10.12.5537.
Ebony sipped on his warm cup of tea. He didn’t silence the explosion of noise and yells as it was detrimental if he didn’t get the necessary information being tossed around. Roughly 4 tiresome but repetitive months had passed as a part-time artillery mage. Tea time wasn’t included in the meals provided but he rarely skipped out. Ning Xin was practically an army chef and they mostly followed the diet with the exception of the current tea time. He called up his status as a habit.
Name: Ebony Rime
Core Skill:
Everlasting Tranquillity Lvl 463 (Ⅲ)
Icy Weighted Quiver Domain Lvl 344 (Ⅱ)
Class: Serene Blade of Blistering Frost - Lvl 300
Class Skills:
Treading Stride Lvl 398 (Ⅱ)
Ice Mana Command Lvl 420
Frostblaze Augmentation Lvl 414 (Ⅱ)
Blazing Flow Greatsword Mastery Lvl 388 (Ⅰ)
Frostblaze Cladding Lvl 402 (Ⅱ)
Frost Edge Lvl 411 (Ⅱ)
Ceaseless Onslaught Lvl 388 (Ⅱ)
Imperishable Frost Scales Lvl 420 (Ⅱ)
Serene Swordsman of Frost Conditioning Lvl 257 (Ⅱ)
Waning Presence Lvl 376 (Ⅱ)
Glacial Model Lvl 396 (Ⅱ)
Blazing Deep Freeze Petals Lvl 333 (Ⅱ)
Stalactite Drop Lvl 122 (Ⅲ)
Frigid Refraction Lvl 59 (Ⅱ)
Empty Skill Slot
Sub-Class: Weighted Will Lvl 300
Sub-Class Skills:
Battle Song Lvl 285 (Ⅰ)
Sheer Mana Vibration Lvl 389 (Ⅱ)
Gravity Mana Control Lvl 401
Chaotic Repulsive Membrane Lvl 380 (Ⅱ)
Sonic Intrusion Lvl 389 (Ⅱ)
Firm Path Lvl 400 (Ⅱ)
Gravity Vortex Lvl 258(Ⅱ)
Tremor Stomp Lvl 42 (Ⅱ)
Empty Skill Slot
Empty Skill Slot
Profession: Runic Mana Maven - Lvl 300
Profession Skills:
Inscripted Mana Moulding Lvl 411 (Ⅱ)
Stock Mana Compressive Chassis Lvl 422 (Ⅱ)
Stalwart Endowment Lvl 396 (Ⅱ)
Potent Mana Overdraft Lvl 299 (Ⅱ)
Empty Skill Slot
Health: 5973/7000
Stamina: 2851/4350
Mana: 23/44220
Unallocated stat points: 0
Strength: 650 [708]
Vitality: 700
Constitution: 1000 [12580]
Endurance: 400 [435]
Agility: 800 [871]
Intelligence: 1326 [1444]
Wisdom: 2030 [2211]
Perception: 350 [4331]
Generic Skills:
Identify Lvl 17 (Ⅰ)
Immense Cold Resistance Lvl 138 (Ⅲ)
Running Lvl 71 (Ⅰ)
Mental Mapping Lvl 55 (Ⅰ)
Kicking Mastery Lvl 130 (Ⅰ)
English Lvl 8
Elcrian Lvl 10
Calculated Hunch Lvl 98 (Ⅱ)
Dish Washing Lvl 56 (Ⅰ)
Sustained Optimum Condition Lvl 132 (Ⅱ)
Tracking Lvl 42 (Ⅰ)
Game Processing Lvl 40 (Ⅰ)
Immense Heat Resistance Lvl 177 (Ⅲ)
Sheer Divination Resistance Lvl 12 (Ⅱ)
Gardening Lvl 45 (Ⅰ)
Cooking Lvl 58 (Ⅰ)
Integrated Trance Speed Reading Lvl 60 (Ⅱ)
Korun Lvl 47
Slumber Survival Instinct Lvl 49 (Ⅱ)
Immense Hunger Resistance Lvl 42 (Ⅲ)
Immense Exhaustion Resistance Lvl 93 (Ⅲ)
Lightning Resistance Lvl 48 (Ⅰ)
Sheer Blood Resistance Lvl 71 (Ⅱ)
Wind Resistance Lvl 45 (Ⅰ)
Poison Resistance 20 (Ⅰ)
Preservation Bubble Lvl 50 (Ⅰ)
Sustenance Regulation Lvl 77 (Ⅱ)
Lightning Mana Manipulation Lvl 29
Ebony mentally assigned skill tiers in his status but he didn’t know if languages were tiered. As for ‘control’ or manipulation type he wasn’t sure if he should take ‘control’ as tier 1 like the Imperials. He should, seeing how ‘Control’ only gave a 1.0% increase per level. During the past months, he finally understood how Gen classified his old shield spell. The gap between tier 2 and 3 was far larger than he imagined. It was quite a waste that he didn’t spend more time refining his skills in the past and just trained to level.
