“Master Jing, what’s the date?” Mark put a cup of hot Hata on the side. They traded for some supplies from the others who took the underground tomb as a topaz mine. They were too engrossed in their research and studies to resupply themselves so they depended on buying food at a high price.
“No idea, if you have time to ask for the date you have time to study.” Kong Jing took him as half a student but he still addressed her with respect.
“That’s not it. Has it been half a year?” They had difficulty keeping track of time as they stayed indoors throughout the day and it wouldn’t make a difference if they went out as they were underground.
“...I can’t recall.” She didn’t put her work down but she was wary about what was to come. They never did find out the reason Democlus needed 600 people to remain after half a year had passed. They were currently inside her house that she pulled out and placed at the edges of the deepest region she could get. The giant gravestone was unreachable for Mark but she managed to slip through on multiple occasions.
Mark knew that her abilities with space magic had skyrocketed recently. She practised magic more than she researched runes. This place was very conducive for her, she was probably a relatively fresh Grandmaster in his opinion. As someone who cared more about crafts than her personal magic-wielding abilities, she had never really put much effort into training. Perhaps having put them in danger when they arrived had weighed on her mind.
“I’ll go out and check with someone.” Mark had his armour on even indoors. Some habits were hard to break despite the safety of this house.
Mark didn’t just stay indoors, he didn’t forget to move his body as his father taught him. It wasn’t as frequent but they had many golems after them every once in a while. He didn’t have to avoid all the Homunculus either. He might not have gained many levels but his repertoire of magic spells had increased tremendously. He was no expert or genius when it came to mana manipulation so he wasn’t able to create a spell that reverses or blocks the topaz mana onto his body but he was a man that cheated his way into a fake domain user, he could do the same for most other runic spells he developed.
He drew up many designs for his spear and armour over the past few months and had the best blacksmith he had ever seen living under the same roof. Fortunately, the lady was excited to make anything novel. He just had to pat his chest plate with some mana to activate it and flames would crawl over and under his skin. It was a more well-balanced rune formula than the old one that he taught Ebony.
Kong Jing had a mana compressor and what a wonder it was. She made mana ores with only his mana, it took him weeks to sustain and create a Purple, the purity it required made it very mana inefficient but it was worth it. The Purple was for his weapon, he had more Blues for his armour. However, he didn’t have a use for the Purple yet. His weapon would just break after a few pulses of mana from that. The wonderful thing about these mana ores that were his ‘brand’ was that it wasn’t harmful to his body in any way when used to cast enhancement magic from external runes.
He didn’t have to worry about potion drawbacks. His mana ores contained his mana. Now, his armour could cast enhancement magic for him without any mental effort from him. It gave him power, speed, endurance, durability and resistance. He also had a counter for topaz mana built in already. The best thing yet was that he could manipulate the shape of his mana ores to some degree. It was impossibly hard to do but he would definitely force himself to create a Skill that allows him to alter it. If he could engrave runes within it, he just had to move the mana ore onto a new set of equipment and it would have all the runes without engraving them on another set of equipment. Doing so will let his runic Fortifications to further empower the effects of his runes as well.
The current runes he had engraved were made with Kong Jing’s help. He developed stronger versions but his body had a limit to how much enhancement it received without hurting himself. The fact that it wasn’t a spell that he consistently cast also meant that the enhancement was fixed and not backed by a Skill. It was fixed at the level of his skills when he engraved the runes, including the effects from his fortifications just like any other blacksmith's crafts. The effects stay on their crafts, not on the user.
Even so, his Strength, speed, Endurance, durability and a couple of resistances will be increased by approximately 1300%. This was the same as someone casting a level 520 tier 2 enhancement or a level 260 tier 3 enhancement. Sadly, the increase in speed didn’t come with the dexterity to control it so it required him to get used to it. Strength increased one’s speed as well and so did Agility but Agility gave one the capability of controlling one’s speed. As for durability, it was just the toughness of his body and didn't increase his energy efficiency like increasing Constitution stat would.
The best thing was that his mana efficiency research was good enough to mildly impress his rune teacher. A fully charged Blue can allow him to enhance himself with 13 times his usual power for more than a week and it wouldn’t take him too long to recharge. Of course, mana ores would turn to dust after discharging and recharging but the higher the rarity and hence, purity the more times it could be reused. He didn’t stand on the ceremony and used Kong Jing’s mana compressor as much as she allowed him to.
