The post-human was utterly disappointed to find out that she had no feasible method of eating intangible energy. The ghost didn’t even have a life force as it was also a type of undead. Their ‘lives’ were held together by some other abstract energy.
Ning Xin felt at ease but annoyed.
Something about the giant turtle and tree plus the turtle family made her feel comfortable around. It was slightly different from the comfort that being around Ebony gave her. As for being annoyed, the tree spirit’s attitude rubbed her the wrong way.
These weren’t her emotions but at the same time, they were. She inherited the power and she accepted the consequences. She recalled a story she was told when she was young. A story about a young girl and an orange-feathered bird the size of an eight-year-old human. She was not the young girl in question as she had never met an orange bird. Not including those that made it onto her plate.
The story stuck and might have been why a feather appeared on her mask. The weird white rock she had worn around her neck since her birth was taken away when she was a month away from turning fifteen and returned as her current mask. She was unaware of who made their masks but the feather felt natural. It wasn’t just a painted print.
She asked to look through Ebony’s only belongings brought into this world but nothing looked remotely similar. That was the only part that felt off if he was part Xeng. Men had masks too, they just didn’t have to wear them as religiously. It was great against mental and soul attacks so it was a pity he didn’t have anything on him.
‘Unless…maybe she had her ways of getting that.’ Ning Xin eyed the rings Ebony wore around his neck. She would’ve forgotten he had that on all the time if it wasn’t for the swimming lessons. Her cheeky cousin made it such that it was easy to miss. As if there was some mental suggestion to overlook the fact that he had a necklace on.
A suggestion so strong that she had a feeling Ebony didn’t know he was wearing a necklace. He never mentioned anything about the necklace and at some point, she was certain that he lost all perception of it.
After all, did he think some heating would keep her alive after her heart got stabbed?
‘Maybe he knows but just doesn’t bother with it? Ahh, whatever it's so hard to tell.’
Ning Xin actually forgot about it until they were on the run and she sensed something calling her. She gained a sudden assurance that she wouldn’t die then.
To be fair, she wasn’t sure what the rings or necklace did. Likely, there wasn’t any healing magic but something more complex. She had an inkling as to what it may be but had no proof. If she was right, the necklace would either teleport onto her in future or her Sister Jing would come and sneakily swap the wearer around without either of them noticing.
Despite how little Kong Jing showed care, she didn’t leave them without good presents.
The thing about her craft was that they usually grew stronger over time. Be it her swords or Ebony’s. But it had a limit that was the original material.
She didn’t like it but sooner or later, her swords would have to be reforged. Her mindset changed a little. It was not such a bad thing, especially now that her swords had budding spirits. It would be the same partner she knew. She saw it as refining her physique, her swords would have to go through something similar.
As for their armour, she couldn’t exactly expect Rare fabric to withstand a King tamer or Jetfin’s attacks. The person Ebony referred to as Mr Kidnapper was the wild one to be able to tear her bodysuit while the Troll couldn’t pierce through. The only reason she could come up with was that the Tamer had lower physical stats than her warrior counterparts.
It was her fault for having a comparatively fragile body.
“Can I have some poached pyrulas?” Ebony requested.
It was a rare occurrence for him to ask for a dessert and she obliged.
She hummed while peeling the pyrulas in her apron. It was a new apron Roya made for her and it fit comfortably with the right number of pockets.
Ebony’s carefree attitude had rubbed off her. No matter how much she liked to fight, she also loved the days when they simply lay around in front of a memory light screen and snacked until dinner. They were in danger at times but she might never have felt more relaxed right here, under a majestic tree that burned.
It felt like she was staying at home while Ebony went to work and patrolled the perimeters above. Times were hard because they weren’t in an environment that they should be in but they had each other.
‘Pahh, I’m hallucinating. My head’s turning into mush. It's not my fault, it’s Mallory’s! The weak prickly feeling I’m sensing from him makes me feel so-so..I don’t know.’ Ning Xin hated how easily irritable she was.
It was her refined Physique. Her Intuition and sensation for emotions had been heightening as the days passed. It seemed like one of the Solar Blooded Phoenix’s greatest strengths was its intuition or basic instincts. Or, that was simply one of the prominent effects that remained in the heartblood essence without being greatly weakened by its death.
She was annoying herself. She liked sensing the prickly feeling from Ebony and it made her do things she never thought she would do. Like wearing something so revealing. She would never tell him that her choice of swimwear was because she picked up the most interest from him when he was spreading the clothes out for her to choose from.
The cheesy stuff aside, her heightened Intuition was making her battle sense rise to combat Ebony’s and it was massive. Sure, it was gradual but she had a feeling he wasn’t able to twist her power against herself as often.
Then, there was flight. She was certain that by the time she was a Grandmaster, she might not necessarily be faster on the ground than in the air. If she placed significant daily training time into aerial combat, it wasn’t a stretch to say that she saw herself being almost half as competent in the air as on the ground.