There was so much potential for most of his skills that he never tapped into. The few skill evolutions weren’t disappointing in any way and skill levels weren’t all that he gained. Most of his skills got refined multiple times. First of all, his Core Skills were truly underdeveloped.
Everlasting Tranquillity - Achieving a state of everlasting tranquillity, breaking your state of mind is extremely difficult regardless of consciousness, increasing Mana and Stamina regeneration rate by 100% + 5.0% per level, Perception by 80% + 2.5% per level. Greatly increased pain resistance.
There wasn’t a base increase of 100% and 80% respectively in the past and Perception’s plus 1.0% had increased to 2.5%. He believed he had to push it to 5.0% per level before it could go further. It only recently got refined as he started to wake up and realised that he was indeed dreaming while he slept. It was fascinating, he never knew what it was like to dream till recent times.
The best part was that according to Ning Xin, his ‘aura’ was so calming it was as if he was exuding the effects of a calming pearl. Although the skill description didn’t say anything about that, it might have a mutation in future. Staying near him and getting regarded as an ally by his Will was enough to give one an increased mana regeneration.
Icy Weighted Quiver Domain - Summon, Conjure, Will your personal domain into existence. Flood condensed ice mana into the range of your domain with 380% + 2.5% Intelligence that actively protects you. Gravity is increased by 350% + 2.5% of your Intelligence. Flooded mana domain will vibrate violently around any body of motion, vibration frequency and strength increase by 300% + 2.5% per level.
Consumes 58,000MP/Min
Classification: Ice Magic, Gravity Magic & Sound Magic
Base increase of ice magic went from 350% to 380%, gravity from 300% to 350% and sound from 250% to 300%. As expected, he didn’t really do well or even bother about making his domain more mana efficient. He just had to manually dial down on effects he didn’t require to conserve mana.
Treading Stride should’ve evolved or mutated based on his newfound footwork and speed. His movement speed did not correlate to his stats or skill levels at all. He was very confident that it was the skill with the greatest improvement.
Treading Stride (Passive) - Unhindered by uneven terrain, move across the lands with speed, grace and stability. Treading Stride allows one to travel through most terrains with more ease, increasing in grace and stability in movement with each level. Movement speed increases by 250% + 2.5% per level.
He bet that few would have a tier 2 skill with a 250% base increase, that was 100 levels worth of a tier 2 skill! It was practically his most refined skill if one didn’t count his Core Skill that had benefits.
Ice Mana Control got a 120% base increase after multiple refinements and even evolved. It simply made casting any type of ice magic easier, faster and even slightly more powerful. He could never tell when it was low tier and level but it was more clear that all ice magics would be limited in some fashion by the upper limit of the manipulation skill.
Ice Mana Command - Ability to move and shape Ice Elemental Mana at will using mana. Ability to control Ice Mana increases by 120 + 2.5% per level.
Classification: Ice magic
Frostblaze Augmentation - Combusting mana in your mana chassis that had been directly conjured into Ice mana increases your Constitution by 150% + 2.5% of Intelligence, Strength and Endurance by 120% + 2.5% of Intelligence. Agility is increased by 30% + 2.5% of Intelligence. Damage from heat based attacks are increased by 20%.
Consumes 4200 MP/Min.
Classification: Ice Magic - Body Enhancement Magic
There was a small increase of each base stat buff and a slight drop in mana consumption from 4500 MP/Min to 4200MP/Min. Nothing drastic but it was only because he had been standing atop the wall and didn’t go into close combat till half a month back when the Trolls advanced to the point that the army went to meet them in close combat. It didn’t actually level up that much and was already around the same level for many months. The same applied to most of his close combat skills. Hence, his close combat skills didn’t receive many refinements if any at all.
The biggest flaw was that rather the Augmentation would burn his blood. If he bled with compressed Augmentation, his blood will be blue. Bleeding was never a problem since his wounds freezes but he made a mistake thinking that Constitution was the only physical stat that toughened the body. If his stats weren’t balanced, something would break down no matter how high his Constitution got. The increase in Intelligence, compression and enhancement skill level had given him more data and information to work with.
Frostblaze Cladding’s base Intelligence effect increased from 150% to 200% but he was more talented with defence and Imperishable Frost Scales’ base Intelligence effect increased from 150% to 250%. Ice Sword finally evolved. It was now Frost Edge, more versatile as making just sword-shaped projectiles wasn’t ideal. It was a simple upgrade but it worked and the mana consumption was the same as its tier 1 version which was great for barrages.
