Ebony's Fable

Little has changed over the past two months. Until they once again encountered the steampunk dressed people who caged up Ning Xin.

They were caught off guard shopping and those people moved into the streets by space magic. Coincidence was a scary thing.

It took half a beat for Xin to notice the repulsive gaze on her and another instant for her to get into the air. If her intuition was to get into the air, that was probably the safest move to make.

That was until Ebony understood their words, or at least, a few of the words. The strong one won’t do anything to them. That was more than enough information for Xin to take action.

They were cautious, unsure how far they could take it before the middle-aged-looking man stepped in. But even before that, both of them had their mana syphoned.

No matter, they were both much stronger and faster than before. Ebony held the ‘young master’ in place before Flickering away with Torrent Path, an evolution of Firm Path.

If he made a thin Torrent Path, it had about enough force to rip a hole in a half-a-metre-thick iron plate and the cylinder that was sliced out would shoot out like a bullet. Using the gravity mana throughout his mental reach of 8.7km could maintain the same strength even if that ‘path’ was a two-metre diameter cylinder. Increasing the size further would reduce its strength.

At tier 3, gravity magic was finally viable to use as a forceful spell and no longer support. Quantity of gravity mana wasn’t a concern anymore so Ebony could focus on manipulation and increasing the efficacy and efficiency of his spells.

They didn’t have time to fight, he estimated that they had 5 to 7 seconds before Xin had all her mana syphoned out for Entity Evanesce. That was not enough time for her to augment herself to peak state. In the split second they had, they realised how tough the ‘young master’ was.

Xin’s swords just slid off his sleeves that he used to guard. Ebony felt the thick, but odd mana fill up the sleeves.

Then the man reacted fast and drew his blade. It was a cool flat metal Arab straight sword but with a wider base near the hilt, it was swallowed up in an orange light. The man’s weird mana. It didn’t melt on impact with Xin’s blades but he was shocked by the lack of air that was being combusted by Xin’s flames. She had to draw wind in to keep them burning.

Ebony held back his flames, he didn’t want to show them to non-natives who might recognise them.

With Ebony holding him in place, Ning Xin could wallop at him hard but they heard something clang and metal pieces slapping each other from the man’s body. He was starting to forget them, but getting ready to fight back from the ambush.

Technique-wise, the young master was good enough to guard and parry 70% of Ning Xin’s thrusts and slashes while evading 20% with footwork and good placement. The rest hit but didn’t hurt any vitals. So he was a great fighter and skilled with the blade. Both fighters had been unable to wield their augmentations fully but Ebony doubted Xin would lose in that regard.

She had to stay off any mana-based enhancements to feed Entity Evanesce.

The ‘young master’ had the same problem of requiring several seconds to build up their enhancement or shift into combat-ready mode. Ebony didn’t and he tried to bag the man with the cage he got from them but the element of surprise was gone and even Torrent Path had difficulty pulling the man into the cage.

To be honest, Ning Xin prevented him from caging the man up thanks to her aggressive attacks. The man’s suit of mana was resistant to cold, ice, heat and fire. Lightning zapped him but no indication of numbness or spasms were spotted.

Their opponent’s attention was forcefully pulled away thanks to Entity Evanesce. But it was the same skill that alerted the castor, someone more dangerous.

Kong Jing came and hid them right after Ebony finally managed to slam him into the cage. And sadly, the Mandate user or users would likely chase them if he caged someone they were trying to hide from.

After a good knock on the head by the space mage for both of them, they returned to their routine as if nothing happened.

Dusk had built up fame for itself, not for its combat utility but for the piano playing. The piano had the largest range amongst all of his skills and his mana’s inherent properties made it an amazing fit for regenerative effects. Both the mana and health healing were perfect for extended exchanges.

Dusk along with freelancers were situated far from the bulk of the Imperial Army. It was now a resting spot that provided protection, increased mana regeneration, sealing magic that heals and from time to time, an eatery with a chef by profession.

However, Ebony had to move Dusk every few days. It was getting prone to Emperor-ranked Tetramyth attacks. Their kin clearly marked or memorised Dusk. It wasn’t able to survive an onslaught with or without Ebony there himself.

Although Dusk wouldn’t fall, it would just be a drain on its reserve until it melted down and it would no longer guarantee safety for the people who decided to camp around it. Ning Xin also didn’t fight near Dusk since the heat would similarly be a drain on its reserve.

