“So you’re going to stop us from entering?” Ning Xin didn’t seem like she was asking a question when she faced the guard.
“With all due respect, Miss Xeng, the two of you might be the only ones who cleared Ordina so far but that doesn’t allow you to walk in and out as you like.” The guard clearly doesn’t want to back down on this and his attitude hadn’t exactly been the most polite. However, Ebony wasn’t able to tell, merely thinking the man was doing his job and following orders.
From the way the guards were physically blocking their way, they were adamant on not letting the two Journeymen pass without a full party. Even with their quester crystal proving that they were more than capable of entering.
Scarlet was fully intending on forcing her way through should they attempt to hinder their entry. There were actually 4 to 6 guards standing by and they were only roughly level 150 and above. More than enough just for facilitating entry and exit of people.
The guard's base of operations was a building not too far away either while their dorms supposedly surrounded the portal. The risk of a dungeon break was too low to really matter since it’s getting flooded with people but they were the first defensive line were something to happen.
There was still some distance from the portal to the building since they were waiting for a royal to be dispatched here to prepare a barrier that would cover the portal. Mallory only had the know-how but not the actual skills to set up one of decent strength for a dungeon. These barriers were only to buy a tiny amount of time really, for the guards to get ready and get into position or even run, evacuate the people and inform the nearby towns and cities.
As for building a large outpost inside the dungeon to protect the portal from inside, it had been deemed counterproductive as that would just be placing hundreds to thousands of people inside just to passively feed the dungeon their overflowing essence.
Before Ning Xin’s fingers tightened on her grips, Ebony spoke out.
“Alright, sorry for the hold up.” He turned back to let others go past them, pulling his fiery companion aside.
“We could’ve just entered, they wouldn’t go in after us anyway.”
“They’re just doing their jobs, no need to make things difficult for them. I have a plan, wait for me at the end of the queue.” The queue was short and the parties were being cleared to enter without much fuss.
He silently left her in confusion before coming back in less than three minutes with three heavily robed people. She couldn’t even see their faces with the large hood. One of them was almost as tall as an Elf but bulky, though not as much as a beastmen while one was obviously a woman with those ‘protrusions’, the last had roughly the same figure as him.
His red haired companion couldn’t help but smile a little under her mask, amused by his resourcefulness. Their turn was up again but the guards held their words before asking the robed ones if we were in a party.
“You got a party in minutes huh…” The master warrior wasn’t all that surprised. Who wouldn’t want to party with the official members that have already cleared the dungeon, not to mention the Xeng’s presence.
“That’s right! You gonna let us pass or what?!” Hector’s loud voice reverberated in their surroundings. Scarlet couldn’t help but let a stifled noise out at the voice.
“Your quester crystals?” The guard was used to loud, rude men.
Ebony could feel his companion's gaze boring into him as mirth could be seen in them.
The figure that wasn’t much different from his own put his gloved hands out as if to flash his wrist and bracelet to the guard.
“You just need our party composition right? I’m a warrior, big guy over there’s a mage and the lady’s a spear master.” The man shifted his weapon to poke from under his robe while the large guy was holding a long wooden…stick, the lady didn’t move.
“If you don’t show your quester crystal, we’re going to have to ask you to turn around!” The guard was probably having a really bad day as he wasn’t about to back down.
The taller man tapped the ground with his ‘staff’ as guards felt themselves getting heavier and had to cover their ears due to a loud screech boring into their ears. Ebony pulled Ning Xin past them in that short period of time.
She giggled. “That’s considered not making things difficult for them?”
“Of course. Now they can answer to their superiors should they require so. Quester crystal or not, they know the party composition.” He confidently replied.
“Fake composition.”
“Not true. We’re both hybrids that fit the bill of warrior and mage. And, they already know that the higher levels are modelled after us.” Ebony replied. The people at the Quest Hall pestered them from time to time when they went to the underground rooms.
