There may also be some inaccuracies, since English is not my native language.
Essentially, TBATE is first translated from English into my native language - and in that process, some details are already altered to make it more understandable for us. Now I'm taking that adapted (and somewhat distorted) version, revising it, rewriting it, and then translating it back into English.
I hope you'll point out any mistakes in the text that I might have missed.
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Arthur Leywin POV
Climbing the narrow ridges and sharp peaks leading to the very top of this mountain was difficult even with God Step, and I refused to believe this was supposedly one of the easiest routes.
Using God Step at this point turned out to be so effortless that I felt I could do it fifteen times more often than before I formed the second layer.
Events began to develop quickly the moment Lucius opened his eyes and, for the first time in a long while, used mental communication to pass on all the memories and thoughts he had while forming the new layer of his aether core.
Right after that, he handed me two huge chunks of aether crystal. One of those crystals alone would have been enough to fully replenish an aether core three or four times. Without thinking for long, and having two crystals and Lucius's experience-who, incidentally, stood behind me and helped me form the new layer with his own aether-
The way aether began to act with the second layer was astonishingly smooth. And only four hours later, I did it. I forged the second layer of my aether core.
Just when I thought the surprises were over, Lucius gave me the pseudo-artifact he had gotten from the bone wyvern, which, according to him, would strengthen my bones... to put it mildly, it was a painful process.
It felt as though all my bones had first shattered, and then, thanks to the aether and the pseudo-artifact itself, had been put back together. And although I still shudder remembering the pain, now, standing here, I understand just how much stronger I became in only a few hours.
I could easily defeat five of my former selves. It was an indescribable feeling. If this pace keeps up, not even a year will pass before I can save you... Sylv.
But casting aside all those blissful thoughts, I continued following Three Steps down the mountain, my breath coming out in clouds of steam, sweat running in cool trails down my back.
With all the uncertainty in my life constantly pressing on my mind, focusing solely on training gave me a sense of... control over the situation. Especially since training with a mentor who actually helped you progress was far more pleasant than almost killing yourself over and over again just to see any real results.
I didn't want to admit it, but I was pleased with myself for the first time since completing my training in the floating castle.
Memories of learning elemental magic with Buhnd, Kathyln, Hester, and Camus flared up in my mind. We had fun back then. Kathyln and I liked listening to the elders complain and gossip, and I couldn't remember ever enjoying the study of magic more.
Back then, yes, we were at war, but there was still hope that we could win.
And I still had my father.
And I still had Sylvie...
Three Steps waited for me on a flat ledge hidden among snow-covered trees, looking at me with a slight frown.
I had noticed from the very beginning just how hyper-empathetic Three Steps was. She told me it was connected to how the Shadow Claws communicated, using memories that allowed them to perceive not only the images shared by members of their tribe more deeply, but also the emotions that accompanied them.
When I didn't take her gesture, her gaze hardened, and she extended her hand even closer to me.
I shook my head, not wanting to share those particular memories.
Three Steps looked as though she intended to insist, but the cry of a bird high above us made her flinch and crouch. She looked up, trying to make something out through the clouds.
I followed her gaze, not prepared for such an overblown reaction. It was only a bird's cry...
The black body of a bird the size of a human, with a spear-shaped beak, dived beneath the white clouds, made one circle around the mountain peak, then rose back into the white sea and disappeared.
"Spear Beak," I said more to myself than to Three Steps. Turning away from the sky, I saw that she was practically pressed to the ground, the fur on her neck and back standing on end, her teeth bared in a soundless hiss.
I gently patted my mentor's arm and pointed toward a shallow cave in the mountainside.
We headed there, but Three Steps still didn't take her eyes off the sky.
Standing with my back to the shallow hollow in the mountainside, I couldn't help but wonder at the visit of the Spear Beak. What could bring a lone member of their tribe to a Shadow Claw village? Perhaps it was a scout looking for us, or maybe for Swiftsure.
As I watched the Spear Beak drifting up and down through the clouds, an idea came to me. I knew it could be risky, but I had been lucky enough to receive a warm welcome from both their tribes. If I could offer even a little help as a mediator, it would make it easier for us to obtain the portal arch fragments.
I decided I had more to gain than lose, and, grabbing Three Steps by the paw, I sent her the image of Swiftsure, who had saved us and led us to his village, along with memories of the warm reception we'd received there.
Three Steps jerked her paw back in surprise, looking at me with confusion or perhaps concern. I still found it difficult to read the expressions on the feline faces of the Shadow Claws.