The Tetramyths only sent those highly resistant to mana to Dusk. Only 1 subspecies had a magic body strong enough to not float up into the sky from his gravity magic. The entire race as a whole was helpless in the air but it was an unfair advantage since the same could be said for humans and all the land races.

Ebony managed to make use of Will a little more efficiently and it only took 9 days to clone himself. There were currently 7 clones of himself. The first was doing quests for the Mage Association to get contribution points. The second to fourth were on house-watch, they did the cleaning, gardening and working on combination spells with themselves.

The fifth to seventh was guarding Dusk and tending to it. They did not tend to the freelancers who camped nearby, it was none of his business. He did enough by providing them with a resting spot. Even the eatery wasn’t waited on by his clones, the freelancers dealt with that themselves.

Ning Xin seemed to be able to tell them apart from Models so that was one less trick up his sleeves against her in future.

Two or three Xeng individuals were interested in the Tetramyths, two smiths and one alchemist. They weren’t going to come but a deal had been struck, weapons, armour and an array of potions were going to be supplied through Kong Jing. Their demands were surprisingly reasonable.

Whatever their supplies managed to contribute, they wanted 80% of the materials. That was by no means greedy. The weaponsmith would receive experience when its wielder killed an ant. The armorsmith would receive experience when the wearer was protected by a certain amount of damage. And the Alchemist would get experience whether it was biochemical damage, explosive damage or healing but healing was off the table.

The Xengs were so incompatible with healing that even if they followed a recipe and used the same ingredients, the mana-blending stage would remove healing properties from the potion.

From what he understood, people with actual crafting classes receive a notification when a relevant action is taken. And if Kong Jing’s math and estimation were correct, a crafter received anywhere from 1 in 1,000,000 to 1 in 1,000 of the total experience from a kill if it was a weapon and the same ratio for the amount of damage mitigated for a piece of defensive equipment.

The ratio changed greatly depending on the quality of the craft and the wielder. Like a Common-rarity breastplate on a King-ranked individual would probably give the crafter close to nothing because the equipment would likely break before a King could get scratched. There were exceptions such as equipment that didn’t require a wielder but that was a different story altogether.

By her confident words, 1 in 1,000 was only for her while the average smith likely gets a ratio closer to 1 in 500,000.

It wasn’t all that bad if a smith had enough products out in the field. Their main way of levelling was still crafting after all.

In the same regard, clones of him gave him notifications when it was out hunting. Clone One was doing material collection and small monster hunting occasionally, experience gain was not noticeable compared to the pest extermination happening.

Levelling was taking time. The rate of levelling was slow but still faster than they could keep up with the addition of stats. It took time to grow into added stats so they haven’t used all their stats to the best of their abilities yet.

By his estimates, he needed another 4 months to fully grow into and utilise the stats of his current level. This excluded the levels and stats he would gain in the meantime. It was a wealth of information for his theory and questions about how stats worked. The first few levels gave him immediate access to all the stat points he added. It was like his muscles filled up the increased space they had. But after a certain amount was added, he needed to eat, rest, grow and fill the space created by adding stats. Figuratively.

Ning Xin was at level 381 and Ebony was at 368.

However, Ebony’s skill levels, tiers and refinements were rising faster.

He had been a little too closed-minded when it came to Ethereal Form Arts because it didn’t require a humanoid opponent. Even so, it got dull after he learnt the movements and tendencies of every subspecies of ants present.

Ebony had talked to Hector about his lack of opponents and the royal cousins managed to book him an appointment to duel with their greatest unit of soldiers. They were praised for being strong enough that it took just 100 of them to hold the Barrier King himself in place for a short moment. And 200 of them could completely suppress their liege for as long as they’d like.

It was a unit of hyper-specialised soldiers.

5 knights took the front. They were like Hector and trained to be resistant to all types of mana from childhood. They only had foundational mana manipulation skills that strengthened their equipment and themselves.

10 mid-range fighters from archers to gunmen were behind them. They switched to cannons and large bow guns since the weaponry had developed past the strength of bows and draw strength.

Then there were 85 mages. The unit could move in smaller numbers but their ratio was usually 5/10/85.

60 of those were support mages that stacked buffs on the knights to become super soldiers. In a unit of 100, they could take turns instead of having all working at the same time. This increased their sustainability as a group.

These mages also had the advantage of a multi-generational skill path built to optimise their abilities. They were essentially useless without the specialised knights because their buffs were so potent no one else could use them effectively. All of them were arcane mages along with an element as their Sub-Class. Earth for defence, wind for agility and speed, fire for attack and water for stamina and large numbers of enemies in general.