The few high level parties that travelled back and forth on the icy floors already reported the type of monsters and their abilities. The general information the quest hall currently had was ‘elite’ kobolds of a few types that are few in numbers. One that wielded a greatsword, another with twin blades, the javelin and the unarmed one.
If it wasn’t for their levels, this would further demotivate parties to explore further. The poor environmental condition, few monsters and little treasure meant that there was no real reason they should risk it. Only those that wanted the fame of being a dungeon clearer continued on. There weren’t all that many people who were there to test and challenge themselves, much less take it as a training ground.
“Sometimes, you’re slower than a turtle and sometimes you’re so quick witted. What if they tried to Identify or Appraise?” Ning Xin took off the cloth wrapped around their 3 new party members.
The fabric was from his stock that he used to practise making clothes with. They were freezing cold to touch. She revealed the ice sculptures of Ebony with a sword on his hip, an unfamiliar man with the stick and a woman’s countenance that sent a shiver down her back. His sculptures were getting more and more realistic and had included all the little details hence, she thought they looked familiar.
“...Who is she modelled after?” Ning Xin wasn’t even feeling jealous that he made another woman's full body sculpture. The sculpture wasn’t just one of the most beautiful faces she saw, it was the expression on the sculpture that sent a chill down her back, the look in those unmoving, icy eyes.
“My mother. This is what my father looks like too.” Ebony replied before he reformed the sculptures to look like him before she could continue observing them.
“You’re right, you resemble her more than your father.”
“Mmm. I can’t replicate them completely, I was trying to envision them in the happiest I remember.”
“...That was happy?”
“Mmm. She’s more serious most of the time when she beats…trains me.”
Ning Xin couldn’t imagine it, that was the most stone cold facial expression she had ever seen. Now she was feeling lucky she caught the corners of Ebony’s lips raising a little.
“So your father’s the mage?” She already knew that his mother was a spear user.
“Probably. He’s likely the reason for my partial mana being physique too.”
“Hmm…” Ning Xin put the unconfirmed information aside as he was about to give her a ride to breeze through the first few floors.
“I want to train my movement skills too, try to keep up.” She dashed off, her speed almost blew some of the younger freelancers onto their butts.
They both had a tier two movement skill but she was much faster if he didn’t enhance himself. Other than her higher base Fortified Agility, her movement skill was much more refined and built purely for explosive speed whereas his own took the ‘gentle and quiet’ approach.
She didn’t use any magic other than wind to protect herself from the tiny particles in the air, be they dirt, dust or anything else. Moving at high speeds was pretty deadly not just for their opponents.
❅❅❅
Ebony was chasing Ning Xin when he regurgitated his breakfast all of a sudden then, crumpled down and fell flat on the ground. His mind stalled, the feeling wasn’t outright oppressive but sure as hell brought him to lay flat he couldn’t lift a finger and his mana didn’t move at his reflexive command. With the lack of control, his face was in a small puddle of his half-digested food and stomach acid.
He was tougher than the floor so he wasn’t injured but that clearly wasn’t important at the moment.
Not a moment later, his sight was aligned with a pair of legs. He didn’t sense any movement before the pair of feet arrived before him.
His thought process was lagged by a ton, he didn’t notice it and he didn’t see how the couple of people further off weren’t moving.
‘This is what I feared…’ He was helpless, neither the body he trained nor the magic he honed was in his control. He tried to Identify the pair of legs that just stood there but nothing came up. Not question marks, nothing, then he realised he couldn’t use Identify, even on the grass.
“Hmm?” From the deep vocals, Ebony could sense the absolute confusion in it. His senses which seemed blinded came back instantly after the confused voice that seemed to drag on for hours in his head. His body could move and the weight on him both physically and mentally disappeared into thin air. He tried to move the mana in his body for enhancement but they remained still as if they didn’t feel his efforts to move them. That was scary, he was fragile without his enhancement but he remained as calm as usual. It probably made no difference at this point.
