet, Ikaris released his Black Veil and swung down both weapons into the darkness, stabbing like a man possessed at the thing he couldn't see, praying that his wires would hold.
SNAP!
His prayer didn't work.