“Relying on elemental mana ores is risky. Here’s how you conjure ice mana…” Ebony showed the girl a sphere of mana and converted it to an ice plum petal extremely slowly.
She had an interesting Sub-Class, Mind Warrior. Unfortunately, Appraise couldn’t tell him the real title. He still wasn’t sure why he could read Kong Jing’s Sub-Class.
From what he could see, she didn’t carry any melee weapons except a hidden knife. She didn’t even have a staff or wand, just a large belt resting on her shoulder with an oddly large ice elemental mana ore embedded. It was definitely the most expensive item the entire party owned. Plus points to her that she didn’t depend on a weapon to help draw the ice mana or increase the power of her magic.
Investing in an ice mage was a great idea, it was great for a beginner party. Ice is versatile and they didn’t have a fire mage to disrupt the effects. Most monsters would be slowed and weakened or at least affected by cold. If her party members do well, she wouldn’t be distracted and could cast at ease. Something that Ebony was slightly troubled by when he just started using ice magic. He was limited to faster and weaker spells, although talent and affinity seemed to have made things a lot easier for him and he was able to gather and even conjure ice mana in a really short time.
‘Oh wait, I should learn how to draw in ambient ice mana to use. It’s alright if I'm not in that environment but if I ever have to escape somewhere it would be nice to be able to make use of icy areas.’ Ebony had been taught to rely on his own mana which was good and all but if he had been able to make use of Hoarfrost Glade’s abundant ice mana it might have helped in some way.
Sadly, it wouldn’t be as mana-efficient compared to his own until he got skills for that. Earth and wind mages might be more advanced in controlling ambient elements more efficiently since these elements were almost always abundant in most environments, they had less to worry about when their mana pool was about to empty out.
He wasn’t in a rush so he gave some tips that he would’ve liked to know when he just started. They seemed pretty amazed by his ice flowers but he realised their amazement elicited no warm fuzzy feelings that Xin would have given him if she had the same excitement over his abilities. “Let’s get going,” Ning Xin gave the back of his knee a kick for some reason so he stopped the conversation.
“Alright, you should head back to Plainston or go dungeon diving. The Trolls might toss mountains onto these hills any time and you would be crushed to death without knowing what’s going on. If it's too crowded just stay in the city and train for some time, you’re so weak a Troll’s sneeze could blow you apart.” He knew that the Ordina might be overflowing with people and there was no choice but to get work outside for the weaker parties.
“Do-don’t you mean away?” The crossbow-wielding rogue seemed to be the most wary of them, it was a good trait.
Ebony formed a crude Glacial Model of five of them and punched out with a wave of Sonic Intrusion-infused mana to burst the models apart to show them he meant what he said. If he learnt some acting skills he would’ve acted like he sneezed and burst the models in the same way. The ice mage would be able to tell he punched out with mana and that was what he wanted.
He bid them farewell and noticed their relief the moment Xin was out of range.
“The ice mage was pretty cute right?” Ning Xin questioned.
“Is she? I didn’t take note.” He answered obliviously.
“Yeah right.”
It was still awkward between them and it didn’t sit right with him.
“Hey, I’m sorry I let out my…frustrations, on you. I know you didn’t get stabbed on purpose. I was incapable of protecting you and shouldn’t have gotten on your case.” He had pauses here and there as he figured out the words he wanted.
“I’m sorry too. I should've told you about what my Intuition was telling me.”
“That’s not the problem.”
“I shouldn’t trust my Intuition that much. I’m aware, I didn’t notice the tamer coming with a school of high performance and sweet,” she definitely stopped to lick her lips, “big fishes”
“So…don’t be angry with me anymore?”
“I wasn’t angry, I felt your confusion and worry. Your…helplessness. I just want to say, don’t be such a coward. I know we’re always at risk but the world’s not going to explode and the sky’s not going to fall without reason. At best, a few mountains would drop on us. You’re training like a Saint is going to pass by and destroy the continent.”