He stood up and brushed himself off, then he slowly took a clean cloth out of his bag and wiped his face. Whoever it was standing there didn’t seem to bother him, as if he had forgotten someone was in front of him.
“I’m still here.” The deep voice reverberated in his ears.
Ebony snapped his body straight and looked straight ahead where the feet had been.
His heart sped up faster than it ever did. Not due to the fact that he just forgot what situation he was in or that he forgot someone was right in front of him. Not due to the fact that he couldn’t sense the man just standing within touching distance. Not due to fear of the man or that his pitch black gaze stared through his soul. His breathing accelerated more than any intense fight.
The man was more than 1.9 metres tall, slightly bulkier than Ebony, nothing shocking. A head of light cyan hair, almost white and contrasting pitch black irises and on his face was a mask. A red mask. It was cracked through the centre and on the left was a resplendent red feather.
“Introductions aren’t necessary I suppose.”
A sharp deep pain stung his chest and wouldn’t disappear even though he had regained his breath, calmed his heart and mind. Only realising Everlasting Tranquillity had broke when it kicked back up.
“Mmm.”
“...Good.” The man looked away from Ebony for the first time to look past him, looking back at him after half a second.
“You’ll be kidnapped again…you’ll be kidnapped for the first ti…you’ll be kidnapped.” The man paused again and again, each time, they just stared at each other without discomfort in the silence.
“Mmm.” Ebony acknowledged patiently. The man in front of him was broken and he wasn’t referring to the man’s physical state, the withered robe or gaping holes one could see through.
“No rush to escape.” The man plainly said.
“Mmm.”
“Chassis. Yes, chassis. Two hundred.” He had to pause to think again before speaking.
A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
“I understand,” Ebony said the only words he had so far.
“You’ll forget. You’re very used to forgetting.” The man’s voice was flat.
“...” Ebony didn’t know what to say..
“But you’ll do it.” He answered himself instead.
“Leave it to me.” Ebony said in an equally toneless voice.
“Very assuring.” There was no sarcasm in his voice but Ebony was aware that that was just what it sounded like.
“Oh…I almost forgot what I was actually here for. This should jog some of your sealed memory in advance. Oh…annoying.” The hypocritical man suddenly realised something before looking away.
Ebony felt a piercing chill on his forehead not unlike the feeling when Gen’s snow blinded him.
His body, mind and more shook at a sound that seemed to pierce through space but no one else heard it. A roar was the closest thing it sound like but it was nothing like a roar that he had ever heard.
He didn't even realise when the man disappeared nor did he realise sound entered his ears again and wind blowing across his face.
‘What’s that smell?’ He sniffed the stench and then touched his sticky face, confused at why he stopped running after Ning Xin.
‘Hot damn. I fell into another trance while I was running? What did I…’ he looked around before continuing on in the direction he last saw Ning Xin go. Before he could continue his line of thought, a distant memory came to mind.
❅❅❅
Ebony Rime. 7 Earth years old.
‘Ow.’ He thought as his mother rubbed his bruises with ointment that she called “come and go”, the young boy feared this ointment more than the training he undergoes. Applying it would cause his injuries to hurt many more times but his bruises would fade within the day. He quickly pushed the thought of pain away and continued meditating.
His father said it would help him get accustomed to pain and he was supposed to meditate as his mother rubbed his injuries with more force than he thought necessary.
He felt a head rub which marked the end of the application of ointment and the start of a tight hug. The head rub was the best part of most days.
“I’ll be making dinner, you can go play or do your homework.” Amelia Stone said impassively. The young boy already began to recognise it as a smile.
“I finished my homework at school.”
“Good boy.” She rubbed his head again before heading to the kitchen.
Ebony was internally gleeful at the second head rub of the day.
Training had turned from exercises to trying to land a hit on his mother for a year or two now. She never really hit him, just placing her fist or even a finger where he was about to go and he would injure himself charging into those hard rock fists. Little Ebony thought that her family name really suited her.
