“You don’t know how? It’s so simple…” Kong Jing stared at Ning Xin before shaking her head.

“Sister Jing, please enlighten me.” They were already isolated from the others and he soundproofed their conversation. A barrier of Imperishable Frost Scales was cast with Frigid Refraction to make lip reading harder.

“How many times did your Natural Potential increase when you were a journeyman?” The craftswoman took a cigarette out of her pocket.

“9, from potion creation,” Mark answered. Ebony didn’t have a dedicated crafting Class so he didn’t really know how Natural Potential from crafts worked. He would likely never obtain it that way. There was a good chance 9 inducements were above average for the general citizen.

“12. We got a level 250.” They cheated a little with Na’s help.

“Is that good? Well, whatever. None of you had any memories of your evolution process right?” She nudged the fire swordswoman for a fire.

Mark didn’t even know there was a process to remember. He assumed one simply reached evolution requirements, chose to evolve and woke up stronger. Ebony had very vague memories but nothing concrete and everything was done subconsciously.

“If you get 20 or you manage to slaughter a 650 creature, there’s a decent chance you will have some control over your next evolution. The more Natural Potential, the greater the degree of flexibility. It is a resource that one can spend to improve themselves. If you evolve normally like many of these silly Imperials you might not get the freedom of choice until the evolution from Grandmaster to King or even higher.” The lady smoker took a long puff after she got her light.

“Just curious but how many inducements did you get, Master?” Mark was aware of the gap in ‘common sense’ and he needed to know what is considered good.

“Uh, 7 when I was unclassed. 17 from Journeyman to Master and 27 for my previous evolution? About there.” Kong Jing put her knuckle on her mask as she tried to recall the ‘insignificant information.

“What!? What level of creature is that equivalent to?” Mark didn’t seem to know about the level gap increase but he knew that the 10 level gaps didn’t go on forever.

“For a level 300 Master, 27 inducements means killing a level 1000 creature.” Ebony calculated instantly, inwardly surprised.

“I’m not a savage brute, I got it from crafting this.” Kong Jing tapped her index finger on her temple.

“Your head?” Mark studied with the craftswoman, he must be clear on the difference between their thought process.

“Brain. After I evolved to Master, I got tired of how primitive the human brain was so I reforged it. I took my time to study and get the organic materials and started working on it when I was around level 220. Then I had to train my space magic a bit so that I could perform the craft. It took about 4 months of constant work but I levelled up all 80 or so times with that together with a bunch of Natural Potential and a mutation to my Physique.”

“I told you, she’s an anomaly even amongst the Xengs.” Ning Xin whispered.

“Hey, I heard that!”

Ning Xin already signalled him for a secret message but Kong Jing still heard her after Ebony blocked off the vibrations.

Although no details were shared, for a single reforging of the brain to give 80 levels and an equivalent of 27 inducements to her Natural Potential there was no doubt that her brain and Physique had mind-bending capabilities in a figurative manner of speech. It may just have been something extremely complicated and hence the diabolical amount of experience but no one would believe the mutations were weak.

“Anyways, you’re not exactly at a disadvantage. The Fortifications that an unclassed journeyman gets are usually quite simple. The more one evolves the weirder or more specific their Fortifications. Those that are already locked in all 3 of their maxed-out Fortifications would have to spend Natural Potential to swap 250% to 100% or vice versa. You just have to get your skill levels to the corresponding requirement and the option to buff up your Fortifications should be available. The cost should be much lower than swapping as long as you hit the requirement.”

“Does that mean if I don’t hit skill level requirements I can still get a corresponding fortification just by spending more of these…points?” Ebony picked out what he was confused about.

“Smart boy, but it’s never worth it due to the ridiculous cost. Just get every skill level you can before you evolve. Points are better spent on Physique, Fortifications, skill mutations and evolutions.”

She gave them a bit more of her knowledge when the conversation was redirected. “Why are the two of you playing here?”

“I don’t want them to invade Elcra. Good opponents speed up our growth as well.” Ebony was more worried about the small village of Arcta now that winter was over the Trolls might be more inclined to push harder.