Frost Edge - Apply a sharp and durable coating of ice over an object or form any bladed projectile, dealing 180% + 2.5% Intelligence.
Consumes MP
Classification: Ice Magic
Conditioning truly wasn’t easy to improve as they were very sure their training methods were far harsher than the Knights but it remained as a tier 2 skill. He did get a single refinement that increased his stats by 2.5% and that was 100 levels worth of 0.025% increases.
Blazing Deep Freeze Petals - Highly condensed flames of frost take upon an increasingly solid form of plum petals. Embers and residues of all your freezing flames that are packed into petals have an effect of 200% + 2.5% Intelligence. Petals of flames are 50% + 2.5% finer, facilitating the penetration through physical matter.
Consumes MP
Classification: Ice Magic
He overused the spell so much that it had better improved the way he intended. The base Intelligence effect of 80% to 200% and 15% to 50% of ‘fineness’. This spell wasn’t used against the Trolls, it would interrupt the artillery mages. The petals had a glaring weakness of being easy to be blown away as well. It worked very well with wind magic and even his gravity magic helped. The spell’s main target had been the corrosion cloud right above the battlefield and a small portion above the city. In close range, it was even better since all his flame wisps would naturally converge into petals. His domain also adopted these petals to pop up and remained stationary instead.
‘Icicle Drop’ finally became a skill and it wasn’t what he expected.
Stalactite Drop - Conjured ice spells have 200% + 5.0% falling momentum when used in conjunction with gravity magic. Ice spell landings’ ability to slow down the release of momentum on impact increases by 100% + 5.0% per level.
Consumes MP
Classification: Ice Magic
There was no direct increase in spell power based on Intelligence. It was more of pure magic rather than ice magic. He didn’t even understand how the skill was classified as ice magic other than the fact that it only applied to ice…never mind. It was higher tiered than he had imagined the spell to be but it only augmented all his ice spells instead of an actual spell. When used with gravity magic it had imposing power and when stored mana vibrations were added in, the slowing down of momentum release only further increased the quakes caused when he used ‘Icicle Drop’ as the momentum gained while falling can be used to send his mana vibrations even further and more widespread. With a bit of practice, it was possible to adjust the direction of the vibrations with his Will.
His latest Class skill, Frigid Refraction had been an idea he got by accident. The Shamans summoned a water mirror that reflected Radiant Envoy’s beam of light at him. The beam destroyed the water mirror with ease but the light was already reflected in Ebony’s direction. The light beam had already weakened a lot so he didn’t really get injured even though he couldn’t dodge or even defend himself in time. He noticed that the light beam should have missed him by a margin but it curved towards him. The cold temperatures around him must have caused the light to bend.
With that in mind, he thought that he might as well try to control the angle of reflections. He could use scales or even flames when he augmented himself to manipulate the angle to which light refracted. It hadn’t been easy because he could control ice directly but not cold. The thickness of ice mana in the scales over his robe can affect it. The easiest method was to conjure a helmet along with his scaled robe and adjust the ice mana density and angle respectively.
Frigid Refraction - Adjusting ice and its cold temperatures to refract light, accuracy depends on Intelligence and Perception. Precision and accuracy of refracted and reflected light increases by 25% + 2.5% of Intelligence.
Consumes 600MP/Min
Classification: Ice Magic
It didn’t make him invisible but it did make it such that he would be slightly illusory. He could be standing still and his figure was about a few centimetres away from his actual spot. The problem was that it was far too difficult to control where his fake figure would be and if he was on the move all his ‘calculations’ would go awry and the skill was impossible to use properly. His other Class skills hadn’t had the chance to shine even considering the frequent and routine training with Ning Xin.
Battle Song lost effect. It was as if he forgot how to cast the spell, the vibrations of music didn’t give him half as much of a buff as it used to.
Mana Vibration which was the manipulation type skill for sound magic evolved into Sheer Mana Vibration as he was able to bring out far more power and frequency with sound magic. The weird thing was the ‘Sheer’ usually correlates to a tier 2 resistance but the skill only gives a ‘+1.0%’ as with other manipulation-type skills.
You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.
Chaotic Repulsive Membrane’s base Intelligence effect increased from 120% to 200%, it refined twice against Ning Xin’s gradual increase in spell use frequency. This spell was refined most times since he created the spell years ago. His increase in control over gravity mana had clearly made it easier to adjust the spell but he was not sure how to make the spell any better at the moment.
Guided Path had been so useful and underdeveloped that he didn’t even have to put dedicated effort to improve due to his constant heavy experimentation. It was no longer a link of gravity mana between two entities but a stream of gravity mana between points in space. It was thanks to his increased control and familiarity with gravity mana. It did come with a greater mana consumption but it wasn’t a problem.
