Ebony found himself facing the ceiling where massive white flames burned on giant maple leaves.
‘Gen must have thrown me out. Huh, I’m still holding my breath?’ He found his lungs inactive and got them working once he noticed.
“Nice, I can move again. I must have been knocked out for less than half an hour if I was still holding my breath without any issues.” He was well aware of how long he could hold his breath without any sort of physical reaction.
Despite what he said when he tested his vocal cords, he was disorientated and his body spasmed when he pushed himself off the ground. ‘Feels weird…’
He began with a few basic stretches to get himself warmed up and get a feel of movement but didn’t linger. He was about to die from hunger.
Wobbling to where he recalled Xin was, his stride steadied and back straightened awkwardly with every step. Look at her white flesh blending in with the snow, he saw that her white mantle was down to strips of cloth that barely held.
“Haha, I’ll have something to poke Sister Jing at again.” Knowing that the craftswoman was going to blame poor materials again, he chuckled. Before taking another step, he found himself naked and turned around to get some pants.
Returning with a blanket he wrapped the freezing cold body up and laid her on the sofa. Every step felt like walking on needles and he couldn’t tell if she got heavier or his arm was feeble.
He doubted his ability to make anything sophisticated with his shaky hands and had to look around for ready made noodles and ingredients that he could just toss into the mixture. She was going to complain about the lack of planning or mismatch of flavour but he couldn’t be bothered. She’ll probably gobble everything up either way.
He did not know how long he was stuck on the tree or how long she was unconscious after her own ordeal but at least he ate something after his month long mana manipulation and skill refinements.
He wasn’t afraid that she would go into shock from eating but he made something lighter to go with the everything noodle. He splurged on rice and made rice balls just because it was simple. He would’ve made sandwiches if they had ready made bread but that wasn’t an option.
The concoction started boiling and the scent wafted through the air. That was enough to wake her up. He didn’t need mana perception to sense motion.
“You can start by drinking some water.” The sound of the sofa getting kicked reached his ears. “Ow!”
He didn’t turn around but he knew the rice balls were getting chomped into.
When the noodles were ready, he took the entire pot to place on the counter that served as their table.
“Ah.” He started at her finishing up the second stack of rice balls.
“What? I’m hungry.” The blanket rest on her shoulders but didn’t cover everything in front.
“I can see that. Maybe you want to put on some clothes first.”
Instead of running away, she simply took both ends of the blanket on her shoulders and wrapped herself tighter before having her head down and devouring his share of the meal.
“I don’t want to hear that from a shirtless man.” Taking another moment to think, she added, “Wh-what did you do to me while I was unconscious?”
“I picked you up and started making food.” Ebony reflexively looked down and finally got a good look. His abdominal muscle, chest and arms looked pretty much the same as before but it was vastly different inside. He would have to wait for his mana perception to recover before he could check if everything went well but he didn’t think anything went wrong.
The sluggish movements were inevitable from the permanent reformation of his mana chassis.
It was a fresh feeling. Ever since he got a better sense of mana, he would always feel a stream of energy within him. Even if he Overdraft his mana chassis, there would constantly be energy welling forth. But now, his body and mind was silent. His mana was emptied out and stayed that way.
He felt like a normal human without mana again.
Having lost all sensation of a powerful body or mind yet he never felt calmer than the present. As if he was completely fine with losing all the power he had gained over the years.
‘I can see why mages don’t have mana sense activated every waking moment. It tires out the mind but I’ve never noticed.’
Slurping down the pot of noodles with a bunch of meat and vegetables half naked together, the real chef gathered enough strength to start cooking again. Ebony laid himself on the sofa and fell asleep without any trouble.
He woke up hours later only to start stuffing food into his mouth. He took care of the numerous dishes when the chef fell asleep on the dining table. After he was done, he went back to sleep again. When he woke up, he saw food on the table again. The cycle repeated a couple more times.
Ebony was washing another set of utensils when he sensed mana welling up within him.
‘Well, that was a nice moment of silence.’ He knew it was a matter of time before his mana started overflowing and filling the area if he didn’t suppress it. He would then be flooded with information from his surroundings.
‘I guess I should take a look at what I’ve managed to refine over the past month or so.’ With all his experience as an artillery mage, part time smith, part time scout, part time tank and park time support mage he had all but grinded out the problems with his spells and skills in general.
A single battle might be worth a thousand hours of training but Ebony was saturated with battle experience for a long time and he wasn’t much of a thinker during battles because if he did, he would’ve pulled of more suicidal moves. Not that he doesn't do that often.
