“What makes it the limit?” Kong Jing was surprised at the unfamiliar word. As a Xeng, she might not understand what ‘limits’ were.
‘Is she curious because she has tier 6 skills and can’t figure out how to evolve them?’ Ebony felt it was a new experience to see the knowledgeable crafter asking questions.
“You seventh generation will find out in due time. For these two, it wouldn’t matter for another 50 or 100 years. And as for you…why don’t you just go home and greet your mother and father for once? You can ask them.” Kong Tian dodged the question.
His estimation didn’t sound far off. Ebony had tier 5 skills that were countable on the fingers on one hand and it took him more than 10 years since their tier 4 versions. Of course, it was also because he was starting from scratch on many of them with little to no guidance other than copying and taking parts of existing techniques.
He listened to folktales about how they had received challengers. It started with an arrogant claim that they were the strongest race of Emperors throughout the universe. It was a big world, and there were plenty of races and people who didn’t like the claim made using Eidolon.
In a century, they ran out of challengers of Emperor rank. Ten years into that century, they claimed that they would only receive death battles because they’d received too many weak opponents that were looking for friendly battles. The next ninety years, the Xengs lost zero people and slaughtered enough that no Emperor who heard of their claim from Eidolon challenged them anymore.
Saints didn’t challenge them, it was beneath them to bully a mortal.
So the second generation Xengs went to knock on some doors. All it took was 1 head for the challenges to roll in.
When they saw the 3 great clans succeed, other clans did the same. And they did succeed. Over and over again.
That was enough to anger or intrigue what they call higher beings and their races. They had pride to reclaim and a group of people to make an example of.
The Xengs finally lost people.
In about four hundred years, the second generation Xeng produced 3 Saints and to this day lost exactly twelve people to these challenges. Their only challenger these days were newborn Saints and occasionally those that never participated or found it worth their time coming over for a battle.
Ebony listened with half scepticism. What made Xengs so special or so strong compared to normal humans?
He didn’t understand, they were humans as far as he could tell. Their win rate is also hard to believe when they apparently took on anyone. The people who died were from the third and mostly fourth generations that got ahead of themselves or had a poor match when it came to skill or element-wise advantages.
The most believable statement from Kong Tian was that it was hard to say if they got the truly strong Saints to come for a challenge. Those that couldn’t bother with statements from a mortal race. It was not known to Kong Tian whether the second generation’s door-knocking included the big races like Elves, Dragons, Phoenixes and many more.
“I have a question, about your lifespans.” Ebony saw a chance to change the conversation.
“What about it?”
“I heard Xengs have shorter lifespans than humans but it sounds like every one of your generation from second is still around. How long have the Xengs been around?” Though it was rarely on his mind, it might have bothered him a lot more than he initially assumed.
“You see…we don’t know. The second pioneered for an unknown amount of time before they settled and they’ve never told the third about many of the things they’ve been through. As for me, I know even less. And, yes we do have a shorter lifespan than a baseline or some sub-human races. I’m not sure if you know but Elcra’s humans have a relatively longer lifespan than average thanks to their Worldcore’s relatively pure and intense mana concentrations. They have 1500 to 2000 but the actual human average is closer to 1200 years, we have maybe 800? But that isn't really an issue with power and money.”
“Why is that?” Ebony never knew the reason, he just took it as a fact that Elcrian humans lived 80 standard years without even classing and immediately doubled to an average of 150 to 200 when they became a journeyman. 80 standard years was not far from 100 Earthen years.
“We can do it with spells and essence control. There are potions and physique refinements or mutations that increase lifespan. We don’t think about our lifespan a lot. It is what it is, we live however long we can. Why focus on where the full stop is when the sentence isn’t finished?”
The answer was about what Ebony expected.
So far, he hadn’t seen many people since the Kong Clan were shut-ins with space magic that no one could find if they didn’t show themselves other than their own clanmates.
The Ning Clan premises didn’t have the confusing distances to his senses but was oddly numbed by the surroundings. It was like needles were poking his senses so he reduced the range of sensation till he didn’t take mental damage.
He did however see a white crane carved on the Halycon Gates.
“Does each clan have their animal symbol?” Ebony asked.