“I don’t want to hear about how much training we do from you. It's clear to me that there’s always someone stronger. For now. And I’m no coward. How am I supposed to stop you from being whisked into another realm if I can’t contest a Saint?” He stopped her from continuing because he had always known that the amount of power he wielded wasn’t ever going to feel enough. He didn’t know what a coward meant to the Xeng but he could not see how he was remotely cowardly.
The addiction of skill levelling and gaining power was nice and he wasn’t going to stop anytime soon or ever but the slow levelling from 280 to 300 was an indicator to him that one day, all his skills were going to level extremely slowly. Just like most of the people who seemed capped out at their levels in the army. He had little choice but to admit that it was a birth advantage.
Ning Xin had no reply to his last statement. She must not have expected him to be thinking about the fact that she was pulled into some Blood Realm on a whim without any resistance. He would’ve added the point that there were Saint-classed spirits casually fooling around with the war and the duels but she already understood his point.
Thankfully, instead of making things more awkward, they knew that nothing really changed.
They arrived back at Arcta relatively quickly. On top of an invisible barrier was an extremely intimidating but unknown Frost Elf. So intimidating, they were at least a dozen kilometres away when their feet stopped moving towards the village.
“You see. This is exactly what I mean, we’re in this guy’s range and I didn’t even notice until it’s too late. Did your Intuition tell you anything?” He casually told Ning Xin. The snow under their feet was alert, he could sense it. The ice mana in the surroundings were dense and sharp but they didn’t collate and form weapons or anything of the sort. Sort of like the standby mode of his domain minus the sharpness part.
“And this is exactly why I said you’re a coward.” She walked forward without hesitation. Obviously, he stepped out at the same time, having predicted she would ignore the phantom overflowing essence suppressing the entire area. She elbowed him when he walked out almost before she took the first step thanks to his prediction. He poked her sides back and they got into a rib and belly-poking battle as they made their way towards the village.
Ebony had the advantage compared, her arms weren’t as fast or flexible without two long swords in them. She giggled and he religiously noted her weak spots. Then, a knee flew at his belly. “That won’t work on me. Good idea, you need to train without weapons once in a while.” He dodged the close-ranged knee with ease, he didn’t even need to manipulate mana to move his body despite her advantage in speed.
The powerful impact of her knee hitting the air blew away a few metres of snow on the ground in a cone shape. If Ebony had been the one who did that, a straight line would be carved out but only if he aimed at the ground.
“How are you wriggling around like that?” He landed three times as many pokes as she did. He didn’t answer her, she had complete control over her muscles and could copy him with some practice. Unenhanced, she couldn’t even keep up with his new movement speed. Her eyes followed him so he knew it was only her legs that couldn’t keep up.
“Right, we have a lot of ultrafish blood. You can take this time to digest them and increase your stats.” The village offered them plenty, it was enough to take weeks for her to finish digesting. He wasn’t sure if the Gorpede’s blood or the Jetfin’s blood was more nutritious for her. The humongous centipede was also King-ranked if he recalled correctly.
“Oh! I heard that there’s a famous restaurant in Tidal that if you eat there once a day for ten years straight, the food will increase your lifespan by half a year. Supposedly, they sell King-classed meat dishes and use Rare and even Epic quality vegetables from time to time.” She was quickly distracted by food again.
A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
“We can visit and try their food out one day.” Benefits aside, she would probably care more about taste. The army uncle and auntie chefs must have told her about famous restaurants around the continent.
“By the way, he’s probably the strongest person after that Blood Saintess that I’ve ever met in person.” Ning Xin must have caught his habit of casually dropping big news. She continued to twitch and giggle when he poked her abdomen.
“Stronger than Navin?”
“I can’t sense the Barrier King and neither can you.”
Ebony assumed he couldn’t sense the Barrier King’s mana signature due to good skills but it seems even her beastly instincts couldn’t sense anything from the King of the Empire either.