Firm Path - Manipulate gravity to assist your movements, a stream of gravity mana is created between two or more points in space to propel or repel matter at 200% + 2.5% Intelligence.
Consumes 500MP/Min
Classification: Gravity Magic
The bomb creation with Ning Xin was the reason for the improvement of Imperishable Frost Scales’ resistance to collapsing inwards due to his new spell, Gravity Vortex which was self-explanatory.
Gravity Vortex - Completely separate an entity’s gravity mana away from its body of mass. Separated gravity mana is guided into a vortex and flow is increased in the strength of pull by 100% + 2.5% of Intelligence per level.
Consumes MP
Classification: Gravity Magic
A single maximum strength bomb could take all his mana so he wasn’t sure how much of it was consumed by Gravity Vortex and how much by compressing the shell of the bomb or adding the other effects such as imbuing Will to make the broken pieces burn.
Tremor Stomp - Infuse mana into a stomp that can be directed to penetrate into or spread apart within the target. Mana will embed itself upon contact into a stationary position and violently vibrate against each other. Mana embedding increases in strength by 150% + 2.5% Intelligence. Strength and speed of vibrations increased by 100% + 2.5% per level.
Tremor Stomp was his latest skill which was honestly pretty horrifying for his opponents. The embedding simply meant it was far harder for his opponents to remove his mana through whatever means they had. The Trolls used Vitality to shake off a lot of his magic but this spell was showing good effects even with its low level. He didn’t have to ‘stomp’ on his target, his mana could travel through the ground and even the air if he dedicated mental effort to the attack.
Ebony would admit that they underestimated the Trolls by more than just a little. They were very close to the barriers and forced the Empire to go into close combat. Together with Ning Xin, they had built enough of a reputation that nobody would be dumb enough to prevent them from joining the battle. There was a new group of militia but no one of Commander Wil’s fame to take the lead.
To summarise the situation, they were losing pretty badly.
In the past months, he returned to Arcta with Ning Xin once. The village was quiet as if they were completely unaffected. Koawe was unreachable and no reinforcements came after so long but only he was surprised. General Impes and the other Frost Elves seemingly expected Koawe to take a long time.
Village chief Orren and his party joined the artillery mages as well. As expected, they might not be great fighters but as spell casters, they had a presence greater than that of the Radiance Envoy. In terms of spell variety or power, they weren’t even close to the light magic user but their staying power easily rivalled Ebony. It was quite shocking to him that every single one of them could replicate his feat of constant spell-casting for days on end.
Although they may or may not be mana meisters like him, it was clear that they had mana capacity skills within their Class. Their snow magic actually showed a much better result than ice magic so he wasn’t able to skim much from them. Gauging from his own improvements, he guessed that they mostly had extremely refined tier 2 skills together with a couple of tier 3 skills. He had the upper hand in terms of spell power due to his insane mana compression but they were not too far behind. With his Fortification at work, he didn’t need a brain to guess that these Frost Elves had tier 3 mana compression of some kind or perhaps it was just their racial trait and naturally dense and compressible mana. They didn’t have to be a mana meister to get mana-related Fortifications either. That, or their skill level and refinement was very high.
If they were to battle, the Frost Elves wouldn’t stand a chance but he could see how they were considered to be the dominant mages compared to other races on Elcra.
His opinion about the higher-ranked military Nobles was that they probably had a bunch of tier 3 skills with slightly more tier 2 ones. The biggest reason he would defeat them with ease was compressed augmentation. To begin with, just his leaking mana would be enough to give most of them a reason not to fight.
Inscripted Mana Moulding refined to a complete tier 2 and it strengthened Stalwart Endowment along with all the runic moulding he put on his Glacial Models and ice scales. He still wasn’t able to copy Mark and use flames to form a stable rune but he was getting closer every day.
Inscripted Mana Moulding - Mould raw mana with or without any physical materials with mana manipulation. Weaving runic endeavours into or on your creations with increasing efficiency and accuracy. Increases familiarity with repeated mana pathways and their effectiveness by 120% + 2.5% per level. Increases fine control over mana by 100% + 2.5% per level.
He didn’t have as much time with Stock Mana Compressive Chassis but he still managed to increase the base limit of 30% to 100%. It gave his Constitution an 11.55 times multiplier atop the Conditioning effect but the value was not reliable due to his Fortification for mana density and compressibility. It would drop drastically as his mana pool dipped as well.
Stalwart Endowment didn’t get any refinements but it got stronger when Inscripted Mana Moulding got improved.
Before he ended his shifts as a spell caster he would overdraft his mana and he focused on trying to make his chassis recover faster so, the amount that he can draw out only increased from 25% to 50% but the recovery speed increased by a base of 100%.
