Ning Xin watched as her support disappeared into the distance. Ful hid the forest under just in time but at a cost. It only had to do that till the Mammoths were away and it made things easier for her since there would be nothing that needed protection.
In the coming week, she slayed a few lvl 330 bears who looked oddly similar to Milly the guardian beast of the Frost Elves. Minus the glare of intelligence within their eyes. Quite a few monsters who came were around level 300 to 400. Yet, the most troublesome ones were those capable of suppressing her fire and blood magic with ice and snow.
For blood, the owl-like creatures would summon snow to absorb it. The monsters here weren’t as rigid in tactics. They would sustain a stream of mana to force her blood there when she tried to melt its way out. As for her fire magic, it usually took a dozen combined efforts to completely suppress and shield themselves.
She parked these groups under Grade 3 Grandmasters. They could be dispatched in moments if they were alone. Those above 350 would take slightly longer but they didn’t pose a large threat.
The ones she had trouble with were those that were seemingly lower level but faster and stronger than the rest.
The horses were the fastest opponents so far. The shifty reptiles that lived underground were not a problem if Ful took care of them but she didn’t want it to waste its precious mana with Ebony having no confirmed return date. Gen’s aura continued to weaken. His vast essence pool meant that he would still take some time. She could sense Vitality better but it wasn’t common to see someone evolve.
The turtle originally hid within an igloo but it kept growing in size, so much that the igloo no longer expanded with it. If essence were to drop to less than 10%, Gen still had a long way to go. She wasn’t exactly sure how far health dropped during evolution but she recalled mana and stamina were usually fully drained.
Within the week, the Amur forest had to resurface multiple times. Their trailer’s power source with Ebony’s mana was draining out quickly without the uninterrupted breathing of the Amur forest.
Unbeknownst to them, Gen must have chosen this area after lengthy considerations. It was dangerous but the ice mana density helped ease the pressure and reliance on Ebony. She wondered if they were able to sustain Ful if they just went deep enough but there weren’t enough trees for that.
The most troublesome lot were Masters like the Elks. Except none were as amazing and mind-numbingly powerful as those Elks. They didn’t have high stats which worked out well for her but they tend to have huge bursts of powers and immense control over mana or lifeforce. One or the other.
The other obvious difference these level 300 monsters had was that they also used their mana instead of ambient mana. They conjure spells with unique properties within their mana. Just like mages.
She assumed they were what Sister Jing would call Grade 4 Masters.
If their stats were any higher, she feared that she might not be able to handle more than one at the same time and victory would be hard fought.
On the eighth day, Ebony returned looking as fresh as usual. Gravity repulsion made him spotless while she was covered in dirt. She slept on the surface with Ton and Sei taking turns watching. If she was underground it would take too long to react. The more the tree spirit was asleep, the more mana it would conserve so she didn’t depend on it to warn her of danger.
She didn't want to tell him that the horses ganged up with a troublesome Grade 4 Master, a concentrated ball of snow life form that didn’t have flesh to snap her arm. The snow creature spread all over the ground and had her flying up but one wrapped itself around the horses and sneaked up on her when she clashed with the horse.
Her soft fabric armour and bodysuit did nothing but bend flexibly along with her elbow in the other direction. She didn’t have scaled armour on her arms that would reduce mobility and even those protecting her body wouldn’t harden in response so they made no difference.
She immolated it before her elbow broke completely but it hurt to push it back. Unlike her old fully human self, her bones were regenerating. Healing from fractures wasn’t uncommon but outright regenerating bones in real time was new. Not something she wanted to find out by experimentation but something she was glad to learn.
Another of these weird globs tried to suffocate her with its body but they were dreaming if they thought they could slip under her masks. Her ears were targeted but her high body temperature in combat mode made it hell for the weird creature. They didn’t even like getting close to her. She was surprised enough when it got big enough to trap her.
The creatures in Hoarfrost Glades didn’t just use their physical prowess to exert dominance, they used everything they had. The worst thing was that most of them had a very strong sense of self-preservation. They would split up and run away the moment they knew they didn’t stand a chance and the forest wasn’t around. Only those that moved in large groups cared less about their numbers.
She could only hunt and chase down one at a time, even with her speed there would be plenty who made it out with their lives. The snow creature could be melted down but she didn’t know how to kill it before its body mass separated and camouflaged itself as…snow. Her Appraise skill didn’t work on them which made them the stealthiest killers the entire Glades offered.
Ning Xin had that opinion because the creatures’ mana could slow down the movement of mana within her body. Technically, it should be able to freeze mana. Weakening body enhancement magic. Except it did nothing to her life force-based enhancement.
In any case, she knew Ebony was hiding some injuries under that robe and undisturbed facade.
With his perception, he could probably tell that she wasn’t in peak condition either.
Yet they didn’t say a word about their conditions.
