Ebony was confused by the lack of attacks from the Jetfins. They were less than a kilometre away, a distance he found impossible to dodge hundreds of pressurised jets of water without his peak physical abilities.
Astonishingly, he had managed to run in this manner for an entire hour. The stamina drain of Phantom’s Flicker was significantly reduced. It probably refined a few times over the past few hours. Unprecedented progress for him when it came to skill improvement. As a habit, notifications were generally silenced in battles so he didn’t know the specifics.
His regeneration of mana continued to recover which gave him more to spare and increased his speed. He had to cover his back with heating runes so that his cold body didn’t freeze Ning Xin to death. Her blood flow continued to weaken over the past hour despite absorbing heat. It wore on his mind that she didn’t have the ability to convert heat to healing. He wondered if she drank his blood before falling unconscious, he had a feeling she did. It didn’t have strong healing properties in comparison to how much energy and mana was in it but it was better than simple heat.
At least, he wasn’t aware if she had any sort of heat conversion to vitality. Her current state confirmed the lack of such an ability but the heat was slowing down her demise.
The Jetfins got less than 700 metres away and got into his range of senses. His mind had calmed down but it was extremely numb ever since he woke up from his trance. It was a sign that he overdrafted himself but it had never gotten so bad before. Even so, he was able to tell that the Jetfins were actually very low on mana.
‘They didn’t really use much mana against us. Is it just a small mana pool or did they use a ton before starting to chase us?’ Whatever the case, it was a good sign. It might be why they even survived till now. The mana that the Jetfins had was used to envelop themselves, possibly to counter the temperatures that kept dropping as they delved into the Glades.
It wasn’t unthinkably cold, maybe a negative 90 degrees celsius or so but their current speeds and the sharp winds made it unbearable for most creatures. Sea creatures might be somewhat resistant to cold but it was clear that they got beyond the point where the Jetfins could comfortably traverse.
Fortunately, Ning Xin didn’t breathe air from the surroundings and he didn’t need to for a certain period of time either. The increase in gravity was minute and not enough to affect anything or anyone.
The Jetfins had gotten the hang of his timing when he disappeared and reappeared. They had gotten in the range of turning the two of them into fish food.
Ebony Flickered away from the tight embrace of their mouths time and time again but their dives got more and more coordinated.
He only got calmer as it happened.
Not because Gen and Ful’s forest was anywhere in sight, because it wasn’t.
Not because the Jetfins couldn’t catch him, because they were about to.
Not because the weak response from Ning Xin got even more subtle. Definitely not thanks to his father’s vague statement.
He just…did.
The main difference was that it wasn’t because he didn’t care about his life or the woman on his back which might once have been his thought process in the past when he threw himself into mortal danger. Or to be more accurate, he forgot to care about it if he cleared his mind. He most definitely didn’t want to die.
A Jetfin landed right by his feet, tearing his pants as he Flickered away only to get rammed by another fish that was watching out for where he aimed to move. He wasn’t able to trick them with refractions or by pointing his toes towards another direction anymore. Having noticed the positions that they flanked him, he predicted their possible movements thanks to their repetitive patterns so far. His feet lightly tapped on the fish’s head and Tremor Stomped off with a portion of Phantom’s Flicker effect.
‘Hmm…’ Ebony lazily pondered. The leader Jetfin had burst after his sluggish move and there was nothing he could do, the despicable fish was smart enough to aim for his back. He could only shift to take the hit, trying to channel any drops of Will he could to stabilise any vibrations so that Ning Xin wouldn’t feel any impact. He prioritised warming her up and enhancing his body with the slowly increasing regeneration of mana.
He felt like he understood what getting hit by Stalactite Sunder felt like as he kept the impact within his body. He had to give it to the Trolls for taking his attack with an intact body and still moving and fighting without much issue. Calculated Hunch would have told him that his own defence wasn’t able to survive Stalactite Sunder, he would explode.
His pain tolerance was turned off for some reason and he felt every bit of the attack. It hit harder than Gao’larg’s mountain rend but spread across his torso from belly to neck. He learnt his lesson and focussed his mana around his spine. Without mana, he could only depend on his body and boy was he glad he didn’t give up on his physical stats.
Sadly, his body didn’t have fully compressed mana and he was far from maximum Augmentation. He didn’t spare a look at his health as he had a rough gauge; it was less than 10%. The exponential rise in stress seemed to dissolve instantly and convert into mana but that was just his imagination as his pool of mana was as empty as before.