Potent Mana Overdraft - Instantly draw out up to 50% + 0.25% of your mana pool’s capacity by partially crushing your mana chassis with your Will. Mana Chassis mends from overdraft 100% + 2.5% faster at every level.
The compact and harsh training got his resistance going up, including Exhaustion and Blood Resistances evolutions. An unexpected upgrade was Mental Arithmetic to Calculated Hunch.
Calculated Hunch - Ability to perform arithmetic operations mentally. Complexity of arithmetics, speed and accuracy increases by 50% + 2.5% with Intelligence and skill level. Ability to accurately gauge the force of a movement, impact or attack through sheer instinct increases by 80% + 2.5% per level.
It might have been that he was used to calculating how much damage an attack would cause and the observation of numerous spells of different tiers and levels. It might have evolved due to the tests with Frigid Refraction. Since he doesn’t exactly ‘calculate’ but guess, it was more of an estimation that now became pretty accurate. It was similar to Ning Xin’s Intuition.
Sustained Optimum Condition was refined for an additional base 80%. It would probably see more improvement as the battle with the Trolls had devolved to a close combat.
Just like how Ning Xin had trouble with mana manipulation, Ebony had trouble with life force manipulation. He only just got a vague sense of it after his evolution to Master while she had been controlling it since she was a Journeyman. Getting more and more familiar with the odd energy only made it easier to work out the kinks and improve Preservation Bubble.
Preservation Bubble - Extension of your vitality a small distance outside your body to contain additional mana. Stability of vitality bubble is increased by 120% + 1.0% per level. Size of mana pool is increased by 50% + 1.0% per level.
Now, it was stable enough that he wouldn’t lose the mana contained in the extension of life force just because his control slipped. He wanted a mana capacity skill for his last Profession Skill slot pretty badly but Ning Xin’s skill just didn’t click to him and even though the Frost Elves gave him tips and talked about their own, nothing he tried worked yet. All their methods only got him to compress his mana even more rather than expand his capacity.
Sustenance Regulation was a skill that he learnt from Ning Xin.
Sustenance Regulation (Passive) - Physiologically regulates the distribution of sustenance to the body. Sustenance is directed to the desired region 50% + 2.5% faster and more accurately. Muscles and fat can store a static 10% more energy while retaining the same mass and density.
He had to move life force around and he wasn’t as proficient with it compared to her so he wasn’t able to get it as refined as she did. She also only got the skill after she evolved because it wasn’t easy but she had the tier 3 version in written form as well. It would require them to manipulate life force, stamina and mana but neither of them can manipulate stamina yet.
Ebony suspected that the skill can help reduce the duration that a body part was weakened if he had to regenerate it. His bodily regeneration was due to his mana chassis regenerating and the part regenerated would be in a heavily weakened state. Something the Trolls didn’t have. If he could direct energy or life force to it, he may be able to speed up his recovery.
That wasn’t even the best part. Sustained Optimum Condition was far from sufficient against Ning Xin nowadays. Extended spars meant that he would have no oxygen for a long time. His main use for Sustenance Regulation was that he could expel undesired gas from his body with more ease. He would store extremely compressed icy balls of air in his lungs and release compressed gas within them whenever he needed air. He originally believed that his high Constitution can handle nitrogen narcosis and other compressed gases to some extent but he forgot how good he was at compression. His new skill actually helped him expel unnecessary gases more effectively. He made it a habit to refresh his storage of air daily.
Finally, lightning manipulation. He had no spell for it but he was just getting used to it and wasn’t exactly capable of moving the sparse lightning mana in the surroundings to form a decent spell. Especially when there were a few strong users of lightning magic that pulled away most of the atmospheric lightning mana.
Lightning Mana Manipulation - Ability to move and shape Lightning Elemental Mana at will using mana. Ability to manipulate Lightning Mana increases slightly per level.
Classification: Lightning Magic
‘Ting’ ‘Consumed fire infused rossal tea. Strength and Vitality increased by 0.8% for approximately 1 hour.’
“The tea is even better today,” Ebony commented on Ning Xin’s new tea brewing. It extended to her cooking skills too and she was the only chef present that cooked food with buffs. As a self-created skill, it had mild effects. There were rumours that some restaurants in Tidal had chefs that provided food buffs that lasted an entire day and were more potent.
“Mmm, any negative effects today?” Her first successes usually came with debuffs as well. Instead of working on methods to increase the buffs or duration she was erasing the fact that there were debuffs.