“Take care, you two are still a bit unripe. Anyway, let’s go back down. I want to take away that gravestone.” Ning Xin grabbed Mark and didn’t take no for an answer.

“Wait, sister Jing. Can I try entering that door?” Ebony quickly stood up. He wanted to try entering the door within her basement’s library.

“Good timing, take these. Little Xin as well, I can’t believe you haven’t learnt the standardised language.” The space mage teleported away with Mark. They didn’t even get to say their farewells and he definitely didn’t get the chance to open the door within her library. He also didn’t get to ask her to look at the changes Icicle had.

Ebony looked at the books that appeared on his head, the red hair swordswoman had one on hers as well. He looked at it and flipped it open but he didn’t know what was written on them.

“This is written in Gia, the standardised language for worlds advanced enough to travel and conduct trade with each other…” Ning Xin hung her head low and explained dejectedly.

Ebony took the perfectly balanced book from her head and flipped through it as well. There were 5 books in total but none of them had any translation or notes written in them.

“I think she forgot we only have primitive brains.” Ebony joked. The written form of Gia was nothing like any other language he knew and there was no reference to use to start deciphering the language.

“Sister won’t give us the time of her day to translate something she deems simple. Elcra already has some contact with other worlds so Navin and Yvette probably know the language.” She was still depressed at the thought of having to study a whole language.

“If you know a few words I can try to start from there.” He assumed that she should at least recognise some words.

Thankfully, she did and he could start breaking it down from there. The words she knew were ‘meat, delicious, tasty, sword and faster.’ He chuckled at that and received an embarrassed pat on the back. It might be strong enough to pulverise rocks but that was just a gentle pat to them. He needed to understand the framework first but now wasn’t the time as Ning Xin snapped her head to the side.

“What did you sense?” He had a wider range of perception but her Intuition wasn’t strictly bound by range.

“You’ll feel it soon.”

“Wow, overflowing wisdom stronger than mine? That must be the reinforcement Koawe brought, oh he called yesterday.” Honestly, he had gotten very confident about his mana regeneration. Having a greater overflowing Wisdom either meant a strong group or someone that could meditate on the move as he could.

Arti, Koawe’s flying companion flew into view. Ebony was disappointed to see the middle-aged Frost Elf beside Koawe. The stranger had his eyes closed as he was carried by Arti and wasn’t meditating on the move as he imagined. He wanted to see what he could learn from a senior that meditates on the move. For the Elves who were also more attuned to mana, he couldn’t believe that no one had a similar skill. Everlasting Tranquillity was definitely not unique. Koawe noticed him and got Arti to land on the open field.

“Glad to see the two of you, doing okay so far?” The 50 bows lazing around flew to the Frost Elves and Arti. Village chief Orren and his party returned to Arcta a few weeks ago.

Now, he knew it was rude to Identify people and those with good Perception can sense it. He didn’t Identify the middle-aged-looking Frost Elf who wasn’t as tall as he expected and only around 2 metres in height. The surrounding temperatures dropped below freezing temperatures in a few minutes and he was quite sure there wasn’t any ice or snow mana around.

Having got this close, Ebony realised that the newcomer was actually sleeping and not meditating. What surprised him wasn’t that the man could sleep sitting straight on a flying bird but that ice mana was being exhaled as he breathed. The ice mana was far from natural as well, he could only imagine the various attributes the Frost Elf cultivated into his conjured ice. He was stunned as the ice mana didn’t simply dissipate. The wisps of icy mist coiled themselves and buried themselves back into the man’s body. He was certain that no manipulation was at play, likely not even Will. It might be a Fortification or some racial trait that was strengthened as part of his Physique.

Ebony fell into a trance for the first time in months.

❅❅❅

Koawe stood there with his usual smile but Ning Xin could feel that he was a bit embarrassed to get completely ignored so she quickly replied to him after sensing Ebony ‘disappear’ from her Intuition of emotions. “We’ve been doing fine. Was the trip to the other village so difficult?”

“Most elven villages are well hidden, getting there took a month but I had to wait till someone from within to get me. During that time, there were some monsters I had to run from.” Koawe delved a bit into the danger of Hoarfrost Glade.