Who had tier 3 or even tier 2 enhancements that they can supply for so long? The only one he could think of was Ebony and he knew the ice enhancement was only a tier 2 skill, albeit, highly compressed. But Mark wasn’t comparing himself with unnatural individuals like Ebony. Amongst individuals who created their own enhancement, usually tier 1 or tier 2 if it was a core skill or had gained the benefit from multiple evolutions they would usually consume a ton of mana. Even Academies that prided in the refinement of their Skills wouldn’t have their student graduate being able to cast enhancement for more than half a day. Perhaps a day is the limit for the very best among them. Out of all these people, who had their skill at level 520?
Mark didn’t get overconfident since that was only looking at pure stat increment. There were plenty of skill combinations that could cover a difference from body enhancement magic. He was still confident that he was capable of being known as an elite combatant even if he was in Tidal. When compared with others his level of course. He had plenty of other runic spells and the fact that this form of enhancement produced flames and heat only further strengthened his actual enhancement core skill was a cherry on top.
He was not done with his research either. These golems fought in a particular manner dictated by their runes as far as they have found out. If he could develop something to improve his close-quarter technique he could cover up his lack of talent for the spear.
‘And I’m still behind those few huh…’ Mark didn’t doubt that his lack of talent wasn’t so easy to bridge. He turned the corner and broke into a dash to reach the closest camp.
“Crud.” The fifteen-minute dash didn’t wear him out but he was cursing the lack of people or camp equipment around where a hundred or so people had been. The next camp was too far out to reach in a short time so he doubled back. “The closest camp disappeared.”
“Annoying…” Kong Jing exited her house and he saw the small circle on her mask expand before the house vanished. The black circle continued to widen till an eye appeared within it. It's been at least a few months since her mask closed up and she no longer had slits where her eyes were. Looking at her would only get the view of a pure white mask with a horizontal black line cut by a circle in the middle. Mark didn’t know what she could do but he guessed that she was casting her sight somewhere else.
“Let’s get you out of here.” He could hear some urgency in her voice, unlike her usually lazy tone.
Mark wasn’t sure if it was because he had interacted with this Craftswoman for some time but he was quite sure that she wasn’t a strong fighter in any sense. Using his old standards, she was capable of beating any Grandmaster he had seen in his lifetime but the recent adventures he had opened up his world. Sure, there still isn’t anyone he knew that she couldn’t beat the living daylights out of but one man present trumps that very thought. Democlus the Shield King.
He hadn't seen many Grandmasters but he knew that two could be vastly different in power. With his poor senses, he wouldn’t have known how strong or weak someone was even if they stood in front of him. The only public King Classed individuals were the Royals, the Archdukes, a few Dukes and perhaps some Generals of the Empire’s army. Mark wasn’t so naive to think that there weren’t others, amongst freelancers, there was a handful but for some reason, those people weren’t as famous as their lower-level counterparts. He suspected this Dwarf Democlus to be one of these people.
Mark prepared to run, he did the prep work of mapping out escape routes whenever they got hunted down by homunculi. There were some empty buildings that had holes that led deeper underground but poor perception or instincts be damned, he didn’t dare go down. It was probably dangerous enough to prod his poor survival instincts.
“Where do you think you’re going?” Mark was already teleported away when the voice reached his ears but the sound followed them through space.
“To show my respects, I didn’t bother you even though I started the ritual a few hours ago.” To their shock, Democlus ‘grabbed’ her spatial tunnel and followed along. Mark had a slightly better understanding of space magic due to being exposed to her training. She read books in an unknown language but didn’t hide it from him. As a self-proclaimed expert, he already deciphered common words and could probably have learnt them if it was his focus of study.
“Good. Continue showing respect, we’ll get going now.” Kong Jing glanced at the Dwarf’s gauntlets. Mark got pulled along through some other methods, there was no ‘tunnel’ for the Shield King to follow.
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“Unfortunately, the city’s spatial lockdown has been running since the ritual started. I’ll have you two stay. Because of you, the numbers have hit six hundred and two. They wanted to hunt you down but I can’t have them dying on me so I killed two.” The short Dwarf jumped up and physically chased them.
‘How far did we traverse? Is his perception and jumping power just too high or is the spatial lockdown at work? Is there even a lockdown?’ Mark’s mind was working overtime. They remained on the ground so he couldn’t tell how far they were teleported.