He accelerated away from the Jetfins by unintentionally receiving the lethal hit. Blankly staring into the leader Jetfin’s eyes since he turned around to take the hit with his belly. Ebony was a bit shaken when his mana moved without his manual control despite not being in a trance. All his augmentations and enhancements slipped out of him and formed a cone that faced the leader Jetfin before pulsing. His teeth clenched uncontrollably when he heard the numbing roar that his Will cast without his permission.
Ebony quickly snapped himself out of the numbing pain that hit him…somewhere so that he could land properly without harming Ning Xin.
He gained a couple of kilometres and was suspicious of the Jetfins that stopped chasing him. The leader even bled from its unblinking eyes.
His feet touched the ground and he was brought down to a knee when the landing impact further exacerbated all his open wounds. He couldn’t stop the blood from escaping his mouth and throat, allowing it to stain the icy ground and his tattered clothes.
‘I’m not healing…oh. Yeah, overdrafting mana reduces my healing since my mana chassis is affected.’ Another glob tickled his gullet and he spit out the blood before freezing his wound again. His back continued to produce heat. Perhaps to trick himself into thinking that it helped keep the woman on his back alive.
Health: 98/7000
“Haha…how exciting.” He was convinced that he was truly in the most danger he had ever been in. He was convinced that he really might not make it.
Ebony tried to take another Flicker but fell forward weakly as he crossed less than half the distance that he could previously. Loud flapping sounds entered his ears again. The Jetfins kept a distance, wary of something.
He was flat on the frozen ground. His body creaked as he manipulated the ice in his body to carry him up but it was as if he was pushing against lead. His body remained stuck on the ground.
“You’re a bit late…” He complained at the quaking ground. The Jetfins were clearly not wary of him but the extreme frost and high mana density around his landing spot.
He was fully aware of his surroundings despite his trembling mind and unmoving body. He sunk into the icy ground before the first snowflake started falling.
Gen personally climbed out from the ground, glancing at him before looking at Ning Xin on his back. “Please save her.” He vibrated mana around him before he sunk into the ground. He hoped that Gen didn’t mind her presence and would help him. He urgently wanted to tell him to stop her life force from escaping instead of sinking them into the underground dome but they only sank faster before he felt soft snow.
“I’ll be right there.” Gen’s lazy voice wasn’t present.
Actually, he thought the turtle would fight but Gen was swimming right by them before he knew it or so his senses told him.
His ragdoll of a body plopped onto the snowy floor when he felt something out of place.
‘So bright. Did Ful recover?’ The Frostblaze Amur Maple was burning brighter and stronger than ever before. It was even raining leaves down which was an alarming sight, knowing that Ful was in a dying state. The spirit was saying or crying out unintelligible sounds. It wasn’t transmitted to him but he could sense the mana around him and that was the feeling he got.
He was completely awake despite the terrible state of his body. He couldn’t help but worry about freezing to death, for both of them.
Gen clamoured for Ful to stop expending mana that was the spirit’s life. “I got it I got it.” He shook his lazy eyes awake and blew out an icy breath that encased Ning Xin. He might trust Gen to a decent degree but he couldn’t help getting nervous.
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“What happened to your hand? Your mana vessel got injured?”
“I think so. I don’t remember what happened.” Ebony was just as confused at why his mana chassis in his arm was in such a poor state. It was as if they exploded along with his physical arm. Although he did still have it attached it was a bloody mess. His bones were in a liquefied-like state and he was lucky there was no sensation from the arm.
Ning Xin was encased in crystal clear ice that did nothing to harm her. At least that was how it appeared to be. Now that he was a far better ice mage than years ago, he nodded at the spell. ‘Yup, I don’t see how the ice mana is any different.’
He was too tired to analyse the spell in depth.
“Want to sleep in one? It’ll speed up natural recovery.”
“It can do that?”
“How else do you think you survived a cold that would kill all of us here as an unclassed human?”
“I thought you were protecting me. Are you telling me your ice has healing properties?”
“Yes I was pulling cold away and ancestor helped. And no, I have no healing skills other than some personal passives. The seal stops everything from leaking, including life force. It freezes injuries and damage in general but enhances natural recovery by guiding the leaked life force back into the body so no one should be dying unless the damage is something I’m unable to freeze.” Gen had never seemed so energetic, there was not much lethargy in his voice.
