Ashen Ascension: The Divided Flame-Chapter 82: Mystery Of The Labyrinth

"Every Sunday the pool activates?" Ivor asked.

Nara nodded, a faint laugh escaping him as he caught the direction of Ivor’s thoughts. "You’re already planning to claim it every week, aren’t you?"

Ivor gave a quiet nod.

The humor faded from Nara’s expression. He stepped back, reached into his bag, and pulled out a packed meal, holding it out as if to pause the momentum of the conversation.

"Ivor," he said more seriously, "Scars aren’t just training grounds. There’s a reason we can only suppress them, not close them. They behave more like living systems than abandoned ruins."

Ivor accepted the food, set it near the tree trunk, and began eating without delay. The scent alone stirred his hunger, but his attention remained fixed on Nara.

"If you enter that pool once," Nara continued, "you won’t be allowed back inside the Blue Cave again. The same rule applies to the Labyrinth. One completion. One claim. After that, the Scar rejects you."

Ivor paused briefly, then kept eating, treating the rule like another thing to understand. It annoyed him. He knew that difficult situations came with unfair rules.

Nara watched Ivor eat. In the daylight, the physical changes were clearer. Ivor’s shoulders were becoming broader, his arms looked stronger, and his way of holding himself was more confident. Nara even wondered if Ivor was a little taller, perhaps just because of how he now carried himself.

Ivor ate a mana-infused fruit and then asked, "What is the reward for the labyrinth?"

Nara hesitated, as the answer was complex. He leaned back, choosing his words carefully. "It’s different for everyone," Nara said. "It depends on how far you go. But there are rules to enter."

Ivor stopped chewing. "What rules?"

Nara’s tone remained factual.

"Only those with nine attuned nodes can enter," he said. "Not one less. Not one more. The labyrinth of nine only allows those with nine is a saying outside."

Ivor lifted his eyes briefly, then returned to his food, listening.

"I’ve heard something else as well," Nara continued. "Stronger Scars sometimes contain their own version of the ’Labyrinth of Nine Realms.’ The entry conditions change depending on the Scar, usually the number of required attuned nodes but the structure is similar."

He shook his head slightly. "No one knows who built them or why they exist in so many layers. It’s still a mystery."

Ivor stopped eating for a moment.

The unknown caught his full attention, an intense, almost instinctual urge to understand what he didn’t know. As a Seeker, his core drive wasn’t aggression but a ’hunger for understanding.’ He focused intensely on the concept Nara introduced: a place with fixed entry rules, which offered better rewards for greater effort, and also existed in stronger Scars under different conditions.

He made himself eat to keep up his strength, finishing his limited food supply. Leaning back against the tree, he mentally reviewed Nara’s explanation, the rules, and the rewards. Nara watched him, recognizing the focused quietness that meant Ivor was already planning.

After a while, Ivor spoke again.

"How many other awakened will be there?" Ivor asked.

Nara answered without hesitation. "For the Labyrinth, not many. The entry requirement filters most people out. But it draws attention. Some come just to watch, because it turns into an unofficial competition. On a good day, you might see three or four attempting it around the same time."

He paused before adding, "The Blue Cave is different. There’s no restriction. Anyone below Initiate can enter. Even someone with twenty-three nodes."

That changed the calculation immediately. If those close to twenty-four nodes could enter, the Blue Cave wasn’t just a race for resources. It was a sanctioned battlefield where someone on the verge of Initiate could crush weaker opponents, and the Scar would treat it as part of the trial.

Nara studied him carefully. "So," he asked, "are you going?"

Ivor shook his head once.

"No. I am not ready yet."

He decided not to share the mana pool, wanting to clear the cave and take the reward alone. However, he couldn’t touch the labyrinth yet, as it needed exactly nine attuned nodes.

He realized he must completely finish the first layer, using both unique places, before moving to the second. This would solidify his control, raise his nodes safely, and make the second layer less risky.

Nara nodded, reading the restraint and approving it.

"Yeah," Nara said. "Make sense."

He took two books from his bag and offered them.

"One is on sword training as you asked," Nara said. "And the other is a body training manual."

Ivor took both. They weren’t cheap, but felt like real, serious manuals. Nara watched him put them away, then continued speaking calmly.

"Since I know you will go for the cave and the labyrinth," Nara said, "I will forge something that might help you inside. But it will take me time."

He looked at Ivor directly.

"When are you planning to go there?"

Ivor thought about his plan, focusing on practical steps, not just wishes. He had several goals: get more mana nodes, improve his control, and reach level nine, which the labyrinth required. He needed to master Edge Compression so it wouldn’t fail when he moved. He also had to keep eating enough to continue growing. Finally, he needed to evade the groups hunting him, as they were watching the key locations he had to visit.

He gave the simplest answer that matched the plan.

"In a month," Ivor said.

Nara looked pleased. He wasn’t excited like a child, but like a person who finally knew when something would happen, which meant he could plan his work.

"Alright," Nara said. "Then I will come every third day with some food and news."

He paused, then added, "Let me know if you need anything else."

Ivor shook his head.

"No."

Nara accepted that without taking offense. He stood, adjusted the strap of his bag, and looked at Ivor once more, as if trying to read whether the partnership was holding.

"Don’t waste the manuals," Nara said. "Most kids don’t have them. And don’t underestimate the first layer just because you think you own it now."

Ivor’s eyes promised Nara he would use this chance well. Nara nodded and quietly walked into the trees, heading outside the Scar.

Alone, Ivor opened the map. He focused on two places: the Labyrinth of 9 Realms and Blue Cave. The rules were tough, the rewards big, and he didn’t have much time. He studied the locations until he had memorized them.