“It’s none of my business that you were too hasty. If you were so respectful you would have invited us out before your distasteful ritual.” Kong Jing didn’t stop teleporting them. It allowed Mark to see the pathetic distance they travelled as the tiny Dwarf was still within sight in the sky. Another one capable of flight? He had to develop a rune for flight once he got out.
“How could I leave a unique individual such as you out of my humble ritual? A pity the other two special kids left but fate kept them away and you here. Regardless, I’m not interested in any further conversations with dying people.” Democlus equipped the shield that had stayed on his back and rammed his fist onto it. A strong suction force yanked at them. Sharp winds started to tear the surroundings including the buildings and tough ground.
Mark already got his enhancements going strong and grounded himself with his spear but he was helplessly pulled off the ground towards the afloat Dwarf. ‘What in the world? This Dwarf is a wind mage!?’
The elemental affinities of different races were common knowledge but Mark seemed to have forgotten that he was facing a King, someone who had his affinities strengthened 4 times from an Unclassed state. Kong Jing found a way to save his sorry figure and put them inside an unknown building. He left many building doors open in case of some dangers he had while fighting. It saved him time from opening doors to hide inside and also made it much easier for the space mage to teleport into.
“What did you see? The rest of the people? We should get closer to them. He’s trying not to kill us. We can use this to our advantage.”
“A good point, I could’ve threatened to kill someone so that his numbers don’t match anymore.”
“Then?”
“All of them are already staked to the gravestone and crystallised into some blackish purple gem. I’m not even sure if they’re alive but it doesn’t change that neither of us can get close to the gravestone yet. That shorty even left a spot at the top for me.”
A wave of distress washed over him. Despite their collective runic research and his current counter of topaz mana, they weren’t able to get close enough to touch the humongous gravestone.
“Haha, no special spot for me huh?” He joked around to relieve his tension. Kong Jing’s response had been to push him to the ground as the roof over their head was gone. His sight changed again as he was teleported away yet again. Mark came to a decision at once.
“Master Jing, just threaten to kill me. If it's you, I doubt he can stop you that quickly so he’ll believe the threat.”
“Tch… even you’re looking down on me now huh? Do you think I haven’t been disgraced enough for letting someone steal my little brother away right under my nose? You think I haven’t been shamed enough as a space mage to let us be trapped when we first got here?” There was so much derision gushing out of her tone that Mark was left speechless.
“Crush this, you’ll be sent to your house in Plainston.” Kong Jing placed a transparent pebble in his hands.
“I ca-” Mark’s voice was killed by sheer force of overflowing essence, unlike any monster he’d faced.
“Shut up.” He might not be able to see her face or eyes but he could tell she was seething in anger. She took a deep breath to calm down.
“Whatever the case, he’ll not have the numbers he wants anymore. I obviously have more than one of these. You’re just in the way.” She opened her palms to show dozens of the same transparent pebbles and clenched her fist tightly, they weren’t in her grasp and neither did broken shards fall.
“It's time to reeducate these fools just who the hell they're messing with.” Mark couldn’t help but notice that her mask didn’t have a single shade of white as it transformed into a boundless black colour.
“...Take ca-” Mark barely had time to glance down to see that she used space magic to move his fist to crush the pebble. His head shot back up but he only saw his still and quiet workshop. It took a full minute before he regained control over his body and the first thing he managed to do was gulp.
‘What should I do!? She sounds confident but Democlus doesn’t appear to be someone who chose to evolve because of a limited lifespan. He has got to be strong even amongst King Classed individuals and Master Jing isn’t even a fighter!’ Mark paced around the workshop. Dashing back to Bubble Hills and going underground will take a long time but he would be able to make it back there within a day if the route was still open. As long as he had his current upgraded equipment and runes. But what’s the point? He was truly in her way and so weak that the Dwarf couldn’t be bothered to address him.
‘That’s right, I should call Ebony or Scarlet first.’ Mark hurried and activated the mana ore in his Myriad Bracelet to flow to his callstone but he quickly realised that the mental link wasn’t connecting.
‘Oh right, they said that callstones weren’t working well in this region due to a war and the rampant essence in the atmosphere.’
“ELL!” He smashed his table with a single palm. He hadn’t turned off his enhancement but he kept the most important stuff and nothing flammable was in his reach so he didn’t cause a fire.