Although, Ebony might still have the upper hand in the air. His three-dimensional movement was too illusive and gravity was quite hard to counter in the air. Wings didn’t allow her as much freedom of motion as he did with his footwork and conjured platforms. Her Blood Haloes helped but in the air, his domain just gained a bigger advantage for himself.
It was almost unfair how well-rounded he was because he could move in the exact same manner even if he was tossed into the water. After observing his footwork for the past weeks, she realised it just wasn’t suited for her. She already had movement skills and the training regime up to tier 4. However, she doubted she could get it to that tier before her evolution.
She lacked control over stamina.
Ebony claimed to have touched upon it with his Fluid Blitz but she saw it as nothing but utilising stronger emotions to bring out more strength. In his case, he might have substituted emotions with his strong mental capacity to imitate emotions. Technically, it could be considered a berserk skill and her old Core Skill might have fallen under the same category.
At least her current tier 3 Compounded Spring Sprint was getting refined at a steady pace. She mutated it by substituting the tier 4’s stamina usage for mana. Imagining a metal spring in her step, she guided mana to the balls of her feet, ankles and calves. It worked but the constant mana expenditure wasn’t that friendly to her. Hence, she left as a backup boost for evasive manoeuvres.
Vitality just didn’t give her any speed boost. Not when her whole body was saturated with vitality running through her in her enhanced state.
The poached pyrulas were ready and she took them up with Sei. The cordial turtle usually complained about Ton with soft growls. The turtles were hundreds of times more expressive than Ebony. They were learning how to vibrate mana but they had a very hard time learning the language.
Stolen novel; please report.
She had been teaching Sei basic phrases recently. The three hatchlings might have been one of the rare cases where young creatures weren’t afraid of her. Although they really hated the heat, they warmed up to her fairly quickly.
‘Because I don’t see them as food? Probably.’
“Is it safe up there?”
“At the moment.”
“Alright, the kids are coming up to eat.” Ning Xin grabbed the little ones. She held one under each arm and had the last one between her legs as she sat on Sei. According to Ebony, they barely grew even though a few years had passed.
She already packed the dozen poached pyrulas to go. It was tea time for him so she was prepared to brew tea again.
They surfaced right beside Ebony who was relaxing with a few hands giving his back a massage. She remembered the massage she got. She was not as clueless as to why he didn’t give her another now.
He wasn’t lazing around as more Glacial Models were patrolling under his manual control.
He made a table for them with his eyes closed, probably training his ability to obtain more information from his sculptures. It would be amazing if he was able to share sight with it but ice had no such ability. The information he obtained from them was simply an extension of his mana sense. By imbuing Will into them to use Mental Map in real time, he would take that information through his mental link with them.
There was an obvious lag time and the surrounding information he would receive was not very accurate but it was a work in progress. It took a lot of his concentration to do it for one ice sculpture and to understand multiple without confusing himself must be taking a lot of mental effort. She didn’t think she would ever be able to do that.
He put a halt to his perception training and came over to take the little one away from her. The one in between her legs was carried and planted onto a trunk. Their beak-like jaws tried to pierce the bark but they were too soft. Chomping all the same, they exercised their jaw muscles and hardened their beaks.
To be fair, these maple trees are extremely impressive and they were biting on Uncommon ranked trees. These maple trees didn’t even budge from the ground despite her high-speed movement within their midst. After observing the turtles eat, she could tell that the Amur Maples had far tougher bark than their internals. But that was only in relation to its bark.
If Sister Jing was here she would’ve uprooted the forest except for a few that would be left for future growth.
If normal trees in the world were just like animals, they simply grew as long as their basic needs were met. Plants tend to be affected by ambient mana more than animals and would absorb residues even without ‘talent’. Trees that take in more ambient essence than normal could be plant-type monsters.
These Amur Maples were absorbing ice elemental mana and purifying it within their ‘bodies’ before excreting excess but ‘clean’ energy. To put it into perspective, they were trees that naturally refined their physiques ever since they grew leaves just by living.
Ebony just assumed they were amazing trees but she thought they were a treasure that wars would be fought over. If Ful was telling the truth, another person who drank his or her sap also had a physique with just a sip. Ebony, for reasons none of them were aware of, got its power of frostblaze. Even without that, there was immense value in this forest.
‘That Life Grafter guy isn’t just any old Saint.’ She thought that as if there were ordinary Saints.
To get a better understanding of the Solar-Blooded Phoenix, she had been listening to the tree spirit reminisce. The story about their father or creator was clearly biased so she didn’t believe every word. The Life Grafter was not a fighter but could create unique creatures as he wished.
Her worldview and knowledge base was not wide. She didn’t know much about the outside world, much less about the abilities of Saints.
Back to the trees and the turtle she was holding onto. The Amur Maples didn’t have levels and they didn’t have the capacity to think. They did not hold a spirit. They were just trees in every sense. Thousands of years of absorbing ice mana and strengthening themselves were not for show.