“Go sleep.” Unlike her, he probably didn’t catch a single wink of sleep. She had over 28 hours of sleep over the course of 8 days which was plenty.
They stayed in contact as much as possible but they weren’t able to talk for more than ten minutes in total. He didn’t exactly run off to a safer location.
“You said you wanted a shower, I can wait an hour or two.”
She did not hold back on the offer. Snow, ice and sweat might evaporate off her but she was feeling terribly sticky and uncomfortable. It wasn’t as bad as not bathing for months and years on end but she did not appreciate that period of time. Her hair took the longest but she wasn’t planning on spending over an hour on it like he suggested.
She warned him of the current dangers and frequent visitors.
The Glacial Models he left to help her were all gone and the ones he brought with him did not return either. They were tougher than before for sure but the monsters here played rough. It did not help that her fighting style meant they would melt over time just by being around. Ebony did not input Will to avoid heat. It was already impressive a sculpture could fight without its caster nearby, it couldn’t take into account so many factors.
Ebony’s physique change was far greater than her own. It seemed like he had been using the opportunity to get in tune.
He was still wafting off a great deal of mana so he might be in energy-saving mode and haven’t got too deep into trying his newer spells.
‘He’s not exactly leaking mana but that weird calming aura is even stronger. After not using mana, I’m starting to regenerate mana faster without any wait or lag. How much faster…ugh, I don’t want to count.’ Ning Xin gave up on checking how much faster her mana regenerated just by being under the effects of his aura.
It felt like her hair got thicker and more luscious after her evolution for unknown reasons. In addition to her greater control over wind, her head was clean of dirt and dust. Her skin felt so smooth water was falling off her body faster. She hopped right out of the shower in under 15 minutes and started preparing a meal.
Although Ebony reported that he had the time and leeway to eat, she felt an instinctive urge to feed him. She did not know when exactly this urge came about but cooking for him made her love for cooking rise exponentially. It almost felt as good as making food for herself. Almost.
This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.
Since she was about to take another shift, she felt that it was completely justified to have three times the serving that she was preparing for him. Her previous meal was seven hours ago but she hadn’t been able to accumulate energy due to how intense and often the monster attacks had been.
Bear paw was on the menu.
Sure, out of all animals or monsters, bears were the one that he felt the most about and they personally knew an adorable little bear but neither of them would feel bad eating a bear. At least not her.
As for bear flesh, she was soaking it in different types of heavy-scented marinate from soy to chilli oil. She realised that she couldn’t handle spice as well as Ebony. She wasn’t sure if she should be shocked. His tastes for extremely sour and spicy food were unmatched and it wasn’t just his expressionless face.
He enjoyed spicy and sour dishes beyond what she thought was delicious. Her recipes were adjusted to the point that she sometimes made separate servings.
‘I need a bigger wok.’ She had two woks but they weren’t big enough for their current needs. She had more pots and pans than any one person needs.
She resurfaced to feed the man, she didn’t forget another dozen poached pyrulas.
It might be her imagination but it felt easier to guess what he was feeling when he was eating. The delight she got when eating almost doubled compared to the meals she had the past week.
Before he had the chance to fall asleep, their visitors returned.
❅❅❅
Ebony yawned.
It's been almost two full months since Gen started his evolution process. 49 days to be specific.
They were hiding underground with the entire forest.
White maple leaves littered the ground as they fell off Ful.
Arguably, the invaders coming for a taste were far beyond what two of them could handle. Ton and Sei even stepped in to help but they weren’t all that strong. Thankfully, they were beyond tough and could protect themselves without burdening either of them.
Ever since returning from his second bait trip with the less-than-intelligent Mammoths, he hadn’t gotten any sleep.
The original majestic tree had less than half its leaves remaining and lost a lot of its lustre.
The silver lining was that it required less mana to keep the tree from going dry.
However, the rest of the Amur Maples were not used to running out of ice mana to absorb. Especially the Common and newborn Inferior-ranked trees and shrubs.
They have not surfaced for 5 days.
Ebony and Ning Xin couldn’t do a thing if the tree spirit kept them in here.
“He’s taking his own sweet time.” Gen had already gone over his estimate of a month.
Ebony couldn’t feel a drop of mana in the shell that was over thirty metres in diameter and twenty five metres tall. He didn’t know why but rather than pure size, the turtle’s shell mostly increased in thickness. He estimated Gen’s shell to be at least 3 metres thick. Thicker than a layer of the broken piece of shell from the progeniturtle.
If Ning Xin was right, Gen’s life force was reaching near the bottom too.
The turtle should be waking up soon.
“And you’re still denying sleep.”
“Not every day you get to see someone evolve.” Ebony countered, he hadn’t been sitting around awake for no reason.
He observed Gen’s evolution in real-time and the changes that happened to the turtle shell. It was educational.
He didn’t keep any mana for himself so he couldn’t experiment but he was patient.