“Can it seal mana and stamina? Is that really simply ice magic?”
“...It can. It’s also sealing magic.”
“Oo. Interesting, can you teach me?”
“Is now a good time? Why don’t you rest up, for now, I gotta replenish my ancestor anyhow.”
“...mmm. Don’t seal me.” Ebony did not feel comfortable getting sealed even if it would speed up his recovery. He searched for potions in his bag but he only had what he bought years ago for his Journeyman self. He chugged it and felt no difference at all. It was incredibly difficult to manipulate his body to move.
At least his health wasn’t dropping. He sat against the ice coffin that Ning Xin was in, unwilling to fall unconscious he closed his eyes and meditated. His mind was filled with different thoughts but he was surprisingly clear-headed.
Gen got into his snow igloo and there was no movement any more. The other turtles weren’t around as far as his senses told him.
He pulled out the ice mana around his lightest wounds and let them heal bit by bit before thawing other parts. The cut on his leg healed the fastest but there was no response from his calves when he tried to flex it. His mana chassis had never shrivelled up so much before. It made him guess that his left arm’s mana chassis was squeezed so tightly they burst or ruptured. He didn’t mind the physical weakness at the moment so he moved on to larger injuries on his torso. The ribs could wait, he dealt with the large hole in one of his lungs first. Thawing led to an immediate drop in his health so he could only refreeze most of the hole and thaw it bit by bit.
Ebony was unexpectedly aware of time passing despite his deep state of meditation. 20 full hours passed before his physical body was in shape again. The physical weakness was still present, he was at less than 10% capacity. This led to the discovery that time was not the factor to get rid of the regenerative weakness, it was his mana chassis. If they didn’t heal up, he wouldn’t get back all his physical strength. That, and the main part was his vitality. There were so many injuries that it was taking some time. Breathing no longer hurt on the second day.
By the fourth day, his mana chassis regained their shape and his mana regeneration was almost back to normal. The only missing portion that provided him regeneration were those that made up his left arm. They didn’t recover at all.
At this point, he finally remembered to call up old notifications to see if there was anything informative. The ringing kept going as he sieved out the important information. There were an unbelievable number of skill level-ups and multiple refinement notices for Phantom’s Flicker but he could digest that afterwards. Speaking of digesting, all he had was souper bread with water to fill his stomach. All his dried meat was consumed with Gao’larg and the fruity biscuits were gone too. He had other ingredients but was too lazy to cook.
He did not expect to see a kill notification. He cocked his head at the relief and…satisfaction he felt knowing that the tamer was dead. ‘Satisfaction? Is that right? Yeah, that’s about right but how did I kill her?’
It wasn’t even a moment later when he received some hints on how he managed to accomplish the fact as the previous notifications were a new skill and skill evolution.
‘Ting’ ‘Sub-Class Skill **** ******** Pseudo-Imitation Roar’
**** ******** Pseudo-Imitation Roar - Abysmal attempt at imitating the roar of the **** ********. Attack the souls of all living beings in range with the effect of 650% + 5.0% of Vitality, Endurance and Wisdom to stun them in place. Existential suppression is passively 5% more likely to cause mental trauma to anyone who stands before you. Targets affected by **** ******** Pseudo-Imitation Roar will have the stunning effect resurface at irregular intervals until mental trauma is resolved. Poor imitation causes soul damage to self.
Consumes Essence
Classification: Sound Magic
‘That’s a lot of information for a skill description…soul attack but it’s not classified as soul magic? The skill comes with a passive effect as well but what is with that base 650% and only a tier 3 skill? What’s existential suppression? I’m guessing it’s either an essence difference or an evolutionary difference but who knows. It scales off resources, so the power of the skill depends on the strength of my essence?’
Ebony didn’t feel that worried about the soul damage, he didn’t feel much pain or discomfort. The base 650% sounded like a lot but it wasn’t as strong as it seemed. Strength was the stat for physical prowess and Intelligence for mental attacks, the muscle for magic and mana manipulation. Resources like health or life force, stamina and mana didn’t have much power behind them. Even if one had high regeneration and could suppress the others with overflowing essences of different types, they don’t really hurt people. The suppression effect could be withstood and even ignored with some training.
He finally understood why the Jetfins stopped in place but they also chased after him rather quickly. However, the stunning effect was pretty amazing. It was probably the only attack he could pull off that could affect the King-ranked monsters. The Jetfins were so tough that he didn’t think his strongest attacks would hurt even if they stayed still for him. They were starting to get low on mana near the end so he might have been able to do something if he had the mana or strength. Alas, that wasn’t the case and all he could do was run.
