A level gained in his Class now gives 15 stats, Sub-Class would have 10 while his Profession would have 3 profession focussed stats that they wouldn’t be able to allocate. Ebony had all 3 automatically placed in Wisdom while Ning Xin used to gain 1 in Strength, she now gained 2 Strength and 1 Agility per Profession level.
He was actually hoping for 1 point into Intelligence but there was no real loss since he would’ve needed a ton of Wisdom as well. He assumed he would have enough mana once he evolved, even casting cost way less but his mana compressibility increasing sort of balanced it out as long as he was trying to hit harder. But even if he didn’t compress it to that point, his Imperishable Frost Scales were already noticeably tougher than his old scale, almost matching an entire Layered Ice Carapace.
He opted to add stats point by point and get used to it slowly rather than dumping it all at once, which caused him to make some mistakes in battle in the past.
Before they could start making their way towards the nearest dungeon they had procedures to complete to smoothen their journey. Getting access to ‘green’ dungeons as their portal colour suggests with only the two of them. His trick of using Glacial Models may not also work so they might as well get permission from the Quest Hall somehow. They were lawful people even though neither of them considered themselves part of the Empire.
Panic Attack got permission to enter as a party of five warriors. It shouldn’t be difficult for them to get similar authorisation.
They acted quickly, standing in line for a counter meant for general inquiries.
He heard a lot of people talk about a certain topic, not just in the Quest Hall but the streets or even the small town outside Ordina. Something about many other towns far from Trailane Plains having their underground sewers breaking or leaking stench all over the towns. Fortunately, that was far away but it had been getting more serious over the months where more and more towns were affected.
Although the requests didn’t reach Trailane Plains, there have been many quests for an investigation into the sewers. The Quest Hall had limited manpower and their initial search came out with just broken walls with no trace of what broke them.
They didn’t take it that seriously at first since most of the affected towns had old and not regularly maintained sewers but the first city had been reported to have a similar problem with their sewers and that was massive news.
Another piece of news was how a large forest at the other end of the continent, nearer to Xienor, Northeast from where they were, had parts of it suddenly removed and no one saw how, what or who. By ‘removed’ there was a picture posted on one of the ‘electronic’ news boards that showed a pitch black hole spanning hundreds of metres that appeared as if it reaches the core of the planet. They already sent some Grandmasters to check it out. It wasn’t far from the Second and First Tide, so it was no wonder they acted reasonably quickly.
“How can I help you?” The lady clerk recognised the resident masked lady and their big taxpayer even though she never contacted them before.
“Access to Uncommon dungeons by ourselves. Even as a duo and not an individual would work.” He asked.
“That... The Imperial law states that one can enter a dungeon of the same rank in groups of three if all three have cleared that particular dungeon before. As Masters, you just have to form a party of five to clear the dungeon once before needing three for the next clear.” The lady clerk was young, they could see her referring to a book or note behind the counter.
“We know. That’s why we’re asking you to give us authorization.” Ning Xin wanted to speed the conversation up.
Luckily, the clerk had a more senior looking man watching out for her and came to the rescue seeing her confusion.
“Special authorisation for dungeon access would require a noble and the Quest Hall to acknowledge that an individual or party has the appropriate capability and not just feed the dungeons essence.”
“Oh, and how would they ‘acknowledge’ us?” Ning Xin never bothered to find out the procedures. Her grandma and sister Jing said she simply had to ask for it.
“Plainston currently doesn’t have the personnel to conduct the test. Since there aren’t any Uncommon dungeons in Trailane Plains, the cities close to Uncommon dungeons should be more than capable of giving you authorization.” The man answered professionally.
He thanked them for their service and returned to rest and have dinner with sister Jing since Mark was still stuck in his workshop. She wouldn’t act as their transport anymore, they would leave the next day by themselves.
Ning Xin couldn’t stand getting carried by him as a mode of transport, she suggested it was a good chance to practise movement by gliding/flight and they can walk fast once she reached half her mana pool. Arguing that they can take the chance to just see the sights instead of flashing past everything the way Ebony does.
He had no complaints this time. It was indeed a good chance to practise flight.
“Wait. Give me a day or two. I need some help from sister Jing.”
“? Sure.” Ning Xin instantly thought of how she can make more dumpling wraps and fillings for a longer journey. She wanted to clean herself up anyway, some personal care and hygiene was in order.
❅❅❅
“What’s this?” Kong Jing gave a disapproving look on the stack of wood that Ebony pulled out. It took up a lot of space in his bag.