Name: Ebony Rime
Core Skill:
Everlasting Tranquillity Lvl 558 (Ⅲ)
Icy Weighted Quiver Domain Lvl 488 (Ⅱ)
Class: Serene Blade of Blistering Frost - Lvl 300
Class Skills:
Phantom’s Flicker Lvl 452 (Ⅳ)
Ice Mana Command Lvl 579
Woven Frostblaze Augmentation Lvl 533 (Ⅲ)
Blazing Flow Greatsword Mastery Lvl 458 (Ⅰ)
Woven Frostblaze Cladding Lvl 402 (Ⅲ)
Entwined Ice Armament Lvl 482 (Ⅲ)
Fluid Blitz Lvl 452 (Ⅲ)
Imperishable Frost Shell Lvl 519 (Ⅲ)
Serene Swordsman of Frost Conditioning Lvl 287 (Ⅱ)
Entity Evanesce Lvl 1290
Glacial Model Lvl 576 (Ⅱ)
Blossom of Shimmering Chill Lvl 488 (Ⅲ)
Stalactite Sunder Lvl 330 (Ⅲ)
Frigid Refraction Lvl 256 (Ⅱ)
Empty Skill Slot
Sub-Class: Weighted Will Lvl 300
Sub-Class Skills:
Battle Song Lvl 355 (Ⅰ)
Sheer Mana Vibration Lvl 428 (Ⅱ)
Gravity Mana Control Lvl 447
Chaotic Repulsive Membrane Lvl 411 (Ⅱ)
Sonic Intrusion Lvl 428 (Ⅱ)
Firm Path Lvl 444 (Ⅱ)
Gravity Vortex Lvl 361(Ⅱ)
Tremor Stomp Lvl 188 (Ⅱ)
**** ******** Pseudo-Imitation Roar Lvl 18(Ⅲ)
Empty Skill Slot
Profession: Runic Mana Maven - Lvl 300
Profession Skills:
Inscripted Mana Moulding Lvl 441 (Ⅱ)
Compact Mana Reservoir Lvl 452 (Ⅲ)
Stalwart Foundation Lvl 422 (Ⅲ)
Mana Chassis Implosion Lvl 312 (Ⅲ)
Empty Skill Slot
Health: 1233/7000
Stamina: 3888/5384
Mana: 1/51691
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Unallocated stat points: 0
Strength: 650 [729]
Vitality: 700
Constitution: 1000 [-]
Endurance: 400 [448]
Agility: 800 [897]
Intelligence: 1326 [1487]
Wisdom: 2030 [2277]
Perception: 350 [10815]
Generic Skills:
Appraise Lvl 17 (Ⅱ)
Extreme Cold Resistance Lvl 193 (Ⅳ)
Running Lvl 98 (Ⅰ)
Mental Mapping Lvl 67 (Ⅰ)
Kicking Mastery Lvl 177 (Ⅰ)
English Lvl 8
Elcrian Lvl 11
Calculated Hunch Lvl 107 (Ⅱ)
Dish Washing Lvl 66 (Ⅰ)
Sustained Optimum Condition Lvl 172 (Ⅱ)
Tracking Lvl 52 (Ⅰ)
Game Processing Lvl 55 (Ⅰ)
Immense Heat Resistance Lvl 180 (Ⅲ)
Sheer Divination Resistance Lvl 12 (Ⅱ)
Gardening Lvl 67 (Ⅰ)
Cooking Lvl 72 (Ⅰ)
Integrated Trance Speed Reading Lvl 102 (Ⅱ)
Korun Lvl 62
Slumber Survival Instinct Lvl 55 (Ⅱ)
Immense Hunger Resistance Lvl 88 (Ⅲ)
Immense Exhaustion Resistance Lvl 124 (Ⅲ)
Lightning Resistance Lvl 52 (Ⅰ)
Sheer Blood Resistance Lvl 83 (Ⅱ)
Wind Resistance Lvl 52 (Ⅰ)
Poison Resistance 20 (Ⅰ)
Preservation Bubble Lvl 77 (Ⅰ)
Sustenance Regulation Lvl 91 (Ⅱ)
Lightning Mana Manipulation Lvl 39
Adaptable Bow Mastery Lvl 26 (Ⅰ)
Sheer Mana Poisoning Resistance Lvl 31 (Ⅱ)
‘That’s a lot of levels and name changes…’ Ebony lost the habit of checking his status regularly. He did not want numbers to fool him into thinking he was stronger or weaker than another individual. There were too many variables that these values do not account for.
