Icicle was many times more durable than it used to be. It didn’t burst into pieces after one of Ebony’s strongest attacks.

Ebony made a deep cut into the Elder Ape's forearm, reaching the bone before the Ape's arm was forced to the ground. It couldn't raise its arm any further, as Ebony prevented it from doing so.

‘No notification…an attack isn’t enough.’ Ebony was forcefully plucked off the Elder’s forearm and they exchanged blows for a minute or two.

‘Combat isn’t enough either. Am I not accomplishing something 21 benchmarks away or is this method unreliable? Let’s keep it up for a week before I decide.’ Ebony disturbed one elder after another for the next week, hoping that the issue was the duration of combat.

‘Let’s think of it other than combat, let’s say I have to accomplish something more along the lines of what my class is supposed to do. Serene Blade of Blistering Frost…I’m pretty much doing everything along those lines. Am I not serene enough?’ Ebony blocked a punch with Icicle and had his arms broke on impact.

He wasn’t sent flying back as these Elders punched and attacked in a manner that didn’t push him back, they pulled back their punches at a precise time that all the power snapped at one spot.

The rest of the Master Apes already knew about his persistent challenges against their elders. Actually, Ebony partially got this idea because the previous Ape Champion did something similar. However, that Ape only did so for a single day before it went and evolved.

He was exhausted. Fluid Blitz was not friendly for extended battles.

The Elders waited and watched him stand in place. They were intrigued by him to a certain extent. There was no other creature with two arms and legs that could match them in a similar fashion.

Moonlight shone on them.

Mana refuelled his chassis as consistently as ever.

Until Ebony decided to knock himself out of meditation.

He laid back and let his body fall to the ground.

The Apes saw that and went to bed. They lazed around on their rocks whenever they weren’t fighting.

‘Why am I fixated on my Class, Core Skills are placed above them…They are more closely related to potential than Class Skills as a bigger beneficiary. But what’s the difference, I consistently use both my Core Skills in battle. Come on imagination, what did all those novels and movies do? Forget it, I’m not smart enough. They say my mana has calming properties and my domain has all my magic. Might as well try to make my domain meditate. Hmm?’ Ebony sat back up.

‘Why does meditation give a boost in mana regeneration? Calmness? There’s a limit to that, even as a partial being of mana. Is that why it’s stuck at tier 3 or is it just the limitation of a Master? Don’t know, don’t care. I need someone to tell me if being within my domain increases their mana regeneration.’ Ebony disappeared from the Ape’s territory.

He hunted down an owl and forced it to cast magic on him. Suppressing it under his palms, he cast a small ranged domain and treated the creature as a friendly.

‘It doesn’t regenerate mana any faster even though the domain is made up of my mana?’ Ebony combed the owl’s feathers and let it go.

He sat down with his feet crossed. Setting up his domain to the limits of his range, he began to modify it again.

A crafter crafts to prove their worth.

A warrior fights.

An Archer fires an arrow.

A hunter hunts.

So a Meditator must meditate.

Once again, Ebony dived into his memories. Turning the clock back, he re-lived every moment he could recall. Putting the present Ebony into a past situation. His strength aside, would anything change? Would he have done anything differently?

He thought he lived in a way that he would have no regrets but recent growth and experience changed his views. They say hindsight is always 20/20.

Although he wouldn’t say he regretted any of his actions, he was able to reflect that there times were when he had better options that he didn’t take.

Ebony came to terms with them.

There was nothing wrong with not taking the optimal actions.

He reached his oldest memories and time raced forward again.

This time, his facial expression changed.

He frowned at times.

Groan in pain at others.

Trembled in fear.

Smiled - though not quite joyfully.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Then he reached his first day on Elcra.

He realised he was mostly filled with excitement that was dampened out by his meditation. This world was unlike Earth, where Ebony predicted his entire life’s direction and outcome. The lacking feeling of life had not been present since day one here.

Everlasting Tranquillity no longer increased his pain resistance. Other than that, he was aware he was no longer as dull in certain aspects.

The session ended when he reached the present. It felt like a minute at best but he opened his eyes and was surprised to find out twelve days passed from the moon’s hue.

‘It’s been a while since I fell into a trance not related to combat or experiments.’

‘Ting’

“There it is.”

‘Core developed. Potential accrued.’

“Is that it?” Ebony was hoping for more information. Although it seemed like he did get Natural Potential, he had no idea to what degree. Did it equate to a creature at level 700 or higher? If higher, how much higher?

‘Why are there so many owls on the ground? Wait, a pair of Elks.’ Ebony got to his feet when he noticed a group of owls sitting and lying near his body. A few were injured, probably because they bit or attacked him. The others were just…relaxing.