“I want to make a trailer, a mobile tent so to speak. Something like this.” He formed a rough model of a mobile trailer home with ice.
“Hmm…what will you power it with?” She asked, looking at the wheels.
He cocked his head in confusion.
He manipulated the wheels to spin in reply.
Kong Jing had her usual unrestrained laugh. She was imagining he had some kind of runic formula that will power or drive the vehicle house and not the power of manipulation and mind.
“I assume little Xin is going to stay in there too?”
“If she doesn’t mind.”
“Then I can’t exactly let her live in a shack.”
“The illusion cover to hide us from monsters or people to see us would be nice.” He thought that it would be very convenient and another layer of safety wouldn’t hurt.
“You asked me knowing that I’ll do whatever I can if it's for little Xin didn’t you?” She knocked him on the head, his natural reflex didn’t act up.
“I asked you because you’re also my teacher and the best person to ask.” He wasn’t sure if she found out that he secretly enjoyed her rough head rubs.
They used his materials for the interior while she made an external layer with normal Uncommon rarity wood with an immense surge of mana flooding their ‘garden’ there was too much going on as she was multitasking too much with her mana. He still managed to make out that she was moulding on some kind of soundproofing, durability and the one he was least familiar with, illusion based. It was hard to even sense her mana so he couldn’t get a good grasp of the mana pathways. He was sure it was based on what he read before in her library but it was weird he never managed to understand them well.
Kong Jing took a similar approach as the Frost Elves, they barely taught him, just giving him knowledge and wanting him to come up with something himself. Although she was at least nice enough to explain things he couldn’t understand in her books, her explanations didn’t always make much sense to him either.
“You either get it or you don’t get it.” was what she used to tell him when he asked too many questions and still didn’t understand.
“Sweet design.” She commented. He was asking for her advice since she had experience in architecture although not much. Telling him all the ideas he had.
It went from a simple rectangular trailer to some kind of foldable or expandable two-storey building.
“I need to be able to drive it and it’s not as convenient if I can’t drive on roads in towns and cities.” He said and they cut down on size but not function.
The design went back to a rectangular shape. Roughly 2.5 metres tall, a collapsible width of 3 to 8 metres with her confusing him with how that was supposed to be done and a length of 15 metres. There was still a second floor, with the bedrooms upstairs with a suspicious-looking door with a symbol he was not familiar with. The second floor was only about 10 metres or so in length meaning the trailer would be staggered like stairs.
Some parts of the mobile home would require them not to place any furniture on as they would get in the way of the collapse. A large part of this ‘free space’ is taken up by a fully functional kitchen, a sofa and a ‘television’ that they didn’t have but he planned to get. The furniture in their rooms would have to be placed in one corner so that they wouldn't get crushed as the house shrinks.
It wasn’t as complicated as he first thought, there were probably many such foldable houses even on Earth.
There is a front seat not unlike the front seat of a carriage or train cabin where he can sit out to drive, watch the road and feel the wind. The wheels are made of a soft material that’s hollowed out for him to put ice mana into it to drive it, he made sure to confirm that the material could withstand cold and harsh conditions.
“I know what kind of things she wants for a kitchen but what about the furniture?”
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“I got everything I can think of. I brought her around the city a few times and took her to streets with a lot of furniture stores on our walks so I think I got everything that she likes or had her eye on.”
“...You’re more attentive than a girl. With the flowers too…Did you give her flowers?” Kong Jing didn’t really want to say it at first but she truly thought he had some uncommon traits for a man.
“She made tea out of it. It was delicious and she was happy with a new ingredient.”
Kong Jing roared with laughter.
❅❅❅
They worked on it together as they took the project underground, Kong Jing personally made space underground. They only showed up for dinner and breakfast before the house above and the whole street burned down under her rage. Though only figuratively.
It was a cosy little trailer that has the same style as Ning Xin’s house back at Xienor. The colour scheme of the exterior was dark brown though. It has the same illusion-type spell that Ning Xin used to keep herself hidden whenever she camped out but stronger. The trailer itself wasn’t toughened up in defences since the materials used weren’t anything special and the strong illusion runic formula took up half of its capacity while minor ones like dust resistance, preservation and lightness runes were present too.
They shouldn’t be easily spotted, heard, felt or even divined according to Kong Jing. It was part of her study to hide herself from her grandaunt, although she did say it probably wouldn’t even trouble her grandaunt and they would easily be found by her.