He headed to the study since he preferred to read and his aching body had enough of moving for the day. There was a table taller than he was that his parents used and a smaller one beside it that was for him.
He had just completed a picture book on types of animals which was slightly different from what he read in school. There were a lot more words in the books in their house, the pictures were more realistic and they listed down the characteristics, habits, how they hunt and what they eat.
He saw an opened book on his parent’s table just as he was wondering what to read next. He reached for it but it wouldn’t budge when he pulled or pushed the book so he just climbed up the large chair made for his large father. It was no wonder his parents called his body weak because he couldn't even make the chair budge. Thankfully, the chair was left pulled out and he could sit on it.
Looking at the opened page, he saw the drawing of a human body in a horse riding stance. Something very familiar to him. The weird thing was the numbers written down. There were arrows pointing at the thighs and outstretched arms and what was written was ‘7000kg’ on each limb. It was his mother’s handwriting.
He flipped to the first page and started looking through it. He wondered if it was his aching body that made it so hard to flip the pages. The first few pages were very familiar, it was the physical exercises he used to do. Then, he reached the page where his current training regime was written and drawn out.
The young boy was interested, if the pattern was to be believed, the later pages would be his future regime so he flipped through the pages. He was a little confused at the many empty pages in between but he saw that it wasn’t really empty, at the top of the page read, ‘aptitude with…’ he wasn’t really sure what ‘aptitude’ meant.
Then he reached the first page with something written again. The chapter title was ‘Tier 1 - Soft Steel Body’, he saw that the training consisted of the body getting whacked by hard things from clubs to bats to hammers to solid pipes of metal and then using the body to try to break said objects. Being the 7 year old that he was, he thought it was cool and wanted to start that type of training soon but his body was still growing and wasn’t suited for it yet.
He continued flipping through the pages. There was ‘Treading Steps’ that he should be starting to learn. It was quite interesting to know that his parents actually named the activities he would do but this is the first time he learned of it. They usually just call it training or exercise.
‘Tier 2 - Explosive Rock Body’, he was supposed to be able to punch through rocks with a finger and come out unharmed. Also, ‘Treading Stride’ was supposed to be trained by running on water? Young Ebony wasn’t as excited about poking a rock open or trying something as stupid as running on water. He was pretty sure anyone would just break their finger and fall into water. There was a drawing of a bald and skinny webbed child at the bottom of the page.
‘Tier 3 - Unrelenting Statue’ The written training on this was confusing and he didn’t know what she was writing at times. He only understood that he was supposed to take some kind of projectile with different symbols beside it, guessing that the flame one was fire and the zappy one was electric. Then he saw the note ‘try shooting with a gun’, he knew what a gun was, he often watched television with his mother. But he never saw anyone on tv have a bullet bounce off or anyone grab a bullet.
The young boy clearly didn’t watch many cartoons or superhero movies.
‘Treading Flash’ was the footwork training this time. This one seemed to focus on speed rather than distance or lightness. He was supposed to ‘disappear from sight’ without even moving his knees and just tapping his soles.
‘Tier 4 - Constricted Titan’ It was mostly words he had never seen and he couldn’t understand but he did what his father taught him and just remembered them as pictures and images.
‘Phantom Flash’ appeared to change the focus back to ‘unseen and unheard’ but not losing the explosive speed.
‘Tier 5 - Neutronic Frame’ The book was just showing stars and arrows pointing to the body. Tier 3 onward had a common theme, the word ‘gravity’ popped up a lot.
‘Spectre’s Flicker’ made the least sense in the training method written, even considering the many big words he didn’t understand. He was supposed to move without moving at all, just appearing wherever he wants or needs to be.
‘Tier 6 - Monolithic Ch…’
“Had fun reading what you weren’t supposed to see?” His mother’s voice was right beside his ear and her breath tickled his sensitive ears. She picked him up with ease from behind despite his growing body.
