The journey to the Sanctuary was a hellish one. Hunter had to move slowly so that he didn’t further antagonize his damaged ribs. He had managed to return the trail where the terrain was more even, but every step jarred the bones and caused a wince of pain. At least on the path, he didn’t have to worry about as many monsters. On his frequent trips between the Outpost and the Sanctuary, Hunter had cleared most of the mobs. There was still the chance that he would be ambushed, but the teenager couldn’t find it in himself to care. After a couple of hours of unmolested travel, the edge of his fear had steadily been eroded by the pain in his ribcage.

He had felt annoyance coming from his bond to Aquila, but Hunter didn’t hold it against the bird. It had more than carried its weight. Since he had left the woods, Aquila had delivered two more animals. The first had been a small ferret, and Hunter had felt bad for having to drain the cute creature that had a mask like a bandit. Hunter consoled himself with the fact that he was mostly putting it out of its misery. After being clutched in Aquila’s talons, the creature was on the verge of death.

The second creature had been a juvenile fox. It was still mostly alive but was twitching from the electric current running through its body. Hunter was impressed with both the size of the animals that Aquila delivered and its useful shock-related abilities. He hoped that when his Eye of the Hurricane leveled up, he could get a better look at the eagle’s attributes and skills.

After Hunter absorbed the life-force from the Fox, he felt immediately better. His health pool had climbed to seventy percent, there was no longer any drain, and his ribs looks like there were mostly repaired. He still had a deep bruise, but his natural regeneration would take care of the rest.

With a smile, Hunter increased his speed until he was flitting across the ground. Each step was light, and to an observer, Hunter appeared to be flowing across the terrain like a breeze rather than something mundane as running. Hunter heard a proud cry coming from Aquila as he finally moved at a speed faster than a shuffle.

It wasn’t long before Hunter made it to the familiar doors of the Sanctuary. As he was pushing the doors open, Hunter heard a crack as Aquila opened its wings from a dive to land gracefully on his shoulder. Hunter preemptively winced as he expected the eagle’s talons to pierce his flesh, but it turned out he needn’t have bothered. Aquila was gently gripping his shoulder, and Hunter assumed it was the soul bond in effect. Hunter sent gratitude through their bond, but Aquila cooly ignored him.

Hunter resisted the urge to shrug, not wanting to startle the bird and cause it to clench its grip, and looked over at his feathered friend. Objectively, the eagle was an intimidating sight and beautiful in its own dark way. The bird was large enough that it towered over his head by at least six inches. It held its wings slightly extended to keep its balance. Hunter could feel eddies of wind stabilizing Aquila and tickling his neck. The bird’s instinctive control over the air was worthy of praise.

Returning his attention to the Sanctuary, Hunter opened the doors and entered the structure. He sighed in relief as he felt the building’s regenerative aura soothe his damaged body and troubled mind. He didn’t like the Heavenly Host’s methods, but he had to admit they built useful structures.

When Hunter closed the door behind him, Aquila took off from his shoulder and found a perch on one of the wooden rafters high in the ceiling. It immediately started to clean and preen its matte black feathers.

The sun was starting to set outside Hunter’s temporary home, and he had returned with a few goals in mind. Primarily, he needed to rest and recuperate. Replenishing his rations was also a high priority. There were still glass containers in the crafting room that he could use to gather more Water of Eden, and there were always Apples of Eden on the ground to claim. After that, he needed to clean and repair his clothing. It had become a ruined mess from Aquila’s claws and the blood he had lost in the aftermath of the fight with the ghorum. Finally, he had felt like he was on the cusp of figuring out a way of healing himself, and he wanted to spend some time nailing the skill down.

With Aquila settled, albeit, without any of Hunter’s help, the warrior stopped by the crafting room to pick up more containers before heading to the grove. Once there, he refilled his flasks and stored them in his storage ring. After that, Hunter picked apples off the ground and stashed them away as well. He left the grove with an apple in hand and enjoying every bite of the delicious fruit. He frowned when he heard Aquila shriek and then flutter down from the rafters and alighting on a damaged pew. He could feel the interest and hunger percolating from their bond.

“Alright, damn. I’ll give you some,” Hunter complained.

He fished out a second apple and held it toward the bird. Aquila quickly pierced the flesh of the fruit with a talon and started ravenously dipping his beak into the apple and consuming it like a hungry wolf. After watching it, Hunter felt slightly guilty. The eagle probably hadn’t had the chance to eat anything since it was captured. When it was finally freed, Hunter had asked it to bring him animals to consume instead of allowing it to hunt for itself.

Bird taken care of, Hunter moved to the crafting room and started gathering up all the various maintenance materials that he had lost when the black wind absorbed his last set of equipment. When he was finished, he crossed back to the barracks and stripped down to take a cold shower. The feeling of washing away the crusted blood was sublime. With his flesh fully exposed, he finally got a good look at the damage the flailing ghorum had wrought on his body. In short, it wasn’t a pretty sight.