“No, and can you pull your vitality back?” The weight on his shoulders was making him uncomfortable during tea time. Some months back, Ning Xin was irritated at her slow mana recovery which made her time as an artillery mage to be very short. Then she witnessed something that blew her mind. The shamans gathered the Troll’s Vitality and made a barrier of life force. They showed off more than just barriers and had various spells that use life force instead of mana. Her blood compression had been going well and she could even conjure her own blood now. She could force out and produce vitality with her Core Skill at the cost of stamina and pushing her heart but that only pushed her Heart-related passive Class Skill.
“If you put away your liquid mana then, sure.” She countered while refilling his cup.
“Please don’t push this vitality domain idea too far, other than density I don’t think you should consume all your life force in such a way. You need to get your regeneration to increase first.” He would be worried even if her HP regeneration multiplied by a factor of ten. Her Core Skill was dangerous enough as it was, consuming life force was not unlike consuming lifespan. He didn’t know enough but even if there wasn’t a direct relation between life force and lifespan she told him that it probably decreased her life span.
“Hehe, Fortified Heart mutated into Transmutative Heart. I can convert stamina and mana into vitality with just a beat of my heart.” The red haired lady cheekily replied.
“...Mana too?” He knew that she went heavy on experimentation. Fortified Heart had already been refined before her mutation and gave her a base Vitality regeneration increase of a static 10%. If she continued to find a way to increase this base and fortify her Vitality regeneration or capacity it would only do her good. So far, it proved to be a great choice as her second Core Skill.
“Actually, sustenance too. My digestion rate has been getting faster and faster, so turning solid food into stamina barely takes fifteen minutes. I can speed up the absorption rate with a bit of life force and blood manipulation. I can absorb a nutrient-heavy soup stock as a potion and I can turn that into life force within two to three minutes currently.”
“All natural.”
“Of course, it's food.”
“Can you turn life force back to mana or stamina?”
“I never tried to but I don’t think so..mmm, yeah, I can’t.”
She went silent for half a second and was confident that it was a one-way conversion. He was internally glad that she couldn’t sacrifice health for some energy because if she could, she would definitely squeeze out every drop of power she could. To her, life force was her main power source so it actually didn’t change the situation much.
Shamanic magic was interesting and also annoying to opponents. The reason the Trolls had such great numbers and even non-fighters not too far from their front lines was that those non-fighters were providing their life force. He learned that some of these Shamans offered life force to spirits for different kinds of effects. As for sensing the existence of spirits? He could feel their presence only if they were close but nothing he did could interact with them, not magic and definitely not physical touch. They weren’t able to touch spirits so getting rid of them by attacking wasn’t an option.
Ning Xin could ‘feel’ their existence but it was more vague than his senses and was probably just her Intuition at work.
The good thing was that these spirits wouldn’t work if they didn’t get paid. If they were to launch an attack they were easy to spot and not any different from spotting a mage’s spell. Navin’s barrier had many layers and a good portion of them were able to be fully deployed without blocking any physical or magical attacks. These were able to stop ‘enemy’ spirits from entering and leaving as they please, a sort of spiritual barrier.
As there were reported to be very few spirits under the Troll’s employ, it wasn’t the main use of Shamanic magic.
‘Too bad we haven’t fought any of them yet.’ Half a month ago, the Empire set up another forward base to reduce taxation on the barrier. In the end, relying on the barrier was just waiting for it to be destroyed and most of their forces consisted of Warriors and Knights.
The two of them were part of a small group of people with authority like that of a special unit. They only needed permission from a General if they wanted to do something odd. Otherwise, they were free to move around the battlefield as long as they didn’t disrupt the Knights’ coordinated attacks. This was quite the trust that the higher-ups put in them. However, there were now 4 Minor Generals present and not all of them agreed with General Impes’s decision. The main reason had been past examples of people with good escaping abilities that bit off more than they could chew, ran back into allied lines to save themselves at the cost of Imperial soldiers or even lost more ground.
The one at the top of the command chain wasn’t General Impes but an older man that came from Second Tide just 3 days ago. The ‘special unit’ had a few of the militia that they separated from but came back to Fifth Tide. Old man Wil came back and took command of his Academy’s students and graduates so he was part of an actual unit of the Empire. The one leading them was once again, Cap Dwarf. It had been nice to reunite with familiar faces. With Calculated Hunch, he was quite sure that neither of them could beat Cap Dwarf one-on-one but it was possible if they tagged teamed. The only problem was that Calculated Hunch was based on what he had seen while Ning Xin could get a better gauge without even knowing anything about a new opponent. So he might be wrong if Cap Dwarf had held back some of his capabilities.
Banly the swordsman didn’t come back, he had his arm chewed off in battle. Fourth Tide didn’t have a healer that could regenerate limbs but he didn’t lose hope and made his way to Tidal. The Life Queen could easily heal him and she should still be in the Capital city to make sure the city was running smoothly. Surprisingly, he was accompanied by Channah, the lizard woman who felt responsible for his injury. Ebony didn’t know the full story but he had enough information to make a guess. Either way, those two wouldn’t have made the cut into this new team.