"It's all right," I said quietly, giving her a friendly smile and extending my hands again.
I wanted to share a few more moments I had spent with Swiftsure during our journey from the Spear Beaks' village, but instead of sending memories, I began receiving them.
In them, I was once again with Spear Rider. We were a little older than before, and high in the mountains. He ran across the snow-covered stone, and from the emotions I felt while looking at his back through Three Steps' eyes, I knew their relationship had gone far beyond simple friendship.
"Faster, Spear Rider!" I shouted as he chased after a plump rodent as large as his torso.
"What's the point of your three steps if your cooldown is so long!" he shot back with a playful growl just before his body flashed.
Spear Rider's shadow appeared directly in the rodent's path, scaring it, but just as he brought down his aether claws on our prey, the mole dived beneath the snow and popped up several meters behind him.
I burst into laughter as my life partner roared in frustration.
We had been chasing that snow mole for the last hour, hoping to drag it back to the village and hold a feast. One of those elusive beasts was rarely ever seen, and even more rarely caught, since they could burrow into the snow faster than even a Shadow Claw could reach them. But unlike its kin, this mole kept resurfacing instead of hiding deep below, which gave us a chance to catch it.
"That fearless little bastard needs to be taught a lesson for its audacity," Spear Rider hissed, lunging after it while I followed close behind.
"I've heard stories about how those beasts can feed an entire village twice over because of their ability to make their bodies small or large," I shouted, so excited my heart nearly leaped from my chest. "Imagine how proud Sleeping in the Snow will be if we bring it back!"
Spear Rider glanced back with an eager grin. "Maybe they'll finally let us train as scouts!"
The thought that I might become one of those who traveled far beyond the safety of the village in hopes of finding secrets and answers made my heart beat even faster.
Filled with determination, I used shadow step, appearing directly behind the plump white rodent. That was when I noticed it was chewing on something as it ran.
The moment I got distracted allowed the rodent to dive into the snow again and reappear at the edge of a ravine.
A shadow flashed, and I saw Spear Rider leap off the edge of the ravine and use shadow step, vanishing from sight.
"Spear Rider! Wait-"
My ears twitched at the sudden wet impact and the pained groan from below, barely audible in the silence of the snow-covered landscape. Then the heart-rending shriek of the Spear Beaks' war cry echoed through the walls of the gorge.
My vision blurred as blood rushed to my head. I used shadow step to reach the edge of the ravine, where I saw a Spear Beak standing over my partner.
Without thinking, I stepped again, claws bared, straight at the lanky bird perched atop Spear Rider, but out of the corner of my eye I saw something dart beside me.
Whirling, I raised my claws just in time to block a second sharp avian beak aimed straight at my throat.
My paws dug into the ground, and I skidded to a stop at the very edge of a rocky ledge high on the ravine wall.
And then I noticed the trail of blood I had left behind. Two red lines had been carved into the snow by my own feet, but the blood wasn't mine. Despite the danger I was in, I slowly followed the crimson streak with my eyes until I found myself staring at Spear Rider.
My partner's pale fur was red with blood still pooling beneath him, and in his empty eyes an expression of pain and shock had frozen.
Grief and pain engulfed me like a snowstorm, and a howl tore from my throat. The Creator's magic had almost left me, but gathering what remained, I sharpened and lengthened my claws.
And then I noticed.
Two Spear Beaks, dark as a stormy night, lurked in the shadows that had fallen over us. Beneath the claws of one of them was the rodent they had used to lure us in, attached to a thin white cord tied around its neck.
My eyes filled with tears of rage as I lunged forward, cursing myself for wasting my third shadow step chasing the rodent.
The Spear Beak trying to kill me darted forward and met my claws with a flurry of strikes from its beak, forcing me on the defensive. I blocked and dodged, trying not to slip on the melting snow beneath me, but my attention scattered when the other Spear Beak began tearing strips of flesh from my partner. It took time to swallow, and while it did, it stared me in the eyes as though mocking me.
That vile creature, the eternal enemy of my people, kept pecking and tearing pieces from Spear Rider, crying out in delight while I fought its tribesman.
Then a memory flashed, followed by a jumble of others-clashes with the Spear Beaks, expressions of fear, hatred, and grief from the Shadow Claw tribe.
And just as quickly as the desire to help unite those two tribes had come... it vanished.
I wasn't sure whether the hostility between the different tribes had been part of the Djinn's design or the result of long years of rivalry, war, and bloodshed, but healing wounds this old would be the work of a lifetime, not some ordinary task to be dealt with along the way.