“It’s time for dinner.” She put him down on the floor and led him by the hand.
“That book.”
“You can ask me tomorrow if you can remember the contents. Your father’s waiting for us.” She interrupted his question.
He had slept well that night, falling asleep the second he hit the bed.
❅❅❅
‘Why did I remember that now? That was conditioning wasn’t it?’
Ebony caught up to Ning Xin waiting at the bottom of the flight of stairs in the wall. They had no choice but to go slow as there were people holding up the line. Yes, there was a line even though this wasn’t the only path up.
Due to the size rating of Ordina, this wasn’t considered overcrowding because the density of parties and people decrease quite a bit as they go higher up. So, the guards didn’t have to ensure stricter control over how many people entered.
“I won.” Ning Xin smiled under her mask even though no one would be able to see it or that it wasn’t a serious race without either of them using magic.
“Yes, you did.” His eyes naturally looked towards her. There was an uncomfortable feeling. ‘Something’s weird.’ Ebony thought after a short silence. He couldn’t tear his eyes away from her mask, the red feather on it was especially eye-catching today.
“What’s wrong?!” Ning Xin was shocked to see tears streaming down Ebony’s face right after he caught up to her. She also noticed the sour smell coming from him. Not to mention her Sublime Instincts caught on to the intense and sharp pain from him.
He didn’t seem to notice what she was shocked about, then he felt the wet stream of tears. He wiped them aside, “I don’t know.”
“Is..is it because you’re reminded of your parents?” Ning Xin personally imagined that it was the case after he conjured their sculptures. She personally missed her own parents for a long time now.
“I really doubt that. No. It hurts here. I don’t know why, looking at your mask makes it hurt here, way worse than when I had part of my heart bitten out. Also, my belly feels weird.” Ebony touched his chest before moving it down to his belly. Even though the short memory he just regained had a nice moment with his mother he really doubted it was because he missed his parents so badly that he suddenly felt terrible.
“Wh-was it breakfast? But-but the ingredients were all fine…” She was about to question why on Elcra would his chest hurt but her attention couldn’t help but go to the fact that his belly was feeling unwell, the scent of puke was all too familiar to her. She was certain nothing was poisonous or so unclean that it could cause harm to even an unclassed person.
He shook his head and tried to get her mind off of food and that he must have woken up on the wrong side of the bed. He just couldn’t think of a reason why he would be acting or feeling so weird all of a sudden. She was even convinced that she must not have noticed poison in her ingredients but there chances of that were too low.
Fortunately, the weird feeling and pang in his heart went as fast as it came which led to Ning Xin calming down since she could tell that he was back to normal again. She occupied herself by looking through a thick book that was her stock taking. Scrutinising every ingredient she bought, especially those she used for the past few meals. She was going to have to physically check through them when she had the time.
He wanted to tell her about his sudden recovery of memory but she seemed too distracted at the moment.
Some people who kept up to date with the news were aware that the two of them were part of the members who already cleared Ordina once. The older ones were awed by the rumours of the Xeng’s strength being somewhat true while the younger ones might have looked a little annoyed to most people, something that neither Ning Xin nor Ebony would notice.
“Is it true that you’ve cleared Ordina?” A boy looking no older than 17 asked curiously, swatting his party members' concerns of coming out to speak to them with a wave. Although looks were deceiving when it came to age, the boy was already a level 100 Journeyman, practically the bulk of the people here were the same and didn’t really stand out. Together with his party and unruly hair and overall equipment, Ebony compared it to a group of teenagers hanging out after school.
Seeing Ebony nod in silence, he continued. “I’ve heard Ordina is recovering pretty fast, some of my senior freelancers compare the floor 8’s level 135s to a freshly evolved level 100 creature outside. The top floor is the 22nd right? I heard your party was made up of 4 Journeymen like us, how did you beat something over a hundred levels above yourself, the dungeon’s guardian shouldn’t be weakened as much compared to its minions?”