“The emblem? Yeah, it’s supposed to symbolise each clan’s traits. It is said that the second generation embodies the ancestral animals inside them. I don’t know how true that is.”
There wasn’t any more time for casual conversation with Kong Tian when Xin charged into a young lady’s arms. The hundreds of kilometres between them were crossed in moments.
‘Who is that?’ Ebony didn’t recognise the beautiful young woman wearing a dark blue dress with sparkling dots like that of a starry night sky. Standing just a head shorter than Xin was an unmasked lady. A quick look at a familiar mask at her hips told him all he needed to know.
“Is that, that is not how I recall her to look like. Her height’s all wrong.” Ebony blinked twice.
“I can hear you boy!” Xin’s grandmother angrily yelled at him.
“Grandaunt made herself look old because she looked too much like Xin’s mother. Looking older wouldn’t remind young little Xin of her lost mother.” Kong Jing explained using space magic as a transmitter rather than vibrations.
Ebony kept silent and walked slowly with the two space mages, giving the family some alone time. The grassy fields slowly changed into the view of seemingly endless rice paddy fields.
“Every field and overall environment on Sky’s Edge is collectively maintained by the Peng, An, Yu, Shang and Shui clan. Not including the sun and moon or the movement of our home.” Kong Jing took over explaining when she was nudged by her granduncle. They were trying to be good tour guides and they were doing their best.
Sooner or later, they had to speed up or they were going to walk for days. That was about 2 hours of complaints from Xin to her grandmother before they ran. By the looks of it, the space mages weren’t joking when they said they couldn’t travel the way they loved best because they had to run too.
It was the first time he saw Kong Jing run but her physical fitness, footwork or movement skill was not lacking.
The two fifth-generation seniors moved more similar to Ebony than the other girls. They were just walking but their steps pushed them forward by vast distances.
The Nings' home or village had about two dozen houses each with their own pond. There was clearly a pond beauty competition going on. A large outdoor training field was present unlike with the Kongs where he couldn’t see anything they didn’t let people without elemental spatial perception see.
“First off, we’re going to need to find out whose child you are and what clan you’re from.”
“My mother’s name is Shi Wu.”
“Shi?” The beautiful Asian lady looked confused before exchanging looks with Kong Tian.
“What’s wrong?” He expected some kind of reaction, but confusion wasn’t one of them. Veronica Ning knew of the old name he knew, Amelia Stone. At that time, they were speaking Elcrian and she very likely never thought much about it. Not making the connection between the languages or just weren’t allowed to use any form of divination magic on one of their own without their clan’s permission. Or she was playing some kind of mind game with him again.
“Boy, we know every Shi and I’ve never heard of any Shi Wu.”
“Well, if it’s the Shi, we can just pass you over and ask them. We have several runaways, perhaps Shi Wu is just one that is permanently on dungeon hunting or exploration before we were born.”
“Ah ha, maybe you’re technically fifth generation or fourth. Imagine if I have to call you uncle. Aahahahahaha!” Veronica Ning Xing laughed. They might call each other uncles and aunties but it was just how they called each other. Kong Jing had no blood relations with Veronica Ning.
Ebony did not know what the Xeng family trees looked like and he wasn’t that interested.
“Tian.”
“I’m just going to go now?” Ebony questioned the short run they just went through.
“Yeah, I can’t introduce you without knowing what clan you're from. We took a walk for you to familiarise yourself with our home. Don’t worry, I won’t let anyone bully my granddaughter. You can come by yourself after the Shi Clan confirms your identity. We aren’t on good terms but not on bad terms either. To be honest, I was half expecting you to be a survivor of the Wen Clan.”
“Is that so?”
“Your mana adaptability and how you reforge your body reminds me of the stories of the Wen Clan leader I heard. Then again, I don’t know much about him.” Veronica shrugged.
“AH XING hurry up and let me see your granddaughter!! I’m about to die of old age here!”
“WAIT A DAMN MINUTE OLD MAN!” Veronica shouted, coughed and calmed down before pulling Xin away and bidding them farewell. Kong Jing followed them, leaving Ebony alone with Kong Tian.
‘They both switch tempers really quickly. I see it's hereditary. And it looks like Veronica also doesn’t have nearly as much power in her family as compared to when she was on Elcra.’ It was interesting to see some personality changes from the other 2 Xengs that he was acquainted with, though less with Xin’s grandmother.