The Apex Apes were called the strongest Grandmaster race by Gen but the Elks were not far off. At the ranks of a Master, they might not lose to an Apex Ape so easily. However, both creatures' fortes were very different. These Elks were more of a magic caster than a pure physical beast. They ignored Ebony and Xin back then but they were quite a threat.

The Elks were just standing around, not too far away from him. Even more confusing was that an Elder Ape was lying down not too far away from him. As if watching and protecting him from other creatures.

“What’s it?” Gen’s head popped out from the ground. As usual, the earthen ground became snow where the turtles go. The monsters scattered so fast that he thought he was imagining things.

“Core developed. Do you have that notification?” Ebony decided not to ponder about the other creatures’ non-hostility.

“Yes. After I reached my limit for all my main skills. It took a couple hundred years, counting the time I was deep asleep.”

“...Couldn’t you tell me to focus on my core skill?”

“Why? Did you manage to find a method? I just lived my life normally and it developed naturally.”

“First of all, what does Core refer to?”

“Your existence. The core of your very being. As Gen mentioned, you don’t particularly need to work on your Core Skill alone to get it. I thought it was a matter of course that anyone would focus on their Core Skill. I’m not one to mention the obvious.” Ful answered for the turtle.

‘There’s no way this is some kind of secret. Ful’s just hiding information. Xin wasn’t told either or the knowledge was so common that she thought I knew. Nah, she knows I’m clueless so she must not have been taught either. I guess even her grandma doesn’t share these things or she couldn’t care less to listen to lectures.’

Ebony doubted that such an obvious method was a secret. However, he was still too dull and assumed that breaking one’s limits was as simple as sitting down for twelve days.

‘No drop in conditioning levels, tier 4 is nice.’ Ebony made sandwiches for himself while looking through the next few notifications he had.

‘Ting’ ‘Core Skill Everlasting Tranquillity evolved into Perpetual Tranquillity Spring’

Perpetual Tranquillity Spring - A never-ending source of energy has formed in your mental world and mana chassis, breaking your state of mind is nigh impossible regardless of consciousness increasing Mana and Stamina rate by 700% + 10.0% per level, Perception by 300% + 5.0% per level.

‘Not a complete tier 4 but that’s pretty amazing. No wonder I still feel energetic. I refined it to 600%, the evolution only gave me another 100% base but I’ll take it. That’s a 68.5 times multiplier. 519 mana per second, great, the old skill couldn’t keep up since my compression skill got to tier 4. I can push Fluid Blitz even further.’ Ebony had been troubled by the fact that his mana pool and compression had outpaced his regeneration.

At the levels of compression he could pull off, he would run out of fully compressed mana and fight with vastly weaker spells and body. Since his body’s strength also depended on the density of mana within.

He scanned through the rest of his status with some pride. Especially with his Sub-Class. If improving ice magic was as simple as breathing, then sound and gravity were the results of his own work.

‘The numbers changed?’ Ebony noticed a few skills gaining a level when they’ve been halted for a few months. The noticeable change was great since he was not far from reaching his goal.

Almost all ice type Skills were close or over level 600. Even his sword mastery was at 539. The rest of his Class Skills were over 450 except for Frozen Lull. Hence, he was not far from being completely satisfied.

His Sub-Class skills, as expected, had a hard time getting over level 500. However, that was already over the 1.5 times requirement by a significant amount. It might make things easier for him in future.

As for his Profession, their skill levels comfortably sat at 520 to 550. It might suit him even more than his Sub-Class or his natural talent with mana exceeded that of sound and gravity magic.

‘Although I have no idea how much I can push them, at least they can move aga-.’

“Gen! Strengthen your domain!” Ful yelled like any other tree would. Magic.

The trailer shook and he knew he was falling. They landed a second later. He guessed Gen pushed the underground dome deeper into the planet.

It didn’t take a second for him to get out fully equipped.

“What’s the cause of concern?” Ebony waved his hands to blow the snow away but it was futile.

“Scarlet’s in trouble.”

“...Elaborate. Last I’ve heard, nothing can trouble Gen here.”

“An Emperor, not just any random one either.”

“Those ex-” Ebony stopped talking when a vast amount of mana was expended from within him.

“Ebony? Your presence is fading.” Gen questioned as he walked right up to him.

“It’s the skill I was shared…Entity Evanesce. Meaning the person who shared it with me activated it or the conditions were fulfilled. A skill for hiding…there’s someone to hide from. Gen let me out, wherever this trouble is.”

“Ebony. She’s been caught. I’ll be honest, that man feels like a danger even if Rue was with me. I don’t know what skill has been cast on you, but it’s working on me.”

“I’m banking on it.”

“They are acting…peaceful for now but I won’t lose my sister again. I have your back if things turn south. Just focus on getting away. Hurry up Gen, I’m starting to forget Ebony’s even here.”

With little information, Ebony was whipped up to the surface.