“Mmm, the guardian was very tough but comparatively slower and weaker. I think many of the high level parties can easily defeat it.” Ebony replied, it was like he was the smart kid in class helping other kids with understanding a problem
“But no other party did till now?”
“Exhaustion and supplies. The 19th floor onwards is cold, you would need the right resistances or warm equipment. The monsters are few but every battle takes out a lot of energy and it is dangerous. Your lungs would freeze up, it would be painful to breathe and you have to deal with monsters that are otherwise strong in that environment. With few monsters and no vegetation, you’ll be limited in how far you can go should you not have enough food and water.”
“Oh! Is there really no other way than to bring lots of supplies?”
“Not that I know of, there are some merchants on the 13th and if you are lucky, the 18th might have some supplies in stock.” Ebony looked around and wondered if those Master Classed with huge bags were working for the merchants higher up and were bringing up their wares. There was a pretty high chance that was the case, it was quite a viable business as long as the contracted party was strong enough to make trips without letting harm befall the supplies.
“I’ve also heard some rumours that the monsters there fight like you and…” The boy pointed to the engrossed chef that was too busy pondering while looking through her book.
“Don’t point but yes, there is some resemblance.” Ebony understated how similar those Verglas Kobolds’ fighting styles were.
“Care to give some tips?”
“No problem.”
The young boy grinned and immediately pulled out his short sword, leaping down from the step he was on, ignoring the fact that they were in a tight stairway with people behind Ebony.
The overhead swing was only possible for his short sword, there was insufficient space for Ebony’s Icicle. He reflexively brought up his arm and took half a step forward, or rather, one step up, and blocked the boy’s wrist. He had the lowest enhancement on to carry around his equipment but the young boy had surprising strength. Perhaps a Strength focussed warrior as Ebony was almost pushed down a step.
Ebony wanted to turn his wrist to change his wrist block to a grip and pull the boy to fall since he was in the air but he surprisingly kicked out the instant he was blocked. There wasn’t much power in the kick since it was hastily pulled off but it let the boy escape Ebony’s clutches.
Instead of calling out how dangerous that had been, the people behind and ahead were cheering the boy on, even making way for both of them. Except that Ning Xin was still beside Ebony, deep in thought.
‘A pity I don’t have the confidence to swing Icicle in such a tight corridor.’ This wasn’t the shortcut that was 5 metres wide, there was barely space for 3 people to walk side by side.
He decided to go for a wide turning kick that opened him up to a ton of attack possibilities but let him cross the distances of more steps. The boy's manoeuvrability was unexpected as well, he hopped like a bunny, pulling his knees close to his body as his back almost hit the ceiling.
The boy was internally nervous from the speed of the kick, he knew there was plenty of power behind it as well from how easily Ebony blocked his first attack. He chose to take initiative, hoping he had a better chance against a swordsman that carried such a massive sword in this tight space. He had anticipated kicks due to the range it gave on the stairs and that was how he dodged it. He already freed one of his hands to draw the handheld burst bow that his friend and party member fiddled around with. He just didn’t expect the smoothest transition from a wide turning kick to a back thrust that accurately rammed into his belly.
Ebony casually shifted his shoulders slightly to dodge the bullet that seemed like an iron ball, instinctively having one of his statues shoot a hand out to block the bullet before it hit an innocent bystander behind. It had been unnecessary since no one was directly behind, even considering how the boy was shooting downwards from midair.
The boy’s party member caught him but fell on the steps from the impact. Ebony didn’t hold back and the kick should’ve easily crushed some Common rarity rocks or dent a thick steel plate of the same rarity.
“Auuww!” That was a weird cry of pain but it was clear the boy wasn’t badly injured. If he was really 17 years old and only trained for a few years, he had quite some potential, he had noteworthy fighting sense.
Ebony went to pull him up, grabbing each other’s wrist because he learnt some manners.