It also led him to believe that the roars he had been hearing were the exact same situation. He had been placed under this irregular repetition but he didn’t really face any stun effect. He wondered if this was what Muse sensed in his soul. Maybe it was thanks to her ‘healing’ that he didn’t get stunned every time the roar echoed in his mind. ‘Something feels off though…where or when did I hear the roar anyway?’ Ebony didn’t even remember how or when he got hit by this soul attack.
Ning Xin should’ve been affected by the skill too if his poor imitation wasn’t controllable but that didn’t appear to be the case. He cast it unknowingly earlier, he needed to test it out to understand it.
As for how he killed the tamer, it was likely his skill evolution.
‘Ting’ ‘Profession Skill Potent Mana Overdraft evolved into Mana Chassis Implosion’
Mana Chassis Implosion - Desperation for mana, squeeze your mana chassis to the point of backlash to draw out 200% + 0.5% of your mana pool’s capacity by crushing your mana chassis with your Will. Rupturing Chassis draws out an additional 50% proportional to the amount sacrificed. Mana Chassis mends from overdraft 100% + 5.0% faster every level. Mana regeneration is reduced by a static 95% for 12 hours, static reduction reduces over time.
‘That’s not good. It locks out mana regeneration even further. I’ll have to work on the skill to remove the regeneration reduction part from the skill.’ He didn’t need the skill description to tell him that the mana chassis in his arm was ruptured or something. It was clearly not healing faster, so he had to assume that the skill didn’t help recover the ruptured chassis faster or it just took a very long time. At his current state of evolution, he was getting quite good at sensing if a skill was in effect. His take was that the skill wasn’t working when it came to his arm.
In his opinion, the skill got worse after evolution. It gave him more mana in emergencies but the drawback was not worth it. He would have to depend on squeezing even more of his mana chassis to get mana as he would practically not be able to regenerate mana once he started using this skill.
Phantom’s Flicker - Unhindered by uneven terrain, move across the lands with speed, grace and stability. Phantom Flicker allows one to travel through most terrains with more ease, increasing in grace and stability in movement with each level. Movement speed increases by 100% + 10.0% per level. Disturbance to the surroundings caused by physical movement is reduced by 50% + 5.0% per level. Weave through physical matter with a static 25% more ease.
It was amazing that he gained so many refinements that the negative 500% turned into a positive 100%. The greatest part was that the stamina usage was only triple that of Treading Stride. There was still plenty of room for improvement before the skill was a proper tier 4 skill. The stamina expenditure might not be insignificant but at least he could use it dozens of times before his calves and thighs start to feel the pain. He shouldn’t feel pain or discomfort no matter how many times he had to use it, that was his first goal for the skill.
There wasn’t much he could do about his lacking Endurance stat until he evolved so he had no choice but to work on reducing the physical burden from the newer physically intensive skills like Fluid Blitz. He was finally on the step that most people were at. Making skills more energy efficient to cover the lack of stamina and mana. If there was something about the Imperial Knights or even warriors and mages that he was impressed about it was how they worked around their small stamina and mana pools.
For the Master ranked soldiers be they Knights or any other warrior, they probably only had 300 to 400 stat points into resource stats at level 300. Maybe less. That put their mana pools at 3 to 4 thousand if they didn’t have a mana pool expansion skill. The Knights should have at least a tier 2 version or they wouldn’t have been able to run their enhancements for half a day. Those Grand Knights could run their enhancements for days. Ebony noted that they simply turned up and down the enhancements on the go. Supplying a spike of mana whenever they attacked or defended but bubbling it down when things lulled.
A lot of warriors with more limited mana or control would not have full-body enhancements. The most common enhancements for warriors in the militia or freelancers, in general, were enhancements to a single body part. It tends to be strong but unbalanced. The perk was that it was far more mana efficient unless that particular individual had more explosive bursts of mana for skills they could only use once or twice before running out of mana.
All Imperial soldiers had full body enhancements and most of them were built for endurance and not power output. This made them suited for defensive battles and freelancers more suited for assault teams that hit hard and fast.
‘No matter. I don’t want to go back to the battlefield. Where’s the life of travels that I desired…” Ebony felt like he lost the direction of what he had hoped for in pursuit of power.