“Kids, don’t fool around, it's dangerous outside. Come on in.” The unknown Frost Elf invited them in. He called Orren 'boy' and asked him to let the barrier down for them. The Frost Elf had a throaty voice and he noticed a deep scar on the man’s neck. Actually, there were scars on his face as well. It might be one of the first Frost Elfs he had seen that had lasting physical injuries.
[Herald of Winter Desolation Lvl ??? | Arch Mist Hunter Lvl ???]
No matter how many times he saw them, their height was always intimidating but it might be the first time both of them were actually intimidated by the Frost Elves figure. At 2.3 metres tall, he wasn’t as lanky as most of the villagers and had some muscle on him. The man was standing before them before they knew it as they passed through the gates.
Both of them were stunned when they noticed each other shaking. He tried to move and found it hard to even wriggle his fingers much less grip and form a fist. His feet were rooted to the ground and he had not felt his knees weakening so much other than the time he got overtrained by his mother. Sweat rolled down their backs and foreheads.
‘What’s going on? Christy and the nameless one didn’t give me this feeling. He’s not even putting his overflowing essence on us.’ He didn’t panic one bit but Ning Xin seemed to be under great pressure. With his senses, he already knew the man withdrew his essence so that it didn’t touch them. His shivering hands moved under his chin in contemplation, completely unbothered by the situation.
“Greetings, Ebony and Scarlet. Thanks for helping with the Jetfins. Milly doesn’t have much aerial or magical capabilities and I was held up. I hope it’s not too much to ask for your help watching the village with your space mage sister for a short time?”
“How do y-” Ning Xin was cut off before she could finish speaking.
“I saw and heard you inviting your sister Jing just now, I do not know her personally. And I’ve heard about you kids from my kin. Anyway, she’s almost here. I’ll be giving Christy some support but I’ll stay around this time so you don’t have to worry about safety.”
Just as he said, Kong Jing appeared beside them. “It’s not nice to eavesdrop.”
“I was hardly eavesdropping, you were just within my hearing’s reach. Just enjoy your time here, I’ll get that brat to set the barrier back.” The ‘brat’ the man was referring to was Orren, the village chief.
Kong Jing sneezed. “I don’t think I’m going to enjoy this.” She honestly mentioned her dislike and weakness of cold. She probably wanted to get indoors but sadly for her, the temperature indoors wasn’t necessarily warmer in Arcta. Ebony remained to watch as did Ning Xin.
The barrier came back on but the Frost Elf stayed outside. The village didn’t need to operate a half-version like the Tides since they were using it solely for defence and didn’t consider any offensive option. Perhaps that was why they couldn’t have anyone come out to support Milly. To turn the barrier on and off took some time and a second was more than enough for those Jetfins to flood the village.
‘They should consider some spell towers or something, how are they defenceless after the previous destruction from elks?’ Regardless, the sleeping guardian beast outside would’ve been enough for the Jetfins as long as they were not far from the ground and if Korben had been here, most creatures around the area wouldn’t have been a problem.
Supposedly the second strongest person Ning Xin had met, flew up above the village, almost high enough that he was out of sight. He drew his massive wooden bow and conjured an ice arrow. The arrow was released before Ebony noticed but it woke him up when the mana barrier trembled and the entire village shook. Snow fell from roofs and he heard a cub crying. The guardian beast was alerted by the cry but had no choice but to stay outside. The Lasil family calmed Willow down quickly and reassured the guardian beast.
“Sister Jing, what is he shooting at?”
“Probably some Troll trying to run over from a different Tide to help their Shaman King. They don’t stand a chance against this. Hunter…Anyway, it’s none of our business. Come, show me around.”
The vibrations made some of the villagers uncomfortable so he did his best to stabilise everywhere his mana could reach. There was not much for him to show Kong Jing, she probably scouted the entire village with her own senses already.
They visited the Thoya’s in time. “Bada! Sasa! Welcome home! Upsies!” The first to greet them was a bubbly little baby Kiva. She ran up to them and accidentally rammed into Kong Jing’s leg. Fortunately, the craftswoman didn’t overreact but she was stunned on the spot.