I nearly stumbled in the first moments after being pulled out of Three Steps' memories; her emotions still lingered and affected me.
We exchanged a long look without saying a word, but from the expression on Three Steps' face, I understood that I had abused her hospitality.
It was time to leave this village.
Lucius Zogratis POV
Three Steps extended a paw, and I saw the image of a piece of the portal. It was in the caves directly above the waterfall, hidden in a bed of black sand beneath a gleaming boulder coated in a quartz crust.
Three Steps lifted her other paw, holding out a hollow little ball slightly smaller than my palm, one that rattled at the slightest movement.
From time to time, sturdy little trees in the village produced fruits large enough to be turned into this toy. When the fruit dried, it became incredibly hard and trapped the seed inside. The adults pulled out the stem, leaving an opening slightly smaller than the seed's diameter at the top of the sphere, and carved a thin long slit in the side just before the hardening process was complete.
It was one of the ways kittens learned to summon their claws, because only with an aether claw could they pull the seed out through the hole.
Looking away from the toy, I glanced at Three Steps once more. I hadn't spoken with her much, because I didn't want to show her my thoughts, and even when I did, I filtered everything heavily. But over these few days, I had become friends with her. She was a pretty good teacher.
Since Arthur, thanks to me, hadn't killed the Shadow Claw, we were about to leave the village in a fairly good mood.
Tilting my head slightly, I finally said to Caera, who was waving to a pair of little Shadow Claws at that moment, "Time to go."
After waving one last time to the little kittens, Caera turned and followed me.
"They're nicer than the Spear Beak clan. That village felt a little uncomfortable," Caera said, refilling her waterskin with icy water from the nearby waterfall.
Nodding in agreement, I pointed toward a row of caves formed along the mountainside. "We're almost there."
All this time Arthur had looked a little gloomy, and I thought I knew why, but that was no longer my concern.
Crossing to the other side of the wide stream, we found ourselves before a hidden crevice between two large caves. I went first and squeezed through the narrow gap, which was barely wide enough to fit through sideways.
"Um, Lucius? Could you give me a hand?"
I turned around and saw Caera stuck halfway through, unable to move her upper body. Her large chest simply wouldn't allow her to squeeze through the narrow crack in the cave.
I blinked once at the beauty of the sight before me, then pulled her free.
We spent more than half an hour navigating the winding tunnel, which branched several times as we went deeper, though Three Steps' memory kept us from losing our way.
Eventually I came across the gleaming boulder that marked the final stretch, and after counting twenty-eight exact short steps from it, I began digging with my hands.
Beneath a layer of black sand lay a thin slab of white stone, about ten centimeters wide and around twenty long.
"Only four left," Caera said, sighing in relief.
"Now we're one step closer to the goal."
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The mountainside descended into a small hollow full of squat colorless trees. Several dozen huts, like plump little birds, were nestled in the dense branches. Something was moving in the village.
I sharpened my vision and peered into the wooded hollow.
The huts looked simple, built from mud and grass. They had all been constructed above the ground, in the thick branches of the trees, with no visible ladders, ropes, or bridges by which aether beasts could move about.
Several ape-like creatures loitered beneath the trees. Each had an enormous body, short but sturdy legs, and four powerful arms. Those wandering beneath the canopy climbed upward with ease, hauling themselves up with all six limbs. From our ledge, I could even make out their bodies, covered in scars from head to toe.
The Four Fists were covered in fur, mostly brown or black, but their skin was pale. Their faces weren't quite ape-like, but rather something between human and boar. They had huge broad flattened noses and thick brows. Boar-like tusks jutted from their lower jaws, and their little eyes glowed with violet fire in the shadows of the trees.
Without hesitation, I stood and, with neither delay nor any real effort at stealth, walked toward the village.
The moment the nearest ape-like creatures saw me, they roared, and it seemed as if the whole forest stirred.
"What are you planning now?" Caera asked, already drawing her red sword.
"Wrap yourself in as much mana as possible," I told Caera, then leaped off the cliff straight into the crowd of aether monsters to draw their attention.
They reacted instantly, firing aether charges at me. My Asuran instincts at full power, along with my eyes focused on the barrage of aether, allowed me to calculate the trajectories of the incoming projectiles.
But why should I do that? Why should I fight them?
The moment that thought crossed my mind, I reached for my aether core-and in the same second, monstrous pressure enveloped the entire forest, freezing it completely. The power of an eleventh-rank soul combined with the second layer of an aether core simply left those creatures no chance to even move, let alone attack.