The chef had been keeping herself busy by listening to energy infusion tips from a tree spirit. The Life Grafter cooked for himself and infusing energy into food to enhance their benefits was easy for them. The food that they were fed was also made by the Saint.
The Saint apparently imported food from another Saint-class chef for its creatures from time to time. Food that permanently increased even an Emperor's stats and gave permanent rise to things like resistance existed. However, that often required rare ingredients and natural treasures.
Energy infusion wasn’t the key point. Eating their own energy would do nothing. The technique was useless on normal ingredients with her current abilities.
The logic was to use her mana or maybe life force to tie and mix the energy already found in ingredients together to produce a greater effect or prevent it from getting lost in the process of cooking. It was basically alchemy.
Most ingredients they had on hand excluding their recent hunts were ingredients that ranged from Common to Uncommon rarity. Even if they were in Tidal, vegetables at a Rare-rank weren’t something the average person ate daily.
As for meat, Rare-rank meat was the meat of Grandmaster monsters and was not in circulation in Plainston. However, it wasn’t as hard to obtain compared to Rare-rank vegetables.
“Might as well move your hands, here!” Ning Xin dragged out barrel after barrel.
“What’s this?” Ebony could smell its contents but he didn’t know what she was getting at.
“Cream, I’ve already skimmed the milk and warmed it up last night. We’re out of butter.”
“And?”
“Churn some.”
“I will get paid in dumplings.” Rather than making a runic barrel that churned butter, Ebony thought it was a good idea to move his body and shook the barrels left and right.
She warned him to be careful not to break the barrel or slip the cream before going back to her cooking. The barrels were pretty durable and strong enough to handle some shaking with his unenhanced body.
He juggled the 4 barrels while practising his grip.
These days, mammoth meat is part of every meal. She was having a blast with dish experimentations. There was so much meat they wouldn’t be able to finish in years. Their newly enlarged bags couldn’t store a quarter of it. The meat and organs were currently packed in a huge ice box and a few pieces of the bones were lying within his bag and the trailer’s cargo space.
One of the barrels almost slipped out of his grasp when he sensed a chill down his back.
‘He’s awake.’ Ebony sensed a stream of mana filling up Gen’s body. The steady stream kept accelerating and turned into a raging torrent within minutes but it felt like a drop in the ocean.
Gen’s mana pool felt boundless. Ebony didn’t know how big it was but he could estimate from the speed of mana the turtle was regenerating. He would like a skill for it. It would be quite useful to know how much mana an opponent has and how fast they are recovering.
“Sorry…the soup’s a lot oiler than I’d hoped. I underestimated the amount of fat in the mammoth tail.”
He had asked for dumplings but the gluttonous one brought out a whole feast.
Ebony thought that Gen would wake up the moment the first drop of mana returned but the lazy turtle kept sleeping.
“Come under my branches.” Ful woke up and called them. It should’ve been sleeping to conserve energy but now that Gen was awake it wasn’t a big issue.
Ning Xin hastened her feasting instead of packing up. Ebony ignored her and picked the table up before gently lifting themselves off the ground. He had been in a constant state of slight overdraft for days and it was not too difficult to spare some. It wasn’t necessary to sacrifice any amount of mana chassis.
“Is something about to happen?” Ebony recalled breaking a bed right after he woke up from evolution. He had calculated multiple times but the bed frame shouldn’t have been flimsy enough to break from a few hundred kilograms of weight. Not to mention, he woke up with low mana. That meant he weighed a normal amount as nothing was yet compressed in his body.
Nothing happened to Ning Xin’s room when she woke up but he had a feeling it was because Xienor’s houses were just abnormal.
“Gen’s previous waking caused quite a stir. His parents almost died staying in the vicinity.”
“Why don’t we surface,” Ning Xin might have kept herself busy with cooking but she didn’t feel any less suffocated by being trapped under an army of monsters.
“I know what you’re thinking but there’s no need. It’s already snowing outside. The spell has weakened without Gen’s maintenance.”
They witnessed little globs of snow pierce through their sky a moment later.
Ning Xin somehow gobbled up all the food on the table and they quickly huddled and found Ful’s cave where it used to keep the heartblood essence.
She shivered and clenched her teeth in pain.
“What’s wrong?”
“The snow is hurting Ful and I’m sensing her pain…”
“That’s…troublesome for a side effect.”
“Wrap me up.”
He obliged and hugged her.
“I mean in your mana! It’s calming.” It wouldn’t hurt to overdraft more mana.
The tree spirit endured the snowfall in silence. It lasted a whole minute before Gen moved and shook its shell.
The toll it took on the girl surprised him. ‘Has her senses gotten so extreme?’
He also didn’t underestimate how dangerous Gen’s snow had become so he kept hugging Ning Xin as he fell asleep. Gen might need time right after waking up but he was pretty sure the turtle could reorient himself fast enough.