Ning Xin picked the baby up naturally and took her to play. “Sorry for bumping into you miss!” Looking at Kiva who was only about 60cm tall and had skinny limbs, Ebony was once again worried about the slow physical growth of these Frost Elves. But she seemed to have gotten the hang of speech as she spoke fluently except her address for them.
They ran outside before Kong Jing could react. “What is that creature…”
“It's called a baby. Didn’t you see Xin as a baby?”
“I didn’t know her until I came to Elcra and she was already 7 or 8. Or was she 9?”
“As I thought, your reforged brain isn’t that amazing.”
The introductions didn’t take long. Halvis greeted them but Roya was teaching Clovis her skills, it appeared that he was close to picking his sub-class. As for his main Class, he was already level 98. A pretty large jump and considered impressive for a Scholar. Perhaps he studied or researched something completely new to him and its value as knowledge was pretty high.
Halvis also levelled quite a bit but Ebony knew it was because he bought the same illusion that the farmers used and expanded his croft into a farm. Ebony rudely Appraised him but it seems like even his Sub-Class was related to farming.
“Faster faster!” A high-pitched voice entered the house. He wasn’t that worried but the same couldn’t be said for the father.
“She’s asking little Xin to go faster? Babies are insane.”
He introduced the craftswomen to each other and they seemed impressed by each other. That was surprising to him, especially with how prideful Kong Jing was. Then again, he was wearing Roya’s robe and not something made by the Xeng. Oh, he still got an earful at the state of his robe.
Dinner was left to Ning Xin because the crafters got to discussing clothes and gear for them. Nice. The space mage went to Cattle Rattle recently and was usually rich with materials so that was settled.
“We’re gonna get new equipment.” He passed over the chopped garlic exactly how she wanted it.
As she started actually cooking, he started washing up dozens of used bowls and utensils. Clovis helped to dry them with a cloth and kept them back in the cabinets.
“Finally, clothes that don’t burn in battle. Ah, it’s not that I don’t like the shirts you make.”
“I understand. So, how’s your secret training going Clovis?”
“It won’t be a secret if I tell you.”
“Hmm, how about what sub-class you’re going to pick? Any hints?”
“...mana control and strings. Hey, what level are you at now?”
It was what he expected from the tailor.
“Level? Don’t worry about that, we level fast but our skill refinements are lacking now. When you get to study more unknown things and decide on your focus of study you’ll level in time.” Ebony learnt that Scholars and Researchers level relatively fast as long as they had materials to study and that lasted till they were Grandmasters or maxed-out Master.
That was to say, all they had to do was study and expand their knowledge base. After or during their studies, they needed to decide on an area of focus or a thesis of sorts to discover new knowledge. Solving a relatively hard problem they made up themselves might be an evolutionary requirement for them.
“Come, let me see how your reflexes have improved.” Now that ingredient preparation was done, the kitchen was not his place to be anymore.
“Yes!” Clovis needed to get his Sub-Class so that he could get a complete evolution and was working really hard on his poor physical capabilities.
Halvis taught the boy Conditioning. It was not obvious but Ebony was able to sense something vague when the knights and soldiers trained. Similar to aura, it felt like he knew when the Conditioning effects were being worked on. It might be because the two of them were very focused on following a Conditioning regime and he wanted to know how that worked.
Out in the yard, it was turning dark but neither of them was affected. Clovis took the small hoe that rested against their walls right outside. He lunged and swung right at his shoulder.
“Wow, have you been out hunting?” Ebony relaxed his shoulder and let the hoe pass by. He was pleasantly surprised at the lack of hesitation. He looked at 3 of the strings of ice that was as thin as hair cut the air and sliced the snow on the ground.
“I know that wouldn’t have hurt you, much less hit.” Clovis retrieved his hoe steadily and swiped them to the side.
“Guard yourself.” Ebony drew Icicle to block the whips of ice.
“Huh?”
“What? You think I’m going to go easy on you?”
The Frost Elf was older than him despite his size and looks of a young child.
Besides, did Clovis really think he had trouble beating children?