Ayla and the big guy Hayec also recently rejoined them. Athena had been here months ago, she joined the shooting training as an archer on the walls. It was safe and effective training after all. Mr Kidnapper didn’t come back, Ebony would’ve wanted more than just a word with him. There were many new faces as well. The old faces all grew much more powerful than he last saw them but Athena seemed to be the only one that came close to them in terms of growth speed. The only reason that would make it hard for Athena to spar with Ning Xin was the lack of oxygen and that she had little protection against the extreme heat.
The news that Walt, the Arcane Warrior died wasn’t shocking but he gave a mental silent send-off for the man. The other piece of information that he found interesting was someone called ‘Mongrel’ that was making quite the name for himself at Fourth Tide’s militia. It had been quite some time since he saw Chris but he was glad that the man didn’t lose the ability to fight.
Ebony didn’t have any complaints but most of the unit’s members had been annoyed. He hadn’t personally seen this General but he essentially put aside freelancer reinforcements completely. He did admire the man though, in just 3 days that he took over command they actually pushed the Trolls back a little. Although he did command the other Generals to out and fight instead of taking command, results were produced. It gave the less experienced Generals the chance to fight and also for them to observe him at work.
He heard that those of captain military rank and above had leadership types skills, many even had leader type Professions. ‘General’ was also a kind of Profession apparently, and this old man could buff an entire army with just his orders. His words were a strong mental suggestion and his orders will usually take precedence over orders from other Commanders or Generals. However, the skills don’t really work that well on people that aren't subordinate to him in some form. It was truly wondrous how some skills worked.
Ebony learned a bit more about these leader-type skills and classes only to find them to be pretty impressive at a high level. The most useful ability to him was that they could increase morale at low levels while different skills can even make followers increase in power from just a morale boost. That was to say, this old General could power an entire army up with just his words. No mana or any energy cost from him required. He could draw more strength out of the individuals under him just by giving orders or speeches. The most notable drawback was that these soldiers would get tired more easily or have a harder time recovering after their adrenaline rush was over. But there were other lower rank soldiers that could give morale buffs that increase stamina recovery in camp.
‘No, it should require some form of energy. Maybe mental, like Will. or something else.’ Ebony was clear that there had to be some kind of limit. Even if he had the mana, his Will can deplete. Even if he had stamina, his body might collapse. He had a very clear understanding of his current limits.
“Open up.” Ning Xin got dressed up in a nearby changing room. She started wearing the sportswear he made. They were made to be durable, flexible and comfortable. They didn’t put their equipment on so that they could train their resistances more effectively.
One of the training barracks was occupied by them, he paid a premium daily rent of 6 Blues. It was a great source of mana for the city’s defences and they had plenty of training grounds due to the border city being a military city. He still had the fortune Kong Jing won off him and 6 Blues could be charged within hours if he couldn’t pay. This was a price that could get a decent house for a family of 4 in the Capital and they were charging him a daily rent. He let the others of his squad use the place too, there were plenty of empty rooms and beds.
The open field had a similar style and type of barriers as the ones under Quest Halls but they were a bit too weak. 500 metres squared of open field was completely encased in Imperishable Frost Scales as a makeshift arena. Part of his greatest gain was that his mana and sense could reach over 600 metres and it was still improving at a quick pace. Within 600 metres, he had absolute control over his spells.
He also learned that Glacial Model’s increased range was due to the nature of Will and not mana. A Model within his range of 600 metres can still be healed, supplied with mana or manually controlled. Once the Model left his range, his only influence on them was Will. If he didn’t have these Model’s within his line of sight, he wouldn’t know their exact situation. At best, he would know if they were fighting or taking damage. His connection with them would be cut off when they ran out of mana or were completely broken.
The training field’s icy walls decompressed from its Will-reinforced form and reformed into a platoon of 50 Glacial Models. The runes on them curved and danced, transforming into Stalwart Endowment’s arrangement. They moved and parked themselves along with the hundreds that formed up neatly outside their contained training ground.
He washed the jade tea set that she won for him as he sensed a familiar mana signature closing in on the barracks that they rented.
‘Mark? Has it been six months? His aura is stronger but not by much. He carries himself more confidently, he must have gotten more benefits than a simple increase in strength. Sister Jing isn’t with him or I can’t sense her presence.’ Ebony was confident that he was able to read a person’s state more accurately now. He didn’t think much of it before but being able to sense and identify someone else’s state of mind and emotions was useful in many ways. Interacting with many people without Everlasting Tranquility all the time really widened his perspective.