The entire time, she was just feeling so comfortable because of the low temperatures. She wasn’t affected by the overflowing mana much, the only difference was that even her thoughts felt cold. She knew that her casting speed was affected just by staying near the unknown Frost Elf. She sneakily gathered mana under her feet a few times to find out that her cast speed was at least 10% slower than usual.

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“Ah, forgive him. He regenerates mana 10 times faster only when he sleeps.”

“Is that okay to share…” Ning Xin understood that that meant a 1000% Fortification. It was to be expected that the Frost Elf was King-ranked. Although the strong Fortification seemed a bit lacking it was actually quite useful for those with extremely high mana capacities. Midnight Shepherd needed roughly 2 weeks to reach full mana capacity. They didn’t know if the Shaman had any meditation skills but that wasn’t that important.

“He doesn’t mind. Your aura is far more…tamed.” Koawe noted.

“It shouldn’t be as uncomfortable to be around me now right?” She could contain more energy within herself and it shouldn’t be as hot to the Frost Elves. This way, Kiva might like her more.

“Right…you humans sure rush a lot. Are your skills refined enough?” Long-lived people like the Elves took things slow. Even if they had all their skills around tier 2 and 3 there was no doubt every one of them refined it to a high degree. It took time and effort so it wasn’t as if every single Elf was strong or skilled but when they compare with humans who spend more time levelling, they usually won even if they had lower skill levels. The differences were far more pronounced if they had compounding skills or a good set of skills that complement each other.

“It’s not up to par yet but I think I can reach my limit in 2 to 3 years. I’ve got the technique down, all that’s left is practice.” Her skills were slightly different from her parents but at least they left her their notes. She might not have direct guidance but she wasn’t poking around in the dark like Ebony was. Against most opponents she had come across, refinements didn’t really matter much. All they did was give a few levels worth of percentage increase and the Imperial Grandmasters who evolved with mostly tier 2 skills around 330 or 375 didn’t even come close to matching her in strength. However, these people weren’t who she wanted to compare against and every bit of strength counts.

“2 to 3 years to reach your limits? If only we had your fervour in training.” Koawe mocked.

“Your race would be more powerful if you didn’t depend on your lifespan and take things slow.” She had spoken without stopping to think and found herself acting a tad rude.

“That’s true.” Thankfully the Frost Elf wasn’t offended.

Koawe left to get a proper update on the situation from the Generals. From the looks of it, he was really quite well known amongst the high-ranking nobles or military. He brought Arti and the sleeping man along with him. Apparently, Korben, Arcta’s guardian, was going to join them soon. They must have got more people back at Arcta as guards.

‘Only one man as reinforcements, can’t wait to see an actual powerhouse fight.’ Fifth Tide’s Generals were somewhat strong and she never saw any of them fight but they were all relatively young. As knights or warriors, their impact on a large battlefield was limited. The old man currently in charge was supposedly more of a tactician than a fighter as well.

She looked at Ebony who sat down and had his eyes closed. Kneeling down, she shifted his bangs just to see his ‘sleeping’ face. Her mana sense wasn’t as strong as his but she could tell he was trying to make internal changes. Perhaps observing the unknown Frost Elf had given him inspiration. With his strong senses, he must have seen more than she ever could.

A drop of water hit her head causing her to look up to see that it was starting to rain. The rain clouds above her met the corrosion cloud and disappeared. It was quite an uncommon sight in Fifth Tide. Within minutes, the rain turned into a downpour but she sat behind Ebony with their backs against each other.

“Scarlet! Bring him up, time to get rid of the threat.” Arti flew by again. Ning Xin didn’t want to disturb Ebony but it would take a lot to actually disturb him so she simply grabbed him and leapt up explosively. She overshot as she expected Ebony to be heavy but her blood halo formed and gently glided onto Arti. She can form a pair of blood wings now but it wasn’t necessary at the moment. She found wings to be extremely easy to control and flight with them came to her more naturally than ever, as if she’d always had wings. Being able to conjure blood turned out to be a massive transformation to her overall combat style.

