As his thoughts returned to the islands Chronos couldn't help but wonder how the ancient structures and strange creatures ended up on them in the first place.
It was possible that powerful beings didn't want to be bothered with the issues of weaker beings and chose to pour their wealth and knowledge into an island home to avoid people. Or maybe the civilizations under the oceans had colonized the islands as a part of some project.
These were just two of the possibilities, there could be a dozen other reasons for treasures being left on islands.
In the end Chronos was too weak to know the truth and like all members of the Beklaedning clan he decided to stop thinking about what he couldn't understand. Understanding what was happening in his own nation was already difficult enough for him.
"If that was all you were wondering about then you should go and rest while you can. Once the rest of the army catches up, I want both of you in the hunting teams to destroy the rituals." Commander Stan said as he waved them out.
Bowing they left the room.
"How long do you think it will take the army to arrive?" Chronos asked.
"Tomorrow at the latest, so finish whatever you need to do by then." Freydis replied.
"Got it."
With that Chronos left to find paper for writing and a quiet room. Today he planned to study the {Spatial Relativity for Kids. The place to begin your journey!} guidebook, it should be able to teach him what he needed to know to continue strengthening his bloodline and to truly master his bloodline skills.
Several hours later Freydis found him scowling at a stack of papers as he carefully wrote down the next page.
"How's it going?"
"Frustratingly bad. This book is written in an unknown language, so even though the meaning of the words are directly translated in my mind I have to translate it to our language first then write it down in a way that makes sense.
Worst of all some of the words in this language don't exist in ours so I have to find a way to explain it with an insufficient language. I've already had to restart twice due to mistakes early on." Chronos complained.
"Can't you just write it in the original language since it translates the meaning?" Freydis asked.
"I tried, the meaning is only translated for those that buy the book from the system and that is expensive. Having a universal language would be really helpful at times like this." He muttered.
"What about your own understanding? Is it increasing?"
"Yes, I now know what layers are, have roughly learned how to open a sub-space, and have some minor knowledge of the void. If given enough time I should also be able to learn how to teleport or create teleportation platforms, but it seems that instant movement is much more difficult than just manipulating surrounding space."
He set the quill down to rest and looked at Freydis for the first time since she entered the room.
"Did you just want to visit your favorite nephew or was there another reason?" He stretched as he spoke.
"As much as I'd like to say I came just to see you, I do have a reason. Some more of the fangs have managed half an awakening, did you have anything to do with that?" She asked.
"Probably. I gained a title called [Alpha Wolf]; it allows me to exert some level of command on other werewolves while also increasing their strength and perception. In addition to this I can influence those under my command to cause awakenings both on purpose and by accident.
I haven't used it on purpose so if they have awakened it's through their own talent and hard work. How are they handling their new abilities?" Chronos said.
"Some of them are handling them very well but others can't use them at all. Since you're the only werewolf who has achieved a full rank one bloodline awakening I was hoping you would know why. Do you struggle to use [Sever] with certain weapons or in certain ways?"
He didn't need to think about it very long to find an answer, he had been avoiding using his axes or hammer with [Sever] and only used it with his bow when he had time to apply it. But with his sword it was more natural and faster, so he nearly always had it active.
"Yeah, I can easily use [Sever] with my sword but not with any other weapon. Although I might be able to use it just as easily with a spear I can't test it with mine right now."
Looking at his status, a certain word had caught Chronos' attention. Under the weapons section his mastery of the sword and spear were at the master rank, but all of his other weapons were only at the intermediate rank.
Seeing him lost in his thoughts, Freydis waited for him to continue.
He held his sword in one hand and his axe in another then used [Aura Edge]. Aura rapidly covered both of them but there was a clear difference between the axe and the sword.
Next, he did the same with [Sever]. The sword's edge shimmered after a second, but the axe took several seconds before a shimmer appeared. A look of understanding dawned on his face as this happened.
"So that's it. Aunt Freydis I believe that a person's mastery of their weapon plays a large part in whether or not they can use their spatial skills. If they have reached the master rank, then they can use spatial skills with some practice but anything below that requires concentration to use any spatial skill." Chronos explained.
"I see, that makes spatial skills high ranking skills." Seeing Chronos' confused look she continued, "Techniques and magic, what we're now calling skills, have different ranks depending on how hard it is to learn and use them. Basic skills can be used from an early stage while advanced skills require a prerequisite before you can use them.
It seems that [Sever] requires a person to have an intermediate level of weapon mastery before they can use it effectively. And since this is a skill of the lowest rank of bloodline then the higher ranks are going to need even greater mastery before we can use them."
"Or have other requirements we don't even know about." Chronos added.
Until they had increased their weapon mastery only some of the Black Fangs would be able to use spatial skills. Which would decrease their combat effectiveness and make it necessary to reorganize their pack tactics to have at least one werewolf with spatial skills in each group.
These issues caused both of them headaches, in the end they decided to tell the elders later and let them work out the details. For now, Chronos needed to finish this book first.
"Well, I'll begin the reorganization of my troops while you finish here. Good Luck." She cheekily smiled as she left.
Chronos glared in her direction before glaring at the stacks of paper on the desk even harder, sighing he picked up the quill determined to finish this book before the day was over.
After hours of work, he finished the book just before dinner.
"Finally, I had to rewrite it seven times today. I can't believe there is so much knowledge in just one element, and this is just the most basic book for it. I'll have someone bind this then send it home." He muttered as he gathered the completed papers and shredded the rest.
It wouldn't be good if someone tried to learn about spatial magic through incorrect teachings, it could easily cause a massive spatial storm that could demolish this entire fortress if they accidentally touched the wrong layer of space.
Even he didn't want to experiment with layers until he had more experience.
Walking through the fortress he felt that something was off. He didn't feel any danger, and there was no shouting or loud noises. But then why was the hall moving back and forth?
Stepping into the dining area Lyla called out to him.
"Hey Chronos, have you been drinking? You're wobbling back and forth like a sailor." She teased him.
Hearing that Chronos tried to respond only to fall on his side.
"What's going on?" He said as he stood up.
A knight reached out to help him, but he easily dodged the outstretched hand even though he couldn't see it.
Watching him weave around two more knights as he tried to keep his balance, Lyla suddenly had a fun idea.
"Anybody that can catch Chronos will receive 100 gild!" She shouted.
""Hooray!""
The entire dining hall erupted in cheers as the closest people reached out for him only to have Chronos practically fall on his face and avoid all of their grasping hands. He kicked the ground propelling himself into the air where he floated just above the table, crossing it he landed safely on the other side.