Ebony's Fable

“What do you think the best stat is?” Rowent asked in their leisure journey.

“Constitution.” Ebony replied without hesitation.

“Why? That’s a surprise, I kinda expected you would say Endurance or Wisdom with your ridiculous resource pools. Well your Strength and Intelligence stat seems really low so do you really focus your stat around Constitution?” Rowent was surprised by the unexpected answer.

“Endurance and Wisdom are both important but in the end they are supportive stats and don’t always relate to battle capabilities directly. Adding Strength increases one’s muscle mass and also condenses that muscle mass a bit.

Adding Agility seems to work on the nerves in our body, perhaps making them more receptive, react faster to the body’s signal increasing our speed and dexterity. I can’t really feel how adding Vitality affects the body but it basically increases our lifeforce, a resource like Endurance and Wisdom.

Intelligence is the muscle of the mind not unlike Strength. Constitution is objectively the best stat as I noticed that it doesn’t only help to increase the density of our muscles and bones but like Strength also increases my body mass though to a lesser extent. I am guessing adding Agility increases muscle mass as well but less than Strength.

Constitution allows one to take more punishment, physical, magical or even elemental although to a much lesser extent. It makes the body more energy efficient, I noticed with an increase of Constitution stamina consumption lowers as well.” Ebony listed out. He missed out Perception but it was also a stat he found more and more important.

Despite having Wisdom being his highest stat Ebony truly believed Constitution to be the most superior stat. It was a stat that relates to every other stat. Constitution was like the engine of his body; the others were merely the fuel.

“But even with a high Constitution it would be difficult to take hits from similarly levelled monsters. If you were to invest in Strength, Intelligence or Agility it would directly increase your ability in battle and you would be able to actually cause harm to whatever’s trying to kill you. A monster’s Vitality is much higher after all, an increase in Constitution wouldn’t help to outlast it, comparatively.” Rowent argued against Ebony's logic.

Ebony had realised that many of them had the ‘I just need to kill them faster than they can kill me mentality’ thereby most only keep Constitution high enough to withstand their own power.

“That is where skills come into play. With skills and skill levels one can easily increase their capability to dish out more power than their Strength or Intelligence stat suggests.”

“All the more reason to capitalise our advantage in that by propping up our power stats up. Perhaps you do not realise yet but skill levels easily cap out when we reach the limits of our natural potential. It is what haunts everyone and prevents them from continued evolution.”

“Isn’t that exactly the reason we train and learn to further improve our skills? In terms of power stats, untiered and tier 1 skills at roughly the same level would still put us under monsters but once a skill reaches tier 2 one can roughly square of against normal monsters of the same level at only a slight stat disadvantage.”

“That’s easier said than done, most pick up untiered skills perhaps Classing with some tier 1 skills. Many would have at most 1 maybe 2 tier 2 skills which are likely their Core skill. Years of training would merely level the skill up, perhaps a few untiered and tier 1 skills would refine or evolve with enough dedicated effort.”

Their discussion went on with no real conclusion, though neither of them was looking for a conclusion. These discussions helped widen their perspective, with different views shown to both of them they stood to understand a lot. 'Knowledge is power' was one thing they both agreed on.

They continued their journey with Top having woken up once for some water before falling asleep again. Boom was fed some concoction by Dina and was forced asleep so that no one had to hear him screaming his lungs out about who he was. They were going to split his bounty up with Ebony having caught him and them having to transport him, 80 to 20.

Fergus was back to normal after some rest and meditation. Rowent was getting better but it was best if he didn’t cast magic too heavily. Chris got very silent after the ordeal and focused on solo training. Top was not in a good condition, he’ll heal but he might be out of commission for months even with a lizardmans’ regenerative prowess. It might push his promotion to a bigger city branch back but it should not be a big issue. Injuries were more than common in their line of work.

Ebony did a poor job with trying to repair the leather armour. Mana Moulding and Mana Perception at work, pouring his mana into leather. The leather was not as receptive to mana as frostsilk cotton, Mana Perception helped Ebony increase his sensitivity to his own mana. Focusing down to a fibrous level, he tried to force them to weave back together.

It worked but the fibres were noticeably damaged like when Roya forcefully shaped the wooden table, the integrity of the material itself was compromised. At least Chris had armour to wear for now but he’ll have to get a new one when he can.