Contrary to what the others might assume, she wasn’t annoyed that they weren’t allowed on the frontlines when the battle devolved to close combat. She really needed the free time to work on expanding her mana capacity skills and this wasn’t possible if she was fighting all day. It was also the most time-consuming skill to train so she didn’t really expect to evolve within 2 to 3 years.

She was a bit anxious even though her speed of growth was a bit faster than she had hoped for. Thanks to the Trolls, their skill levels weren’t really lagging behind but she was worried that they wouldn't be fast enough to get the benefits that her grandma warned her about. Being unable to contact her for years only made her more nervous.

They flew past the wall, over the wastelands with a stronghold. She just didn’t expect the rainclouds to follow them. It dipped under the corrosion cloud and watered the fake lands.

“He’s stirring awake,” Koawe commented when she saw her watching the dark rain clouds.

“That’s what caused this rain?” She was surprised by Koawe’s words. ‘What a force of nature! Waking up causes a storm? What are his Fortifications?’ Of course, there was no storm but the rain only got heavier and colder.

Arti sped up and they flew over the large stronghold in a few seconds. The heavy rainstorm started to slow down but tiny beads of ice started to hail down instead. Since the Troll had advanced quite a bit, the front lines were actually quite close even after pushing them back a bit. At least, they were still within the range of the City’s defences.

“Aaaaooah” A odd yawn sounded, and the sleeping Frost Elf woke up. “Finally here, who’s in charge?”

“General Bernard Consil,” Koawe already got a name but Ning Xin never heard of it. Must be the old man who just came.

“Don’t know him, must be some young kid. Stop here. Oh, is that the new design the Empire uses?” The Frost Elf seemed pretty lax. The Shamans already noticed them up here and were preparing to attack them. They were not far from the base of the Trolls after all. The soldiers below were fighting for their lives but casualty wasn’t that high as the Trolls were losing ground.

“They’ve used this armour design during the previous war 85 to 90 years ago.” Koawe got Arti to back up a bit.

“Eh, there was a war 90 years ago?” The hail no longer landed on them and he yawned again at the news.

“The new Emperor ended mana slavery after that war,” Koawe added on.

“There’s a new Emperor!? Is he or she an actual Emperor class? Is it another Xen--woah! Hello there…” The Frost Elf that seemed out of the loop acted as if he just sensed her presence on Arti’s back.

“Hello, I’m Scarlet.” They greeted each other with a tet and Koawe introduced her and Ebony as friendlies to their race.

“You know Korben? I’m his uncle, call me Korta!” She felt that Korta was the most energetic Frost Elf excluding the children.

“OH! This is the boy you talked about. Wait, a being of mana! How cool!”

“We’re getting quite the attention up here.” Koawe smiled wider. She can feel that he was getting a bit angry for some reason.

“I forgot about that. Let’s quiet things down so that we can talk. Heheh, how dare that youngin stare at me. He looks older than my father!?” Korta exclaimed.

She looked around down at the battlefield and found the old man that was likely the General that came over from Second Tide. Bernard Consil had a head full of grey hair and even wrinkles on his face. A sign of old age that was not very common if one had got to Grandmaster when they were relatively young. Rather than look older, those that evolved fast grew physically and had a better form and looks. After a certain stage of evolution, signs of ageing were weaker. One might look young even when they were close to the end of their lifespan. Some people used this as a sign to gauge the talent or even strength of a stranger. However, that was just dumb even to her.

‘How much lifespan do I have?’ Ning Xin suddenly thought about this as Ebony’s lifespan definitely exceeded hers. She wasn’t worried at all since it would increase after she evolved. She knew that she had a shorter lifespan than the average human Master as her Core Skill burned lifespan to a small degree. It was actually just a gut feeling that she was burning lifespan. She just wasn’t sure if her Physique granted her body any extension of life. ‘Maybe I can ask sister if she has any item that can measure lifespan.’

“Winter’s not completely over, how lucky. Hey! Is that Midnight Shepherd? You're still alive! Do you remember ganging up on me 350 years ago? I’ll make you remember! Eat this!”

Ning Xin couldn’t help but compare Korta to Hector, they were quite similar. She bumped Ebony, not expecting him to wake up from his trance. He must not have fallen too deep and it made her a bit shy when she recalled staring at him earlier.