If some monster or people got close enough they would still be seen but there was an area of effect mental suggestion that dissuades people from walking their direction should he activate the illusion runes. The mana consumption was high so they really only needed to use it if they were in the middle of danger and needed to rest.
The kitchen was very well furnished with a common area for dining and a sofa with no television for now. There were no stairs but a few indentations were placed at the back end of the trailer that acted as footholds. The back of the trailer had a gap in the ceiling where they would climb through to the two bedrooms and a toilet that came with a bath. His room was at the front, meaning he would have to go past Ning Xin’s since the only entrance to the second floor was through the tail end of the trailer.
The second floor was extended a little to accommodate the toilet and bath. Although their biological need to excrete was reduced and they wouldn’t use it as much, Kong Jing even had the technology for it. The toilet bowl had runes that would break it down and remove odours. Very convenient.
The front had a carriage-style seat for two, soft comfy seats and the best suspension effect that Kong Jing could make together with cup holders and a large rectangular hole in between the seats that was for snacks and food. The backrest which is also their wall seemed suspiciously familiar.
“You copied my chair design…” He said. It wasn’t part of the initial design plans but the back rest had a tree carved on it with some frost plum flowers budding and some blossoms. Just like his conjured throne. At least she didn’t adopt the turtle shell which his chair had since they were ready to be reformed into scales anytime.
“I like it. Not too fancy, and very domineering.” Kong Jing was referring to the twin swords that two branches of the tree entwined around that would be above their heads should they sit.
There was no windscreen but they wouldn’t be feeling much wind unless they reached out due to a standard enchantment for any vehicle that repelled wind from certain directions. Their trailer didn’t have the enchantment but some sort of orb that was wind elemental was worked on by the Grandmaster Craftswoman was embedded near the front of the trailer.
The overall power source was under the floorboards of the common area and a large uncut block of Blue was placed there. Only a Blue which was a Rare rarity as the trailer couldn’t take anything stronger or purer and didn’t even require a Blue if the ambient mana density outdoors was high enough. It could also take the occupants excess mana to charge itself.
There was no engine.
The wheels look not much different from large rubber tires but were far superior as a material for wheels.
The most important function that Ebony didn’t even hope to have or think possible was thanks to the space mage’s breakthrough in her magic.
He looked at the shiny gem fitted in his myriad bracelet in glee.
The trailer could be brought around and not just by driving it around. It still had the original collapsible design since he would drive it in the collapsed form. Make no mistake, he probably couldn’t ‘drive’ it very fast and would even have trouble moving something so large with his Intelligence. For now.
Mark wasn’t around as he left Plainston for something personal. Ebony went and pulled Ning Xin out of the kitchen and they showed her the little surprise.
She loved it.
More so the bath than the kitchen or at least just as much, she also noticed the somewhat familiar furnitures and kitchenware and utensils.
They were briefed on the areas where they shouldn’t have permanent fixtures and learned how to activate the collapsing function together with all the other magical functions big and small. How the windows should be closed if they were moving and whatnot.
Ebony has never seen or heard Kong Jing so chatty. The two sisters were close.
He also found out what the symbol on the door to Ning Xin’s room meant. The door was extra durable with locks.
“Now, I’m not trying to be nosy but you need to set some house rules.” Kong Jing told both of them.
She cleared her throat, “For example, no entry into little Xin’s room.”
“What if she lets or invites me in?” Ebony asked in his usual toneless voice. It wasn’t rare for her to ask him to cool down her room with ice magic from time to time.
“Not gonna happen you punk!” Kong Jing imagined something completely different, something normal people would imagine.
He got a beating that shook the ground but seeing no reaction from Ning Xin other than standing stunned was a little surprising. A pity he couldn’t tell what she was thinking.
They only took a little more than 2 days for the building project since Kong Jing was in charge. Going out for a short test ride was pretty fun and wasn’t as hard to move as he thought, just a little slow even with his gravity magic. Not even matching the speed of the monster-drawn carriages on the road.
They can still use it to camp rather than to traverse while he gets used to driving it.
❅❅❅
Mark wasn’t back yet but that was of no concern to them. Two of them left with a mobile home up his sleeves.
Their destination was a city straight towards Clatter Rattle’s direction away from Trailane Plains. It was called Mogat and had two Uncommon dungeons in their vicinity. A bustling city that was pretty rich since they traded with Clatter Rattle with the abundance of materials obtained from the dungeons. Both were pretty small dungeons, with less than 5 floors each.