The forest went still.
It seemed to stop breathing.
The nearest thirty ape-like creatures were pressed so hard into the ground that I could clearly hear their bones cracking. Once I was sure it was enough, I just as abruptly withdrew my aether aura, allowing them to spring back and regroup. I had no intention of killing them. I only needed to frighten them.
Dead silence hung in the air.
A few seconds later, a huge four-armed leader stepped through the parted crowd. His massive figure stood out even among the others, and a wary, almost human expression was frozen on his face.
Without saying a word, I took a piece of the portal from my inventory and held it out for all to see.
The mountain-sized leader looked at it for a few seconds but made no move, so aether began gathering around me again. Choosing him from the entire enormous pack, I released my aether aura with full force, instantly crushing the leader into the ground.
After waiting a couple of seconds, I withdrew the aura, giving the leader a chance to draw air into his lungs, and once more showed him the portal fragment. The leader nodded stiffly, then quickly vanished into the trees.
Less than twenty seconds later, the enormous four-armed ape-like creature reappeared before me, holding a piece of the portal.
Turning my head toward Caera and Arthur, I allowed myself a faint smile as I held another piece of the portal in my hands. "That's it. Only three left."
"Good work, Lucius," Caera said with a soft smile, looking at the smooth stone slab. "Good thing you managed to do it without bloodshed."
"Good work." Arthur gave a faint nod, looking distracted, clearly still under the impression left by Three Steps' memories and only now beginning to understand the full truth about the Spear Beaks.
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Our path led to the village of the Spear Beaks. There we intended to obtain their portal fragment and, at the same time, gather more information about the remaining two pieces.
Caera turned to scan the horizon. "Looks like another storm... rising from the ground?"
She was right. It looked like a storm, though there wasn't a cloud in the sky. The glacial blue expanse above the endless mountain range was still painted in the colors of the aurora.
Snow rose from the ground, swirling like a blizzard at its height. But what truly mattered was that it was moving toward us, and quickly.
Wild beasts, you're finally here.
"Get ready!" I shouted, pulling Caera toward me, and began wrapping myself in aether while she did the same with mana.
A ghostly creature of snow and ice, held together by an aether cyclone, burst from the blizzard and rushed at us. The thing resembled the malicious spirit from the mirror room that had possessed Ada, except this one embodied nature itself in the form of a snow golem—a shapeless vortex of conscious aether.
Dozens, perhaps hundreds, of identical aether creatures formed the storm surrounding us.
Without hesitation, I activated the God Rune of Theft. Choosing the three nearest snow demons, I activated the God Rune to its fullest, and three spectral aether arms shot out from my core straight at them in a grasping motion. An instant later, a tangible amount of aether streamed back into my body.
Those creatures really did contain quite a bit of aether.
Deciding not to limit myself to familiar techniques, I formed an aether disc in my palm. Filling it with a dense, solid portion of power, I hurled it into a group of frost demons. The disc tore through them, instantly ripping their bodies apart as if they were not living beings, but fragile ice statues.
I pushed off, gathering as much aether as possible into the thin layer surrounding my body. With the second layer of the aether core, aether spread over my entire body like a second skin so easily and so densely that it began casting a violet glow onto the packed snow.
A claw descended from above. Instinctively I raised my arm to block it, and the golem's hand collided with the barrier. Faint, very weak cracks appeared in the protective aura where the claws had struck.
They can scratch even the second aether aura of a second-layer aether core?
How?
"Ah,"I realized it too late. The problem was that, after advancing to the second layer of the aether core, I still hadn't gotten used to its quality and volume. Yes, I had strengthened myself, that was a fact, but I had done it as though I were using the first layer of the aether core, not the second.
"Don't let them touch you!" I shouted into the storm as Caera rushed forward and drove her blade into the body of the golem.
Compared to attacks through the God Rune, her attack didn't produce the expected result. The golem swung at her with its second hand, forcing her to jump back. Another pair of arms emerged from the snow of its body, and both targeted me.
Dodging the creature's flurry of claws, I instantly gathered aether into my right hand, raised the arm wrapped in violet aura, and released a precise aether blast at the nearest snow golem.
The aether cannon swept away not only the aether golem I was aiming at, but also three more standing behind it. The strike literally tore apart the aether mist holding them together, leaving a ragged gap in the line, after which their frozen bodies collapsed one by one into the snow.
At first glance, it might have seemed easier for me to simply use the God Rune of Theft and draw the aether directly from their bodies, but it wasn't that simple.