The passed through Bubble hills with only 2 more minor attacks from groups of tens of mud marmots. Even encountering a normal level 63 Cysaru. Fergus, Dina and Ebony fought well together to fend it off. The spars let each of them understand their capabilities in battle.

Chris had to fight off stray marmots that took the chance while the 3 of them were distracted with the Cysaru that was attacking. Rowent supported him with a few small but well timed spells.

Ebony was surprised by the strength and toughness of the Cysaru and more surprised that they didn’t manage to kill it. It actually had the brains to retreat and not fight to the death though. Dina got light cuts from the fight while Ebony got a hit by a full swing from its scythe to his torso.

It easily pierced through both of his pre-prepare fully condensed 5 layered shields; the resulting blow landed on his ribs and sent him flying. Far. His robes saved him there with only a scratch on it, most of the damage he received was from the physical blow itself. Broken bones were easy to hide from the others but it felt like his internals were shaken up quite a bit so Ebony was actually very injured.

Even so, from Rowent's description, this particular Cysaru was much weaker than Obsius. They should not have a problem in hunting it if Top and Rowent were in their best state.

Just going about the day normally was enough for him to feel like he was pushing Peak Performance, even more so when he continued sparring with them and his went on with his normal training like nothing happened.

When they got out of Bubble Hills the next day, Top was already awake. He continued resting and going in and out of sleep mode, he managed to eat some food to replenish some energy and nutrients he greatly needed.

The scenery out of the hills was literally just an extremely wide plain with just the ground with grass and sky with clouds and a sun. It was a panoramic scene out of a movie. Ebony didn’t see any roads at all as no road led to Hoarfrost Glade, if they travelled a little off course, he would see some dirt roads connecting the surrounding towns.

The common monsters in these parts are still the marmots perhaps of a different variant like Earth Marmot or something. Gazelle-like monsters, foxes, kangaroos or wallabies based on their description. As usual, pack monsters like hyenas and wolves were generally avoided like a plague.

They would be lucky if they met a [Tynite Bison], almost every part of its body was a small treasure. Their scales are a very popular material for scale armour, horns and bones great for weapons from daggers to swords. Their flesh was apparently delicious too.

Monsters had another general classification. Most were unclassified or just normal monsters who at adulthood were mostly aggressive towards most. The Cysaru were considered elites and could defeat any normal monster their level with ease but still aggressive towards almost anyone or thing. Nobles was a classification higher, roughly the same in strength with elites but with enough intelligence to know what fights to pick and what not too. They were many times more dangerous. It was also said that aberrants usually come from noble monsters but aberrants were on another scale altogether.

The Tynite Bison was also somewhat of an elite monster with their toughness and strength alone. It was extremely aggressive and won’t let anything in its sight go, so that’s a worrying thing for their obviously large caravan. The silver lining for the escort party was the relatively low levels of basically any monster in the plains. Including the bison.

Being so far from Hoarfrost Glade now, Ebony was almost despairing from the summer heat. At least in Bubble Hills there were times when the hills shade them some. Here, even the breeze feels like an oven just opened and blew at him.

Ebony slapped himself mentally. He could use freaking ice magic, since this level of heat wasn’t enough to train heat resistance he could use ice magic to cool himself down right?

Comfort. The reason why the other's wore warm clothing. Ebony broke down and lost to the heat faster than anyone would've thought.

Since he was trying to cool himself, making ice cubes was a little pointless. Aiming to cool the wagon perhaps he should copy the environment in Arcta or Hoarfrost Glade. Just creating or conjuring ice mana around him and let it disperse.

Ebony did just that and adjusted the output of ice mana to cool the interior. Rowent was not bothered in the least by the heat but he enjoyed the coolness only for a short while before complaining that Ebony was overdoing it.

Ebony kept the ice mana in his range which reached about 5 metres now. Covering the wagon like it was air conditioned was a good way to spend his mana without letting it overflow or use Icebody Enhancement for too long.

Keeping it up for long enough let Ebony realise that he could train his Mana Perception by sensing the ice mana in the surroundings. Closing his eyes to meditate, he was a little taken aback that he could feel where there was an absence of ice mana which was where the cargo, Rowent and Chris were.

He could vaguely make out their blurry forms and when they moved the ice mana moved aside as well with a tiny bit sticking to their skin or melting away from the heat and their body heat.