He had expected Everlasting Tranquillity to evolve but he wasn’t disappointed by the massive refinement instead.
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 350% + 5.0% per level, Perception by 200% + 5.0% per level.
The base regeneration increment went from 100% to 350% which was practically a 50 level difference. Perception went from 80% + 2.5% to 200% + 5.0% which meant his Core Skill was a bona-fide tier 3 skill now. However, he couldn’t help but notice that there was no mention of pain resistance. After noticing, not a single thought was given. Being able to feel pain was better in his opinion. It’ll push him further.
Despite his month-long trance extending and recreating most of his ice spells, his second Core Skill only had one refinement. Disappointingly, the only advantage was the decrease in mana cost and no improvements to power. It now costs 52,000 mana every minute for a range of 5 metres instead of 58,000.
The bright side was the vast increase in levels. Looking at it from an elder mages’ perspective, he knew that there was no such thing as a tier 2 Domain. He could see why his version did not make him all powerful within it and it was seen as a particularly strong area of effect spell.
Woven Frostblaze Augmentation - Combusting intricately woven mana in your mana chassis that had been directly conjured into Ice mana increases your Constitution by 250% + 5.0% of Intelligence. Strength and Endurance increase by 200% + 5.0% of Intelligence. Agility is increased by 50% + 5.0% of Intelligence.
Consumes 8800 MP/Min.
Classification: Ice Magic - Body Enhancement Magic
There was no difference in effect. Everything was strengthened a little and the mana cost increased by more than double. However, during his refinement he knew that it was impossible to cast it as instantaneously as he could before. It would actually take a precious second or two but that could be because he needed more practice. Even so, it shouldn’t be a big issue if what he did to his body worked the way he intended.
Regardless of the increase in mana cost or cast time, the enhancement would be diabolical compared to his previous tier. Especially because it would be vastly powered up by his mana compression.
Woven Frozeblaze Cladding - Clad objects in threads of freezing flames giving it its elemental property. Deals 400% + 5.0% of Intelligence when the target comes into contact with flames.
Consumes MP
Classification: Ice Magic
This was a great boost to all his freezing flames in general. Just like the augmentation, proper cast would take longer and the mana cost increased.
Entwined Ice Armament is interesting. Just like his flames, he also improved his general ice magic skill. The skill was mutated and evolved from Frost Edge. All his active ice conjuration was strengthened in the same manner his blazing flames were. However, it was a bit weird that it doesn’t apply to shields. Shields were under the Imperishable Frost Scale, now Shell's jurisdiction.
From their levels alone, it was easy to see that he was better with shields than with weapons.
Entwined Ice Armament - All known weapons conjured with ice are strengthened by 250% + 5.0% Intelligence.
Consumes MP
Classification: Ice Magic
The skill did nothing to increase projectile damage. He understood that from the start. All it did was make it harder to destroy. The strength and speed of his projectiles of ice still depended on his base Intelligence stat. That’s where things get interesting. His Glacial Models were considered an armament. They got destroyed by the Trolls so easily that the Models weren’t much help. If he were to spend some time creating each Model in their new forms, they would be a few times tougher than before.
Sadly, despite his heavy focus and experimentation with the Glacial Model all the skill got was a small refinement and a lot of levels. The skill might be more complex than he assumed.
Glacial Model - Create sculptures of ice of humanoid forms to do your bidding. Highly concentrated will is placed onto the conjuration of a Glacial Model to follow very simple instructions. Range of will and control over Glacial Models increases by 50% + 2.5% per level. Ability to understand simple instructions increases by 2.5% per level. Has the effective strength of 50% + 2.5% Intelligence.
Consumes MP
Classification: Ice Magic
His defensive scales on the other hand also had an interesting evolution.
Imperishable Frost Shell - Conjures highly compressed chitinous shell of ice. Completely absorbs impact until shell’s limit. It has the effect of 400% + 5.0% Intelligence.
Consumes MP
Classification: Ice Magic
It no longer requires a form of a shield or orb to have a full effect. Ebony was very interested to experiment and test out what it means to be able to completely absorb impact. He did have a good idea but it was better to test it out to know for sure.