My core had a limit. By stealing aether from those creatures, I would only be overfilling an already nearly packed aether core. So I chose another route-the aether cannon.
I aimed it not directly at the target, but slightly above, so that part of the released aether would go into the atmosphere over the enemies, where they could no longer use it. That way, at the moment of firing, I slightly emptied my own core, and then almost immediately restored part of the loss by absorbing aether from their shattered bodies before they could fully disperse or reform.
It was a delicate balance between expenditure and replenishment.
And when, even at that pace, my aether began running low, I simply activated the God Rune of Theft again, instantly replenishing the aether core and continuing the fight.
Arthur activated his own aether cannon as well, apparently deciding to simply blow apart the nearest snow golems too.
Feeling a crushing aura, I turned my gaze toward Caera. Her blade was wrapped in black soulfire. With a wide swing, she sliced three aether golems in half. Soullfire spilled from the cut points across the rest of their bodies, devouring the trapped snow and ice.
But I could still see purple clouds lifting snow from the ground to create new bodies for themselves.
Caera noticed it too, but remained unshaken. "It looks like the most I can do is delay them. Have you thought of anything?"
"It seems our aether cannons can send them to the other world for good, but we probably won't have enough aether to kill all of them if we keep slaughtering them indiscriminately," Arthur said, dodging two snow golems.
Caera lunged forward to destroy another aether golem with soulfire.
At that moment, Arthur turned to me for a second. "What was that aether construct in the shape of hands?"
"A new rune!" I shouted back through the storm. "And I've got an idea how to use it."
Arthur's eyes widened so much that even through the storm I could clearly see two wide golden eyes.
One of the golems, carried away by its attack, opened itself up too much, and I took immediate advantage of it. Stepping sharply forward, I literally drove my hand into its unstable body, feeling my fingers pass through the icy aether mass as though through dense, burning-cold mist. The moment I focused, a torrent of aether rushed through my palm straight into my core. Like the previous one, that golem gave a piercing shriek and, trembling slightly, froze in place.
The aether and space to my right seemed to quiver, warning me of danger. Without thinking for even a second, I dove down, slipping under a wide horizontal sweep of claws that cut through the air above my head with a dull whistle. In almost the same movement, I turned and dealt with that golem the same way I had the previous one, giving it no chance to finish its attack.
It was... incredible.
Truly incredible.
The sense of aether changed the very nature of battle. It allowed me not merely to react faster or predict the enemy's movements.
I was literally seeing attacks before they even finished unfolding. Even if the strike came from behind, even if the enemy was outside my normal field of vision, even if a snowstorm raged between us, I still knew where and what would happen in the next second.
Here in the Relictombs, every creature and every monster used aether in one way or another. Some formed bodies from it, some strengthened their strikes with it, some infused their attacks with it, and some existed purely as unstable aether anomalies. For an ordinary fighter, all of that turned battle into a chaotic nightmare, where death could come from any direction at any moment. But for me, this battlefield was gradually becoming something entirely different.
Of course, there was a downside. It only worked against aether creatures and aether attacks. I still couldn't feel mana until it began to materialize into the real world, but those were details I would be able to correct with time.
My perception radius had long since gone beyond ordinary senses. At maximum concentration, I could distinguish everything within roughly forty meters with astonishing precision: movements, tension before a strike, changes in aether density, the formation of attacks, fluctuations in energy flows.
And with ordinary, more relaxed scanning, my "radar" covered around two hundred meters around me.
Two hundred meters of constant control.
Information streamed into my mind from all directions without pause, giving me precious moments to maneuver even under the monsters' constant assault.
It was like a minimap in my head.
Only instead of abstract dots, icons, and arrows, I perceived a living, constantly changing combat scheme. I felt where the aether monsters were, felt Arthur and his attacks. Felt how the snow monsters moved. Felt how their power swelled before an attack.
Every dash. Every swing. Every flare of aether. For me, this battle was almost half a step in the future.
How cool was this. Truly cool.
In the first zones, I had been scared-truly scared. I tried to look calm and collected, and that worked thanks to a strong soul, almost total insensitivity to pain, and high intelligence stats, but even so, I had been afraid.
But with each zone I became better and better, and now what would seem like a deadly situation for any silver-core mage had turned into a game for me. I could end this fight in a second. I could release all my aether into the air and activate the God Rune of Theft, instantly killing every snow creature. And the only reason I hadn't done so was sitting and raging inside Arthur's core.
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