She once took a piece of bark that broke off after Sei dug in and ate. The bark wasn’t fireproof but they were harder to burn than most trees. It eased her worries of accidentally setting them aflame. As for their toughness, it was off the charts. Without enhancing herself, she couldn’t even break an Uncommon piece of bark. Although they would crumble under her full might, the higher rarity and older trees would be able to withstand her power for a period of time.
The turtles would patch the trees up with ice and choose a different tree every day. She didn’t know how long the turtles allowed the trees to rest before they would feed off it again but the forest was sufficient for 2 large turtles and 3 hatchlings. Gen rarely ate and fed off monsters when they travelled. He also drank off the best and oldest of the Amur Maples excluding Ful.
There were only 4 Epic-ranked Frostblaze Amur Maple. They have been growing since Gen’s grandparents were in charge of the forest. The young seedlings only started growing near the end of his grandparents' care. Gen’s parents were at the start of the downward trend as they were weak. Then, Hoarfrost Glade’s monsters were so weak they couldn’t grow.
The exponential speed at which the Glades got more dangerous outpaced his parents’ growth as they stayed around their forest and the largest turtle which Ebony called progeniturtle was dead by then. They had no choice but to stay and feed Ful. Gen roamed the Glades in that period, he had to grow strong enough to support Ful by himself before both his parents died of old age.
Gen managed to find a wife during this period but his wife was extremely lacking in ‘talent’ and already died of old age. They had a son and daughter who had kids with each other? The turtles seemed to think it was normal and Ning Xin had no reason to think otherwise. The progeniturtle was the only one of its race and Gen was the only one in his generation but the others were all part of the same family.
They lived in peace for some time.
Gen’s parents passed away and he was stuck under the dome.
A human had the chance and luck of stumbling near the forest. He allowed some of these people in under Ful’s recommendation. If things continued, they would just die out.
The humans who succeeded in getting the Ice Crystal Physique were on good terms with them. After Gen sliced off her arm to save her from freezing to death, she went back to heal and returned in a decade or so with a complete body.
Sei and Ton grew up a little, they were placed under Gen’s care. Gen’s son and daughter were invited to travel deeper into the Glades together. By then, Gen hadn’t travelled for over a thousand years and didn’t know that the Glades would develop so fast.
His son, daughter and the human who got a physique from drinking sap like Ebony never returned to this day. As for how long ago their disappearance was, the spirit didn’t share.
In Gen’s words, his children also didn’t have much talent but he wasn’t able to hide his grief and worry. Ning Xin was glad, unlike the tree spirit, she sensed hope from Gen. As for the annoying tree spirit, it recently gained some optimism and shed its negative words a little.
Talking about the old days with her might have reignited something within the spirit. Ebony’s increasing use of Frostblaze and her presence stirred its emotions up. Or whatever emotional equivalent a spirit had.
Ning Xin knew that the fate of the Amur forest and the turtles was in the midst of changing. All of it laid on Gen. That…monster was a different beast altogether. All her hunts and opponents didn’t even come close and the only one who scared her more was the Blood Saintess who whisked her into another realm for no apparent reason.
Her Intuition alarmed her greatly. The turtle didn’t care about her only because of Ebony. His presence was the only reason she didn’t fear the turtle as much as she should. Every cell in her body screamed that she shouldn’t pick a fight with the turtle. If she was honest, it felt like Gen would kill her regardless of her being related to Ebony in some manner. Not even the fact that his ancestor liked her would stop Gen.
She didn’t know if she was overthinking it after being exposed to his essence and intent during their spars. One-sided target practice might be more accurate.
As a Grandmaster, Gen protected and hid a forest of this size against the Glades. There were Kings and even Emperors or in monster ranks, Ancient like Milly the guardian bear lurking around. Milly felt weak and Ning Xin couldn’t tell if it was because of childbirth. The bear was being taken care of by the Lasils for a reason.
As a King?
Gen’s words of reigning supreme did not seem arrogant to her in the least. He merely stated facts.
“Hurry along Sei.” Ebony’s voice broke her out of her tea-brewing rumination. She might have spent too much time with Ebony. Tea brewing had become a time for her to ruminate on issues when the time could’ve been better spent thinking of new recipes and dishes.
‘Right, he can only reign supreme if we survive.’
She moistened her lips with some water from her mask. Glad that she hadn't plated the poached pyrulas with cream and honey.
“What’s serving themselves onto the menu today?”
“Before you begin, I should let you know that the mammoths are on the way back.” The tree spirit reported as if it was none of its business.
“...I’ll help you out for a bit before I bait them away again. You can have the pyrulas.”
“I should’ve slept some more.” She knew they were in for a long fight. Gen’s aura continued to weaken and an increasing number of creatures could sense this land of treasure and concentrated energy.
Ning Xin felt that their current situation was more of a war than the situation with the Trolls and Empire.
Their bodies exuded power as they leapt into action.