Mark ran past the open gates of the training barracks along with a young knight that was his guide. These Journeyman soldiers worked as administrative labour, messengers and even logistics depending on the needs of the city. He twitched his ears for Ebony to silence their conversation before he even got to their table.
“Scarlet! Ebony! We forgot the deadline, Democlus’s conducting an unknown ritual and he wants to use us as a sacrifice. Master Jing teleported me out but she never came out with me. Her space magic is limited even more than back then!” Mark spoke so fast that the soldier beside might not have understood even if Ebony didn’t silence the area.
‘So he would’ve let them leave anytime before, why?’ They never did understand Democlus and his odd motive but the new him started to think a bit more in terms of understanding others’ thought process.
“Is she going to be fine?” Instead of overreacting, he asked Ning Xin who didn’t react after hearing the news.
‘Sister Jing isn’t a fighter and Mr. Kidnapper was capable of escaping from her. Of course, that was due to Xin’s situation but she’s only been a Grandmaster for a short time. I don’t even know what her Profession is, is space mage her Sub-Class or maybe even Profession? Then again, she has a literal army of Armour Dolls and tons of magical items I don’t have any idea about.’ Ebony realised that he didn’t know much about this ‘sister’ of his. He looked at his two party members and wondered just how little he knew about them.
“She’s only poor at using space magic on people safely.” Ning Xin emphasised heavily on ‘safely’, something he might not have noticed in the past.
“I’ll call her.” She tapped her mask twice. Still worried after what she just said. Their mask’s callstone should have a far better connection.
“Save me a portion of dinner.”
Ebony’s sensitivity to vibrations was high enough to ‘eavesdrop’ on calls and her Mask didn’t have the ability to hide it. He even ‘heard’ the reply from underground before the voice was transmitted to Ning Xin.
“She’s fine.” Ning Xin was visibly relieved.
Ebony wanted to ask about Kong Jing but from the call, he knew she would be coming soon.
“So what do you need from us?” She switched topics and asked the nervous messenger. Mark wasn’t affected by the essence in the vicinity, he must have gotten used to it as the underground tomb had pretty high mana densities. As for Vitality, Kong Jing still tops her younger cousin by a ridiculous degree. It was a wonder how the ‘non-combatant’ had such high excess health regeneration but she usually suppresses it.
He dispersed the thin overflowing mana as much as he could but the vitality remained. Fortunately, they sent a stronger messenger, most Journeymen wouldn’t be able to remain standing within this barrack.
“Th--Miss, I’m here to extend the request for your services. The General wants to reward the soldiers for pushing the Trolls back, we received three thousand live sheep and lambs so err…the chefs need help to get them ready for tonight’s banquet.”
“Live sheep and lambs? Are they for that famous Imperial mutton and peas? I’ve always wanted that secret recipe.” Ning Xin dashed out to the main outdoor kitchen that she was very familiar with.
“That’s a lot of live animals, how did they manage to transport them?” Mark asked, he must not have been updated on the situation.
“Most of them are bred within the farms in the city, they got some willing farmers and livestock breeders to move from the 3 Great Farms.” The soldier was instantly relieved once the scary chef left.
“I see.” Mark nodded in understanding, he must be thinking about how much those farmers were getting paid for coming to a danger zone.
‘Those high level farmers and breeders are impressive. They can speed up the growth of plants and animals to the degree that the city could almost sustain millions of soldiers' food intake. I should visit the 3 Great Farms with Xin one day.’ The city already didn’t fully depend on supply intake for their increase in manpower. From his understanding, less than ten farmers and breeders came over. They took a lot of land but the city seemed to have planned for that in advance and about 40% of the land was put aside for them.
“Anything else?” Ebony asked the soldier who hadn't left.
“The next batch of metal ingots have arrived and are placed at warehouse 3.” He replied and passed on the message from his superiors.
“Mmm. I’ll get to it soon.” Ebony had been making rings for them as well. He had some trouble at first as Imperial armour got in the way due to the weird mana flow they had. It had some form of general magic resistance and gravity didn’t work well. Perhaps the function was for some dungeons that had a stronger gravitational pull. He changed the effects to one that the Knights preferred, activating the ‘Ring of Frost’ would imbue ice mana into their weapons. It was simple but effective against their regenerative foes. The only problem was that their weapons would lose durability and maybe even shatter as they battled so they didn’t dare to use it too much. They rather use the ice mana to shoot a focused blast of cold air onto the wounds they inflicted.
‘I can’t believe no one told me a crafter gets experience when items they make contributed to a kill. Even if it’s to an extremely small degree.’ He was unsure if it was common knowledge or not but the contracts or desire to have a good user made sense for the smiths and crafters.
“So, what have you discovered?” He hoped Mark would share his research materials. If not, he didn’t doubt the man still required funding.