Ashen Ascension: The Divided Flame-Chapter 61: Mana Refinement

He considered whether the Ember Seed would only affect beast-related abilities and not mana-based skills.

The thought came naturally. The Seed existed within the soul circuit, not the mana circuit. The two systems occupied the same body, yet they remained distinct in structure and function. He could feel that difference clearly.

For now, they coexisted without conflict, but he sensed that their separation would matter more in the future. If they were ever to work together fully, the divide between them would have to be understood.

His thoughts drifted to something he had deliberately avoided examining too closely since his awakening.

He had a beast soul.

Yet his body was human.

There were no claws at his fingertips, no sharpened fangs, no tail or altered frame that marked him as different.

He searched his memories for details he might have missed. There had been moments in childhood that did not align with the simple story of a cautious boy from the Shrouded District. He remembered noticing scents and faint sounds that others ignored. He remembered preferring to watch before moving, studying people from a distance rather than joining them. Crowds had always unsettled him, while the presence of his parents brought a calm.

He had assumed these were habits born from hardship and survival. Now he was no longer certain.

If he told anyone the truth, what would follow?

He could imagine it clearly. Questions first. Then confinement. His body would become something to study. His dual system would be treated as an anomaly to dissect and claim.

His instincts had already acted once to protect that secret.

Luna.

He did not allow the memory to linger.

Another memory rose in its place, sharper and more difficult to categorize.

The white flame.

He had seen it during his fight with Garron, and even before that, in rare moments when fear sharpened into something colder and clearer. It was not mana. It was not the warmth of soul energy. It felt different, almost like a thin, clean line cutting through everything else. Since his awakening, he had not seen it again.

It did not feel connected to the beast awakening. If anything, it seemed older, something that had existed before he ever entered the Scar. Unlike mana and soul, which he could now observe and measure, the white flame had no structure he could examine. 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

He had no explanation for that either.

Pushing aside the thoughts that had begun to crowd his mind, Ivor reached into his bag and took out another raw mana crystal. He turned it once between his fingers before drawing in a slow breath and beginning the absorption. If he intended to learn any skill properly, he first needed attuned mana nodes. Without them, the idea of structured techniques was meaningless.

The moment he began pulling mana from the crystal, he noticed the difference. The flow answered him more easily than before. The mana entered his circuit with less resistance, and his control over its movement felt steadier. The rate of absorption was faster as well.

He closed his eyes and guided the mana inward. Carefully, he directed it toward the node he had already begun filling earlier. Instead of forcing the energy into place, he maintained a steady stream, allowing it to settle gradually within the node’s structure.

Time passed without him tracking it. When the crystal in his hand finally cracked and crumbled, drained of energy, he replaced it at once with another. He did not pause or break his focus. The second crystal emptied more quickly than the first, its light fading as the mana was drawn into his circuit.

When it was finished, he opened his eyes and noticed it was already evening. The Crest berries had done their work quickly. The deep cut on his back no longer burned as it had before. There was tightness where the skin pulled together, but the sharp pain had faded completely.

He concealed his bag beneath thick leaves along the branch, ensuring it was hidden from sight below. After that, he picked up his sword and dagger and moved to the edge of the branch. Without hesitation, he jumped.

The drop was nearly thirty feet. He bent his knees the instant his feet struck the ground and rolled forward, allowing the momentum to carry through his body instead of crashing into his joints. When he rose from the roll, he felt strong and ready to go.

After landing, Ivor began moving through the forest at a steady pace, keeping his steps light. The trees of the Scar rose in uneven shapes around him.

As he walked, he drew mana from his core and guided it outward toward his right palm. A thin layer of mana spread across his palm, forming a faint coating that clung closely to the skin rather than flaring outward.

Maintaining the coating required attention. Unlike passive circulation, this demanded constant adjustment. If his focus slipped, the layer thinned unevenly. If he pushed too much energy at once, it grew unstable and flickered.

He raised his arm slightly and made a slow, controlled slashing motion through the air. The mana layer moved with him, stretching and compressing along the arc of the swing. He paid close attention to how it responded

With each step forward, he repeated the motion.

Walk. Shift weight. Slash. Maintain coating.

Then he adjusted the density.

He thickened the mana layer gradually, increasing its concentration without allowing it to bulge outward. The denser the coating became, the more difficult it was to stabilize. It wanted to either collapse inward or flare unevenly along the edges. He compensated by refining the flow from his core, narrowing it into a steady stream instead of a surge.

At the same time, Soul Sense remained active.

He extended his awareness just far enough to detect movement within range. It brushed against tree trunks, broken stone, and distant disturbances. He kept it focused on identifying human presence. For now, he avoided other boys.

He shifted the coating from his right arm to his left without stopping his stride. The transition was slow. He reduced the density on one side while building it on the other.

Then he tried something more difficult.

He coated till his forearm, leaving his upper arm bare. The area required tighter control. The mana had to be compressed and held within a smaller boundary. He tested it with another series of slashes, this time faster, forcing the coating to maintain integrity under sharper motion.

The layer wavered once and thinned near his wrist.

He corrected it immediately.

All the while, he continued walking, keeping his breathing even and his awareness open. Practicing coating during movement was different from doing it while standing still. His balance shifted with every step, and the mana responded to those changes.

A faint disturbance touched the edge of his Soul Sense ahead and slightly to the right. The movement was uneven and lacked the coordinated rhythm of a human stride.

A skeleton.

Without breaking pace, he let the coating thicken slightly along his forearm and tightened his grip on the dagger in his other hand. His awareness sharpened as he adjusted his direction toward the disturbance, maintaining both the mana layer and his sensory field at the same time.

He wanted to start testing his control against a skeleton.