Blossom of Shimmering Chill - Highly condensed flames of frost take upon an increasingly solid form of blossoming plum petals. Embers and residues of all your freezing flames that are packed into petals have an effect of 250% + 5.0% Intelligence. Blossoms are 100% + 5.0% finer, facilitating the penetration through physical matter.
Consumes MP
Classification: Ice Magic
‘That’s that same skill but why the big name change. It didn’t even mutate…’ Ebony was confused why there was such a change in skill name despite the whole skill working in the same way. The only difference was the he actual spent the effort visualising the creation or blossoming of the petals.
Sure, underneath the similar outward appearance was the increase in order, formation and how tightly packed the mana was but the skill generally didn’t change all that much. As with all his changes, it was just an additional mana cost and cast time detriment.
His Sub-Class was sadly sulking in the corner but that would change soon.
Ebony’s Profession on the other hand could practically be the basis of his power and advantage over most people. Not all, but most. His mana perception told him that Christy and the elder Elves had a similar body as him. A body that’s so chock full with dense mana supporting them that they can rival and maybe surpass a warrior of the same level. Maybe not permanently around the clock but they definitely had their own methods.
Although…Gen did say the Frost Elves were poor at body enhancement magic. The Frost Elves also talked about an ‘old turtle’.
‘I’ll have to ask Gen about it. Oh and Milly too. That Ancient slash Emperor ranked bear is two ranks above Gen but she doesn't feel nearly as powerful.’ Ebony recalled the Guardian bear’s physical prowess and corrected his thinking. That creature was a beast that he couldn’t face even if he was ten times stronger and tougher. At least, that was what it felt like.
Compact Mana Reservoir - The walls of the mana chassis are compact to their limits. Mana exceeding the natural limit of the mana pool will fill up and condense up till 300% + 5.0% before leaking out. Constitution is increased directly proportional to Intelligence to how compressed mana is in the body.
The skill evolution of his mana compression skill was definitely the most substantial power gain he had overall. Although the description said nothing about his personal mana compression ability it meant the same thing. Just that his mana pool could automatically store highly compressed mana. 2560% increase or a 26.6 times multiplier to the density of his mana was immense. It did mean he required that much more if he wanted to cast his spells at maximum power.
He didn’t count on Calculated Hunch to suggest a Constitution value anymore since it was within a range and his mana hasn't been restored yet. A 26.6 times multiplier to his Intelligence would be about 39,554 points but that was excluding his natural mana density and compressibility.
‘I think it would be fair to say my body will be about as tough as a…grade 2 or 3 monster in the glades? Maybe, maybe not.’ From Gen’s Wisdom stat and the fact that he supposedly lost stats compared to another monster, Ebony tried to compare himself with a monster.
Suffice to say, even if he wasn’t at that degree he wasn’t taking enhancement magic into account. He might be getting ahead of himself since the creatures in the glades could all use mana and vitality and had the sheer density and volume to back them up.
Stalwart Foundation - Endow a specific set of mana pathways into one’s very one body. Source the runic endowment with 2500 mana per minute to increase base Constitution by 200% + 5.0%. Strength and Endurance increases by 100% + 5.0%. Impact, shear and elemental resistance is increased by 25% + 0.05%.
‘Nice, it takes pure mana instead of ice mana. I’m glad I managed to get a spell version instead of permanently carving it into my body. The mana cost is doubled but the strength and endurance is a good addition especially since my Fluid Blitz and Phantom’s Flicker is eating into so much stamina nowadays.’
Stamina wasn’t his biggest problem, it was how flimsy his muscles were. They tired out and overstretched so easily as if they were unable to support his physical activity. He was just lucky he was conveniently able to ignore the pain and heal muscle tears at a quick pace in the past. Stalwart Foundation’s increment to Endurance through the runes formed didn’t flood his body with more mana. It converted mana to direct physical imbuement which decreased the mana burden he would’ve gotten from his augmentation.
Without his knowledge, he had gotten mana poisoning resistance. The intense month-long mana imbuement must have been too much even for his body partially made of mana.
He knew it was Hector’s strongest resistance that simply made one less susceptible to the effects of mana poisoning. Ebony ignored it, he didn’t see it being a problem and it was only beneficial. After constant enhancement for so long, it was the first time he got mana poisoning strong enough to damage him and get a resistance. His mana might have gotten too dense and augmentation skill must have gotten stronger than he was able to withstand.
‘This almost feels like an evolution. Arguably better than my previous evolution…Never mind, Fortifications are still better. I'll do some stretching while I check the changes to my Physique.’ Ebony left the trailer half naked.