‘Hot damn. I could really use a sensory type skill. This can help train my Mana Perception as well anyway’ despite being able to help train Mana Perception, Ebony thought that the density of ice mana was too thin to ‘see’ clearly so he ignored Rowent’s complaints as he increase the output till it was denser than the environment in Arcta.

Obviously, Ebony didn't know that the environment in Arcta had thin ice mana due to summer and also the Frost Elves utilising the ice mana in the surroundings. Like Halvis, whose croft had drained ice mana from the surroundings for his frostsilk cotton.

He never realised that he could do this in Arcta either due to being completely surrounded by ice mana all the time or that he wasn’t as sensitive or perceptive to ice mana as he was now. His Perception stat was higher now than when he was unclassed.

Rowent clambered out to the front seat while Chris actually stayed and said that he wanted to train his cold resistance.

They stopped their hunting games during breaks with Top no longer able to participate. In the plains, any edible game sighted that went after them was shot down by one of them who sat on the front with the coaches. Only Chris was left out without any ranged capabilities. Rowent was getting better and was getting back in the game with light warm ups, only slightly cooking their food with his magic before processing them.

The journey turned bland but comfortable, they managed to get a brown tailed turkey which tasted great roasted over an open flame with just salt and pepper.

It should only take 2 more days of straight travel before they reach Plainston, as long as nothing happens.

“Boss! Look there!” Fergus called out even though he was just sitting beside Andel in Top’s place. He pointed to their 10 o’clock direction if this world uses a 12 hour clock which they obviously didn’t. Ebony poked his head out the front flap of his wagon but didn't see anything in that direction.

“What’s there Fergus? Danger?” Fergus's Perception or one of his Archer skills must have allowed him to see much further. Even Andel couldn’t see anything and asked for confirmation.

“Tynite Bison. Sorry I mean Tynite Bisons. They are fighting each other over a dead gazelle.” Fergus reported.

“Ohh. This close to town? We’re lucky to find 2 without them being hunted already. Go ahead, we need to cover some of the expenses we accrued on this return trip.” Andel said. Elite or not, the Bisons were known to only reach level 45 at best, the escort party should be able to take them down.

The wagons needed some repair, they used 2 pretty expensive pills, Top needed actual treatment, his armour and Chris’s needed to either be repaired or replaced. Another good thing about being contracted to a company was that these side benefits of provided equipment and discounted or maybe even fully paid medical treatment was something greatly desired by many.

Adventuring or freelancing here holds many risks. Equipment was expensive and good equipment is even more so. Injuries are even more common when one takes on the associated dangers, even Ebony has taken many supposedly heavy injuries that should not heal for months or maybe years if he was a normal human.

Any large injuries can keep one out of a job for a long time and medical treatment bills easily pile up such that most safer jobs don’t earn them enough to earn a living or even break even with their equipment maintenance fees.

“2? No boss, there are 8 of them. Or 4 couples, tynites tend to move in pairs.”

“8?! No way we’ll be able to get all of them. It took 3 of you to take two level 41 Tynite Bison down last time. Without Top there’ll be no one able to hold it in place long enough to take it down.”

“We can wait till they finish battling it out. Tynite bisons’ don’t leave until either they die or their enemy does after all. The others wouldn’t retreat even if they were losing as is their nature. We can just fight the champs after.” Rowent said.

“If they really are couples that means there will likely be 2 remaining, they are kinda protective of their partners for a monster as aggressive as them. I find it unlikely they would like their partner to get ganged up on and killed. Even if only 1 survives it would be the strongest of them.” Dina added.

“Yeah, but with them all being tynite bisons the winner would definitely not come out unharmed in a battle with 8 of them.” Rowent was optimistic about their chances.

“Guys, that’s true and all but without the leader to hold the hulking beast back we can’t even beat 1 of them. Oh and I think it’s going to be a couple of level 38 bison who's going to come out victorious. They’re almost winning already, come on what’s the plan?” Fergus cut in.

“If you can’t beat them why not just wait for them to leave, there will still be 6 dead for you to claim right?” Ebony asked, confused that they have difficulty killing a monster so far below their level. They are still calm unlike when facing the Cysaru so maybe they just can’t kill it due to the bison’s tough body but can still escape with relative ease.

“Nah they even eat their own kind, they won’t even leave scraps for us after they're done.” Rowent explained.

“The fight is finishing soon, what’s the plan boss?” Fergus urged.

“... 2 level 38 right? Chris, do you think you can hold it down long enough for the others to deal enough damage?” Andel pondered.