10 of the remaining mages were offensive built but they varied and their tactics aren’t always the same depending on the numbers on their side and what each of them could do. In a unit of 10, there was only 1 of them.

In a unit of 100, these offensive mages all used combined spells and it was their forte.

The last 5 were all healers.

They were the Empire’s most expensive soldiers to nurture and feed since these people were practically bound to their unit for life and they required extensive training. Their skill set was so tightly controlled that they would have a hard time making a living once they left unless they left as a group. Their contracts probably didn’t allow them to leave until they were retiring.

The healers were the least duty-bound and they were something like sub-contractees.

Due to the obvious circumstances, getting time out of their busy schedule wasn’t easy. Navin himself approved the training session for those who were scheduled to return to the surface in half a year. Even stalwart knights needed a break. They couldn’t leave this place as often or easily as Ebony and Xin did and the ones currently on break had their training schedules filled up.

The average freelancer that made Dusk their camp levelled at a rate of 1 level every 5 to 8 days. Their average level was also about 380 onwards. Unlike the Imperial soldiers with a far lower level average. The gap was quickly closing thanks to the Tetramyths but the overall strength likely didn’t change much. Masters needed more than just levels to evolve.

Initially, Ebony levelled twice or thrice a day but it had dropped to once every day and was still slowing down.

On the other hand, Ning Xin had been seeing a rise in levelling speed since she kept getting faster and better at causing mass destruction and slaughter. And she was holding back enough for the ants to have remains be it for materials or their ingredients.

Today was a special day.

Ning Xin was exuding happiness and was cheerful since she had received a dream message about her Grandmother communicating with her once again. Unless her Grandmother didn’t face any unexpected obstacle, she was scheduled to arrive back in Elcra in 3 to 4 years.

That wasn’t all, Miss Spy Girl had located and found information on Mr Kidnapper.

The Halberd wielder had recently returned to Tidal and was indeed part of the Jaded Parasites. He returned as a King and the alias he used was Remnant. However, he seemed to have not taken any jobs for years and Miss Spy Girl wasn’t able to get more information on their members, especially strong ones.

Not just that, she also found Tuffock who was working under Hardock’s name in Tidal. He was a construction supervisor or so Miss Spy Girl reported. A construction supervisor who was always looking for new workers.

Neither of them was in the Central District but Ebony just needed to know their general location. He didn’t act upon the information and just got Miss Spy Girl to continue keeping track of them.

It was also the day they had a reservation at the Aroma Alcove. The Elven waitresses who hid their dislike for Ning Xin in the past were no longer as revolted by her. All of her bloody aura was gone in her current state and she didn’t even feel like the same person. To Elves who saw a person through mana rather than appearance, Xin might as well be a different person.

Her restaurant plan had been pushed back because her confidence when it came to cooking dropped due to the huge variety of dishes and cuisines through Tidal. She wouldn’t do something like open a restaurant with a subpar menu or cooking repertoire. It was no exaggeration to say that there were millions of ingredients and dishes she was unfamiliar with.

The Aroma Alcove had a unique herb brownie and floral tea. Ebony loved the environment with a gentle spring outside, the dark green overcast and the cafe decor itself felt comforting. He had the balcony seat facing the spring in the distance.

‘That Elf with greater mana regeneration than I do is here again. His or her mana is gentle like a spring but as bountiful as the sea. Can’t sense their body but their mana is everywhere.’

“It’s chilly.” Ning Xin had a misty breath while taking small bites of the limited deserts.

It was humid and the natural overcast from the dense trees trapped moisture and prevented sunlight and heat from getting in. But the chill was unnatural.

“The owner said the temperature makes today’s special dessert taste better.” An Elven waitress commented while leaving the next desert, something resembling tiramisu. Ebony noticed the cocoa straight away and the smell of coffee, hata was also present.

“This is the ingredient I was telling you about, you can make chocolate with it.”

Ebony was enjoying the relaxed tea time that Ning Xin started to appreciate when the waitress quietly got their attention with a knock, “Our mistress kindly asks that you stop peering at her.”

Ning Xin eyed him with suspicion.

‘So it was a lady.’

Ebony nodded to the waitress before using his mana to vibrate, “then stop poking at me.” Her mana had covered the entire establishment so he didn’t bother but the lady was asking too much when she was the one showing her mana off.

He clashed with the gentle mana that turned into a raging river with his own.

Someone with greater mana recovery than him, he smiled at the discovery and the opportunity.