Ordina was a little out of the ordinary for it to have so many different environmental floors, these two dungeons were more normal in that every floor was forest themed with each floor being way more expansive. Growing sideways tends to be more common than growing more floors. Ning Xin even suggested to Na to continue expanding his diameter rather than height. They found out that Na's twelfth floor collapsed when the horde was sent to them in the past and he made the pyramid a floor of its own. That was news.
One of the dungeons had monsters that averaged at levels 180 to 200 while the other had an average of 130 to 160. Once again, another difference with Ordina that had a large range of monster levels but that could be attributed to its size and many floors. There was also a difference in the diversity of creatures. It was more common to see a small number of creatures that a dungeon would focus on rather than a large variety.
They were planning to go to the one with a lower level average due to the information they found from the Quest Hall. ‘Monster density: High.’ and had a higher danger level according to all the parties that cleared them mostly due to the presence of a flying creature. Dungeon clearers with more than 1 dungeon clear of different dungeons can give some sort of danger rating. These dungeons were frequently cleared but not so much that they needed to book a slot to enter.
Thanks to the higher danger rating they were hoping it meant less people and more prey for them. If it wasn’t satisfactory, they could always go to the other dungeon since both dungeons were not that far apart. They were both in the city after all. Enclosed in a protected dome apparently.
When he was grabbed on the jumping express in the past it took him 2 to 3 days to get to Clatter Rattle. The two of them took the same amount of time to get to a closer city. The roads were safe and they didn’t come across any freak accident or anyone trying to kidnap him.
Mogat used to be like the small settlement around Ordina but grew to its current state in only 3 or so centuries. The growth of the dungeon was controlled and they over-dived in the past since two dungeons appeared within a gap of a decade. A large number of people arrived to see what was so special to have two dungeons form so close together.
Currently, Mogat’s needs increased and the two dungeons were allowed to grow so people were invited to stay inside those two dungeons for it to grow. Their efforts were wasted on the dungeon Ebony and Ning Xin was planning to go to since the dungeon just produced more monsters with the essence they were ‘given’ instead of increasing in general levels or having made better materials. On the bright side, they increased the quantity of materials they farmed from it and the other dungeon was growing in terms of quality.
Both of them wasted no time and hailed a carriage to this dungeon dome called Low Thicket, the other was called High Thicket.
“Where’s the rest of your party?” The guards here were either confident enough not to wear helmets since everything was under control or they just weren’t required to wear them indoors since there were probably guards inside the dungeon too.
The guards didn’t stand close to the green colour portal that was shorter and less wide than Ordina’s gate. Nobody stood close. There were mounted crossbows, canons and huge magical balls aimed at the gate and it would probably stress out some of the weaker willed guards if there were weapons pointed at them all day long.
“Just the two of us.”
“Eh, go ahead. Be careful if you’re leaving the camp inside, I heard the numbers are still rising and the average levels even on the first floor is near the usual limit. Younger parties are dissuaded from entering even though we need to cut their numbers since it’s getting to a worrying degree. The next mass clearing expedition should be in a month.” The guard was a boy looking no older than 20, he was nonchalant about them being two people because they had an open policy to let the dungeon grow.
“So, there’s no problem helping to cut numbers down right?” Ning Xin asked. They were actually recommended to come here by the senior clerk from Plainston to get their authorization. The man probably didn’t think Mogat didn’t even care about authorisation. Maybe he had dated information.
“In exchange, can you sign my armour?” He smiled nervously.
“What?”
“You’re Rimestone right? I watched your fights years ago. I was hoping to see you in more tournaments but you never showed up again. I have the memory light of your fight with Rost! Oh, watch this!” The guard was manning the line with another young man that was letting another party through after checking and recording their quester crystal.
The guard who recognised Ebony faced a direction without people, disappeared from his spot, and then returned quietly in a single step.
‘Was that Treading Steps?’ Ebony was a little impressed at the resemblance.
“How was that? Can you give me some tips? What is this footwork called?” The man wasn’t shy about asking the details of someone else's skill.
“It was okay. It’s called Treading Steps, put more focus and most of your weight onto the front of your feet, around the toes. Your ankle and knees seem a little rigid, with Treading Steps, you should be able to change directions easily but you focused too much on the burst of speed. Well, that’s not a bad thing either.” He patted the man’s shoulder and they walked past him without anyone stopping them.
“You have fans, Rimestone.” Ning Xin teased. She wasn’t as impressed by someone copying his skill.
“There shouldn’t be many, I barely fought in that tournament.”
“Who knows?”
They safely arrived in Low Thicket with her getting a little dizzy for a second after passing through the gate.