“Wait, war? Previously they said it was getting worse but that was news from at least 2 months ago.” Mark ran out and check that the city was still in one piece. Other than fewer people on the streets he didn’t sense anything amiss as the city folk went about their day as usual. He dashed through the street and onto the high-speed road on the way to the Quest Hall to get more information. Only remembering to turn his armour runic enhancement off before entering one of the largest buildings in any town or city.
For this backwater city, someone of his level wasn’t common to see even after its expansion and the crowd Ordina brought. Not to mention the heat and steam wafting off him as he stomped into the Quest Hall, he definitely attracted some attention.
“Give me the latest news on the war.” His impatience was unlike him and he frightened the lady clerk. She clambered for some documents and rambled on about clearly ‘beautified’ reports that were news for the public.
“Are there any noteworthy freelancers that volunteered, maybe Fifth and Fourth Tide?”
“Emm, the Frost Elves have sent a party of five to support Fifth Tide and played a great part.” She hemmed and hawed.
“I asked for notable freelancers!” The clerk ran off after apologising for not keeping up with the news on the walls. With the tears running down her cheeks, he realised he came on too strong and that he was emitting a lot of heat. The lady was just a level 35 Clerk and was probably very new on the job. He tried his best to calm down but he was on a timer.
“Please send my apologies to your young colleague, I didn’t mean to scare her,” Mark told the man that took over the lady clerk.
“...That’s alright but please restrain your overflowing essence as much as possible within the premises. Let’s see, freelancers…many of them abandoned the wall the moment the battle turned to a melee. For Fifth Tide, the most notable person still remaining goes by Rimestone or Bringer of Winter and Infernal Death who’s also called Red Reaper, Troll Butcher, Fiery Slaughterer. They have a few other names and titles that the freelancers brought back but these are the most famous ones. We are unable to tell you more as they have the city on a tight lockdown. They only accept supplies and reinforcements.” The male clerk looked up from his documents to find that Mark was on the way out already.
“Thanks!” He stopped his charge out of the building to scribble a letter for his parents and made use of the delivery system to send some mana ores to them. He could have went to the imperial bank but that would've taken too much time. After which, he started dashing towards Fifth Tide. There wasn’t any carriage that could go faster than him and no one would drive him to Fifth Tide anyway.
‘My enhancement can last but not my physical endurance, I wonder if I can buy a stamina consumption reduction technique from the black market. I hope it’s still on sale. Nono, I should hope that I have the talent to learn it. How would those skills work anyway? Conversion of mana to stamina? No, stamina alone doesn’t re-energise the body. I need a skill that reduces the rate that the body tires. Hell, I’ll just develop a potion to relieve muscle aches and mana strain, yeah that should be my priority. It would be pointless if I can’t withstand my own mana’s enhancement.’
Mark held his spear firmly as he dashed, his guard was at an all-time high. He had read a bit on history, Fifth and Fourth Tide rarely saw battle in the past. It was due to the limited manpower the Trolls usually had as they made the past invasion sort of a challenge amongst tribes to see who did the greatest damage to the strongest parts of the Empire. Hence, they didn’t really care for countryside towns and cities. The previous war over 80 years ago changed the entire way that wars had been fought due to the rise of the Barrier King, his wife and Emperor Oplot.
With every Tide having strong barriers, there were barely any Trolls that made it to the mainland to wreak havoc and destroy towns. After decades, every single town has a strong barrier that could sustain itself with the overflowing mana of its inhabitants. The Empire took tax in terms of absorbing this mana but people weren’t that dumb and wore Myriad Bracelets all the time so they changed the tax method to the exchanging of filled and empty mana ores. The amount they got from people who forgot to change their fully charged ores wasn't much but it accumulated over time.
Ordinary citizens still aren’t capable of matching a Troll but the Empire wasn’t nearly as helpless as it used to be. At the very least, the daily operations of a nearby city didn’t appear to be affected by the ongoing war.
‘What kind of materials are there for a potion that can energise the body… this mana ore is made by my own mana, what about stamina? I know, I’ll get those prisoners' cuffs and stamina ores. Maybe I can boil it down into a potion. What are those made of anyway?’ Mark continued to come up with ideas as he surveyed the area.
Fifth Tide’s barrier was visible but there was an entrance that allowed for a long line of carriages with supplies through. There was some clearance check but he just had to say that he was a volunteer for ranged support. The guards were level 120, young. They were probably given this duty since they had no part to play on the front lines. They were originally excited when they saw him and his weapon of choice but they got disappointed when he said he was here as ranged support.
‘Is the situation so bad?’