Chapter 22: Mid Grade Affinities

[You have spent 2,000 Sovereign Points! Your Physique and Mind Attributes Have Reached Peak Grade!]

It took every ounce of Kren’s self-control not to arch his back as the changes tore through him. Try as he might to hide it, he couldn’t quite manage — Toa noticed. One baleful glare from Kren’s golden eyes was enough to keep the Snake-kin’s mouth shut.

Still, Kren remained a prisoner to the sensation. His mind sharpened, expanded — he could feel his own Aura, and that of everyone around him, with a clarity he’d never had before. His body’s strength deepened, muscles compacting tighter, wringing more speed and explosive power out of every limb. He didn’t just feel stronger or faster. He felt healthier. A resilience settled into his skin and bones that went well beyond anything his cultivation alone could offer.

Within the First Awakening realm, nothing could match the raw speed of the Cheetah tribe. But Kren suspected that even at First Awakening Mid Grade, he could stand against a Cheetah at Ascension Grade and hold his own — he might not win outright, but he was damn sure he’d keep pace. Still, this was only one improvement among the many he needed.

[You have spent 3,000 Sovereign Points! All Your Knowledge Skills Have Increased from Low Grade to Mid Grade!]

This time, it felt like his skull might split down the middle. He couldn’t hold back a low groan as a migraine unlike anything he’d ever felt tore through his head, whiting out his vision with pain. Along with it came a flood of information — knowledge, concepts he’d never had words for, terms so foreign they felt almost alien echoing inside his own mind.

Some of what he already knew simply deepened. But beyond that came entirely new understanding: formations he’d never studied, tactics of war he’d never seen deployed, technology and processes for farming and food production, medical knowledge that reached further than most healing arts or spells could manage on their own. All of it arrived slightly reshaped — knowledge presented in a form usable by those with Aura and those without alike. The kind of foundation that could, eventually, let Kren build entirely new arts and spells of his own.

Knowledge, he was quickly learning, was worth its weight in gold — and there was so much of it now that he genuinely feared his skull might crack open. Slowly, the pain receded, his mind settling into the understanding that he was simply more now than he’d been an hour ago. What he’d gained didn’t feel like it exceeded what this world could currently offer — but it sat close to the peak of it, if not at the very top. He could feel it settled in his bones, in his mind. The knowledge he’d need to save his people now rested comfortably within him.

"Are you all right, Your Majesty?" Toa asked, a mix of confusion and genuine worry crossing his face.

The worry caught Kren off guard for a second. He shook his head. "Don’t worry, I’m fine. Just a small headache from pushing myself a little too far." He didn’t explain what exactly he’d been pushing, and there was no need to. He was king now — coronation still pending, technically, but a formality at this point. And whether he’d fully accepted it yet or not, the truth remained: he no longer owed anyone an explanation for his own choices. Not Bernice. Not even the thrice-cursed Imperial Princess Elyvara herself. He turned his attention to the final purchase on his list.

[You have spent 10,000 Sovereign Points! Your Darkness and Earth Affinities Have Risen from Low Grade to Mid Grade!]

This one, unfortunately, he couldn’t hide at all. Darkness exploded outward from him in a thick, cloying wave of smoke, startling Toa straight to his feet as he scrambled back, putting distance between himself and Kren. It wasn’t far enough. Aki was already there, one hand clamped on the Snake-kin’s shoulder, the other already transformed into claws gleaming with a very clear promise of death.

"What did you do?" Aki asked, voice flat.

"W-what? N-nothing! I didn’t do anything! I was just—"

"Enough, Aki. I don’t think the prince is in any danger." Ruhu stepped closer, gesturing toward Kren as he spoke.

"I’ve seen this exact thing twice before — among members of the Storm Eagle tribe, ironically enough. Looks to me like his affinity for the darkness element just jumped a full grade. When that happens, the Aura reacts with the surrounding environment and produces phenomena like this. And if you look closer, it’s not only the darkness — the earth’s moving too."

Aki realized Ruhu was right. The ground truly was shifting — subtly, but unmistakably, faint vibrations running beneath their feet, as if the earth itself were a carpet resting atop some slow-moving current, swaying gently with it. It was deeply unsettling to watch, and for a moment the ground beneath all of them felt anything but solid. Then, as quickly as it had begun, it stopped. The earth settled back into stillness, and the darkness folded back into Kren’s body until nothing remained. He opened his eyes.

"I’m fine. Just trying to work out a new art or spell before we have to deal with the Lyndwyrms. I need to be ready." With that, he closed his eyes again and tuned out everyone else. Aki’s eyelid twitched, and even Fima, watching quietly from a distance, hadn’t moved an inch through any of it.

Kren, meanwhile, shifted his focus — not back to his status page, but to the crest itself, resting snug against his chest on the chain Bernice had commissioned for him.

His Wind Summon spell was, if not the single best tool in his arsenal, close to it. There was still plenty of room to grow within it. But time wasn’t something he had to spare, and its direct combat use was fairly narrow — easily countered by anyone who understood how it worked. The East Wind remained his only real means of attack, and while the other three winds carried their own strengths, Kren needed something more direct. Something that could bend the terrain itself in his favor.

So he turned to the crest again, hoping that this time, he might come away with a little more understanding of it — and perhaps find something new to help his people survive what was coming.