“Winter’s Breath!” The clouds that formed when he was rousing stopped hailing moments ago. Korta opened his arms wide and shouted his spell name like a certain pink-haired prince. The clouds spanning across gors turned white and dense extremely fast. They travelled to the rear of the Trolls unhindered and fell. No rain droplets or hail, the entire cloud simply fell as fast as one of her sword swings.

“Winter’s Breath!” In about a minute, clouds of the same size formed and Arti repositioned itself for the spellcaster.

“Winter’s Breath!”

“Winter’s Breath!”

“YAHAHAHA! Have another!”

Korta seemed almost manic as he repeated the same wide area spell multiple times. He didn’t even let the cloudy mist on the ground settle and wasn’t bothered if his spell hit the same area.

Ning Xin’s jaw dropped behind her mask at the humongous waste of mana, the area of effect was so huge and he was casting it like she cast a fire spear.

“Alright alright, I should stop fooling around. I can’t see anything…meh. Arti, higher!” Korta demanded the bird go deeper into Troll territory and increased their altitude.

“Block their attacks for ten minutes. Don’t you dare move, Arti.” Korta went silent and closed his eyes and focused on his next spell.

Ebony waved his hands and covered Arti’s belly with a large dome upside down. Random attacks from warriors wouldn’t even scratch it but they were now aware that there were members of the Slingarm Tribe. She saw giant birds flying towards them. It was common knowledge that Trolls had good beast tamers as well but none of them appeared on Fifth Tide’s side so far.

Ning Xin was quite excited, she stepped off Arti as a pair of wings made of dark red blood flapped open. It was attached to her back but the link between them was more than physical contact. She opened up a path with wind magic and flapped her magical wings as hard as she could.

‘I feel so free with these wings!’ The blood wings bubbled and brightened before bursting into flames and sparks. Another flap caused her acceleration to almost rival her speed on land. If she mastered this, she would surpass her movement speed on the ground.

She drew both Scorchie and Scorchy and manoeuvred her flight to slow down and spun herself. It was as if the giant bird flew and placed their exposed necks under her blades. She slashed down with spinning momentum that she took inspiration from Ebony. Sadly, the Troll riding the bird pulled the reins in time and she only lightly cut the bird’s fur. There were 5 of these bird riders. She didn’t Appraise them and she didn’t slow down to do so. They were each slightly bigger than Arti and their top speed appeared to be slightly higher but they weren’t as agile. The perfect opponents to train her manoeuvrability in the air.

Ning Xin had trouble turning and making accurate positioning. It put her in a poor situation where she barely dodged each bird’s beak or a spear stab from the rider. They noticed that one of them wasn’t enough to hit her and got two more riders to block her flight paths. The other two were onto Arti but she wasn’t worried with Ebony and Koawe there.

She could barely evade the spear strikes’ speed and power, there was a good chance these Trolls were around level 420. Her stiff motions improved so fast that she was slightly shocked herself. The pair of wings felt more and more like they’d always been part of her. The riders’ birds were frightened by the heat and kept their distance unless they were making an attack guided by their rider.

One of them used a skill to charge forward just as she evaded and a vitality-enveloped spear thrust at her. Her right wing closed and protected her in time and she parried the spear thrust, ripping a large tear on her own wing. She dropped down a little before the fluid wings fully reformed. Swinging her swords in the air moved her body awkwardly but she was also getting used to it at an unnatural pace.

The Troll riders kicked things up a notch and put a lot of pressure on her. Her flaming blood wings protected her and were constantly being torn apart. One of the enemies’ birds caught on fire by brushing past too close to her. She didn’t imbue that much lightning mana so it wasn’t stunned. She was worried she didn’t have enough mana to sustain an aerial battle for long.

“Watch out!” Ebony’s sound magic travelled to her.

‘A second wave?’ Ning Xin smiled. She gazed at Ebony to assure him that she was doing fine.

More aerial opponents?

Exactly what she wanted!

‘I will get as proficient with aerial combat as I can even faster this way!’ Ning Xin grinned as her blood boiled.