“Yeah, the bigger one has got a limp in right hind leg. The other is still relatively unharmed but its movements are getting sluggish.” The Elven Archer never stopped keeping an eye on the battle.

“...yes I will keep the sluggish one busy. The others can deal with the injured one at that time.” Chris said with more confidence after hearing their current condition from Fergus.

“Ebony’s shields would be very helpful. You guys know how crazy tough they are for his level.” Dina said. Ebony calculated his full powered Layered Ice Carapace now had the effect of about 341 Intelligence.

The skill reached level 19, gaining a full 13 levels.

80%+(19x2.5%)+30%+20%+10%+5% = 192.5%. Sheer Mana Compression at level 57 allowed him to compress the spell by 57x2.5%=142.5%. Double that from his fortification to 285%.

Compressed effect + original effect = total effect

(192.5/100)x285 = 548.625% + 192.5% = 741.125%.

46 Intelligence x 741.125% = 340.9175

He hasn’t touched his 30 stat points and his Intelligence is still 46. Ebony had no way of knowing if he calculated that correctly. He briefly ran through with Clovis on the calculation of skill effects so he thinks he shouldn’t be too far off with this formula. Compressing mana by 1% makes it 1% more effective and from what Roya said it should be based on the skill effect and not directly from his Intelligence stat.

Ebony even tried calculating compressed mana effect with his intelligence stat [(46/100)x285]+46=177.1 instead and multiplied that by the skill effect of 192.5% giving him the same result of 340.9175 so he should not be wrong in his calculations.

Furthermore, the effect of 100% Mana Resilience was more and more apparent making his shield spell tough as nails. Though it has been broken many times now.

“Yeah, how about it Ebony? We’ll split shares of their materials equally between us 5.” Rowent asked, he could melt Ebony’s shields with some effort but he was aware of their physical toughness. It could easily block Chris’s, Dina’s attacks and even Fergus’s physical arrows. While Fergus’s arrows could dig into his shield and shatter it inside out, that would take all of Fergus’s focus and Ebony could easily close the gap between them within that time.

The spoils that they get could either be given to their company and given some kind of internal currency like contribution points to trade for better equipment or other stuff. Or they could sell it and directly get mana ores for them. It was one of the few ways they could earn extra income outside of their salary. Which was honestly pretty low according to them since they have a whole lot of additional benefits.

“Sure.” Ebony was planning to fight if they were going to anyway, getting a share of whatever was even better.

Boom was awake for some time, they couldn’t keep knocking him out so he was making a lot of muffled screams. Ebony just froze his mouth shut after they gave him some water and souper bread or 'water' bread since they didn’t think he deserved their food.

“Boss stay close to us, but not too close. Let’s go, we’re pretty close to them already.” Fergus said as they got their equipment in place and jumped out of the caravan.

“I see them. Oh, they’re feasting on the gazelle already. Good timing.” Dina said. As the 3 of them ran in front. Rowent was slower even with his flame boosted movement skill. Fergus was by far the speediest followed by Dina and Ebony who almost matched her movement speed then Rowent and lastly Chris.

“Ebony, Chris take the smaller one. Fergus, Dina let’s launch a surprise attack on the injured one. Okay, never mind they saw us.” Rowent’s staff was already preheated like an oven and a fireball had formed above it.

[Tynite Bison Lvl 38]

[Tynite Bison Lvl 38]

Ebony had long found out that he had a preconceived misperception of the range of Identify. He could easily extend the range to his visible range of sight and adding Perception stat helps as well. Of course he still had to be able to see the object, person or monster clearly.

The Tynite Bison was a little larger than a 7 seater family car. Thick long horns curved in front of their head like a bident, their whole body was silverish-grey in colour. A scaled bison was quite the sight to behold especially when they were charging at you like a tank.

Multiple shadows of Fergus’s extremely fast, wind boosted arrows flew to meet the larger bison’s feet. It landed and rooted the bison, tripping it but the ‘roots’ tore as well. It skidded head first into the ground as a spear of fire landed on it right after. It screamed from the burn and not so much the fall.

More arrows were released but none aimed at the 2 bisons, rather, at 4 different corners. The arrows turned into roots as Fergus continued shooting and strengthening the roots. Dina swung her arms with seemingly nothing left in them, the bison who got up to resume its charge stopped like something was pulling it back. The roots got dragged out of the ground a little but held strong as the multiple wires connecting them to the bison’s legs and neck held.