Hunter never wanted to be in a straight-up fight ever again. He simply wasn’t built for the experience. It now made more sense that the tieflings hadn’t left the village or had the opportunity to train themselves. He still wondered how the whole time-lapse thing worked. He couldn’t have been with the Archive more than a few minutes, and when he came upon the Outpost, they had already been there a few months. He had even gotten his Rift Walker Path from being the first human inside of a Rift. Did that mean that the tieflings weren’t considered part of his world anymore? Or maybe demons didn’t have access to the Archives to level and gain abilities?

The latter made more sense to Hunter. The Archives were stingy when rewarding skill levels with anything to do with demonic influence. He had experienced the same handicap before he gained enough demonic power to use his greed equipment. It bore further study, and he resolved to ask his grandfather when he completed the next quest.

Hunter exited the shower and dried off before returning to the barracks and sitting on his bed. He pulled himself into his customary lotus position and tried to capture the experience he had undergone while waiting for Aquila to return with animals to drain.

It was surprisingly easy to slip into the previous mindset. It seemed that practice made the trance easier to attain. He started by visualizing the ambient mana in the world around him. He noticed that it was far thicker within the Sanctuary than outside in the Rift. Hunter assumed this ambient level of mana was what allowed the building to boost rates of regenerations and skill growth. That gave him an idea of what he wanted to accomplish.

He controlled his breathing, and with every inhale, he drew in the ambient mana and collected it into his body. The energy was wasteful with no guidance or direction, so he pushed that mana into his blood. He circulated the mana through his veins, and with every breath, he drew more and more mana into his body. The process was agonizing slow. Even with the Sanctuary’s surplus of ambient mana, it took a long time before his blood was suffused with mana. At a certain point, Hunter stopped being able to draw in more mana.

When that happened, he released his grasp over the energy and instead focused on circulating the existing energy. The feeling of holding that much mana was uncomfortable. It was like he had overeaten on a Thanksgiving holiday. His mom always joked that on Thanksgiving, you didn’t eat to be full; you ate until you hated yourself. Worse, Hunter knew that if he just relaxed, the ambient mana would dissipate, and he would feel relief from the uncomfortable sensation.

Still, he persisted. Hunter recognized that mana needed direction. Without structure, it returned to its ambient, inert state. With that in mind, he focused the mana on empowering his body and healing his remaining energies. The process was slow, and he saw marginal benefits, but he noticed a clear improvement to his regeneration. He could feel that he was onto something big. It took another hour, but finally, he was rewarded with an Archive message for his efforts.

Congratulations! You have taken the first step on the Path of Divinity. By saturating your blood with mana, you have unlocked the Path: Mana Incarnate I (0/100).

Congratulations! You have earned the Active Skill: Mana Absorption Lvl 1

Mana Absorption (Lvl 1): Draw on the ambient energy of the world to empower your body, mind, and spirit. Using this skill marginally boosts the power of your abilities and sustains your body. Areas with a higher concentration of ambient mana will provide increased benefits. The efficiency of the skill will be improved with further levels.

Synergy Detected.

Evolution Initiated.

The Active Skill: Mana Infusion has been evolved by your bloodline. You have earned the Passive Skill: Breath of Black Wind Lvl 1

Breath of the Black Wind (Lvl 1): With every breath, you draw in ambient mana to empower your body, mind, and spirit. This skill directly empowers your attributes. Over time, your body will become more attuned to mana and may undergo transformations. Areas with a higher concentration of ambient mana will accelerate the transformations and provided more attribute points.

Congratulations! For using ambient mana to heal yourself, you have earned the Active Skill: Heavenly Rejuvenation Lvl 1.

Heavenly Rejuvenation (Lvl 1): Use 50% of your mana to heal yourself for 25% of your health pool over 25 seconds. The efficiency of the skill will be improved with further levels.

Synergy Detected.

Evolution Initiated.

The Active Skill: Heavenly Rejuvenation has been evolved by your bloodline. You have earned the Active Skill: Second Wind Lvl 1

Second Wind (Lvl 1): Use 50% of your mana to heal yourself for 25% of your health and stamina pool over 25 seconds. The efficiency of the skill will be improved with further levels.

“That’s the stuff,” Hunter cheered. Breath of the Wind looked like an overall boost to his capabilities. Over time, he would accrue attribute points without needing to level. That was especially effective without having a class. He now had a way to grow that was independent Archive-provided Paths or greed equipment. It was an essential step toward autonomy. Meanwhile, Second Wind would be a life-saving addition to his arsenal of skills. Had he had the skill after the fight with the ghorum, he could’ve healed himself and replenished the rest of his strength to the degree that his natural regeneration could fix the rest.

Overall, Hunter had accomplished all of his goals in the Sanctuary. He thanked the skill-boosting perks of the structure once again. There was no doubt in his mind that he wouldn’t have been able to unlock the new skills without its influence.

Plus, Hunter’s bloodline made him a force to be reckoned with. It converted average skills into something more suitable to his build. Though, he didn’t want to grow overconfident. There were clearly other bloodlines out there that would have similar effects. That wasn’t even considering the forces that were beyond his understanding, like the power that had provided his mask. He felt like he had just scratched the surface of what this new world had to offer.

With those thoughts, Hunter laid his head down on the pillow and prepared to meet the new day