Ebony and Chris had moved to the side with Ebony mentally carrying along 2 of his prepared shields and shooting his sword shaped Ice Spikes to get the smaller bison’s attention. It worked well as they separated the 2 bisons.

Chris rushed up to the bison for a few good strikes but they didn’t do much against the bison’s scales. The bison kicked at Chris but Ebony managed to move his carapace shield to block the kick.

Chris, like Ebony, only held a sword in hand and didn’t have a shield like Top. He also didn’t have a movement skill like Ebony and didn’t manage to evade in time. Thankfully for Ebony's shield, he didn't get hit.

Ebony had moved behind it while it was distracted with Chris, with enhancement magic on, he unleashed a power stab not unlike his stimulation rite with plenty of slightly compressed ice mana imbued to inject and Treading Step pushing him to his limit. Ass strike.

Thrust

His greatsword didn’t manage to stab deep into its internals before the bison did a horse kick in rage. Landing on Ebony’s other shield he kept at his side as he jumped back in evasion. A layer of frost spread through its backside as it continued its rage and charged after Ebony, ignoring Chris.

Ebony tried to keep close and circle it but it was surprisingly good at turning and changing directions. Not letting Ebony go and out of its charge. The occasional ice sword projectiles did little to change its course, it deftly blocked those aimed at its face and eyes with its horns. Ebony's ice swords shattered on impact and didn't do much.

Any that landed on its tough metal like body just shattered and left a thin layer of ice stuck on it. It was insufficient to slow it down.

Chris jumped forwards at this point to its bottom right with a clean slash to its eye, it adjusted its head and clashed with its horn. Chris gripped hard as he dug into the ground in an attempt to stop it.

Perhaps due to the bison's sluggishness, Chris actually managed to stop it after skidding metres away. He quickly disengaged and slashed out again, successfully enraging it more by blinding one of its eyes. Ebony didn’t let the chance go as a fully compressed Ice Spike found its way into its other eye.

Chris followed up to hack at its legs to reduce its mobility. The bison was fully covered in scales from head to toe so the belly was not a weak point either. Ebony supported Chris by blocking any head smashes and kicks, using the other shield to nudge it into place from time to time. A projectile will land on the areas where Chris focused on hacking.

When the bison tripped on its side from the continuous hacking at its feet Ebony leapt at the chance with another power stab into its gasping mouth. It struggled for some time but frost spread through its mouth, throat and head.

‘Ting’ ‘You have killed [Tynite Bison Lvl 38], partial experience is gained.’

The partial experience gained supposedly depends on how much one contributed to the kill but there was no real way to quantify it.

“Wow. Well done, two of you. We saw that you seem to be able to handle it so we didn’t interfere.” Rowent clapped. They were done with the other bison faster than they thought due to its leg injury and exhaustion after an intense fight with the other bison.

“Finally some luck on this trip. Boss! Get over here we’re clear.” Fergus commented.

“Ehm guys can we split it into 6 instead…? Leader could use the mana ores.” Dina raised her hand but looked at Ebony. She was certain her party members would be fine with it but Ebony had no need to split his share with them.

“That’s a great idea.”

“Yeah no problem.”

“Of course.”

“Mmm.”

With mutual agreement, Dina, Ebony and Chris got to dismantling the Tynite Bisons. They gather all of them near the wagons. Rowent didn’t have the strength or skill for it and Fergus didn’t have the skill for it. They stood watch as the 3 processed the bison.

After a couple hours of tough processing. They got a total of 14 intact horns, all 32 hoofs, a whole lot of scales and bones. They couldn’t fit all the meat on the wagons as there was not enough space. Ebony offered a solution, making a few large ice boxes for them to store reasonably fresh and then attached them to the sides of the wagons. There were more than a few broken bones and scales but even then each bison had hundreds of scales with their large sizes.

Ebony didn’t want the bones due to their shapes making it hard to fit in his bag. After Andel helped to calculate the price of all the parts Ebony got his share of 4 horns, 6 hoofs and a hundred scales the size of both his palms put together. They were about 2 fifths a ger thick or 2 cm. The good thing was he could easily stack the scales but it still completely filled up his larger knapsack like bag.

He could directly sell it to Andel or use it for other purposes but Ebony would decide that later after he got to Plainston. The [Tynite scale (Common)] was surprisingly light for its size and toughness which made it a very popular material for armours and weapons in these parts.