Ebony exchanged glances with Xin,
“Don’t worry, it’s not like this is the first time I’m meeting them. I didn’t see them many times, but I was here when I was a toddler.” She comforted his worries. He had just heard that she was coming home to get beaten up with high confidence from their older sister.
“So, the Shi. What are they known for?” Nodding to Xin, he turned to Kong Tian.
“Absolute physical supremacy.”
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“That’s it?”
“That’s it.”
“Magic, element?”
“All over the place. Stone. Earth. Metal. Diamond. Wind. Lightning. Fire. It really depends on who the partner is. A Shi and a Huo’s descendant, fire magic. A Shi and a Yin, lunar and earth. A Shi and a Zhen is pure strength, arcane. The Shi and Zhen descendant is of the fourth generation and one of our strongest combatants named Shi Rui.”
“I see. Any gravity users?”
“Amongst the Shi, none that I know of and they are the smallest clan after the Wen which is followed by the Ning.”
“Any reason for that? I would assume they would want more descendants.”
“They do want more, and they try till this day. We do have a handful of uncles or aunts that are younger than I am but only one from the Shi and none from the Ning, Yang, Yin or my clan the Kongs.”
“What are the Shi like? Who am I going to meet?”
“Let me see, they are the most martial. Possibly due to their physical supremacy. Strength does the talking even more so than with the rest of us. In fact, I’m sure if a random stranger came and beat one of them up, they might consider adopting them. Though that hasn’t happened. Just for your information, our clans are unofficially ordered. The chore of fighting off challengers is pushed to the weakest of us. And those challenges have never gotten to the 3 great clans for a long while.”
“So should I expect a fight?”
“No. Not many Shi stay at home, they are always out fighting and training. There should be a few sleeping at home but, you might luck out and only find the older generation. Do you know why we’re confused you’re a Shi?”
“My weak body.” Honestly, he didn’t know how Kong Hua determined that by a single look but that was the only clue he had at the moment. He was inclined to believe their senses and words at the moment.
“That, and that you’re a man. So far, there have been 3 other male Shi descendants recorded. One had a stillbirth, the other died when he tried to get his Class, during his evolution from Unclassed. The last got eaten by the God of Vigor. Don’t worry, we never let something like that go without consequences. The First made sure to share that God’s flesh and blood and the elders had a feast. I’m pretty sure it was a lion. She did manage to fish the descendant out before he died but…the Shi cannot be healed. The God of Vigor’s stomach was not exactly fit for the living either. Their effective constitution is so high, that very few healers can heal them and we don’t exactly have good connections or reputations. People couldn’t help but wish we were dead. Ah, right. That might be why the elders had their lifespans increased, surely Divine blood from the God of Vigor would do something.”
“My gut is telling me the story doesn’t end there.”
“The First might have slaughtered a few healing-focused races due to their…unwillingness to heal one of us.”
“Might I ask how many?”
“Let’s just say Eidolon had to remap and relabel a couple of star charts since they became empty. Not the worst since she let the Shi handle their own fury. Alright, we’re out of the Nings village. Get the gifts ready.”
The space mage transferred them directly over to their destination. The so-called gifts were assortments of fruits. There was essentially nothing he could give that they couldn’t get better versions of and money didn’t change that. Rare fruits seemed to be the most common and suitable meeting gifts if Kong Jing didn’t lie to him. Another present was to give a personally imbued spell in an accessory to represent more sincerity but that might not be the best for a first meeting.
“Anything special like the Halcyon Gates?”
“It’s a little more troublesome. Second generation Yin and a few others, one of which is a wizard casts a spell that makes us normal, unclassed again. It can make normal, baseline human Saints become unclassed so the spell is not a joke that can be overridden with strength or magic but I believe Saints can summon their power back to them. It depends on the individual. To be clear, it also brings your physical strength to a certain standard so everyone who is affected would be just as fit.”
“Is there something we have to do as a normal unclassed?” He probed for the reason.
“We need to cross a raging river. Climb a sky-high cliff that’s bridged with wooden stills with increasingly small footholds to jump across into a jungle. The jungle is filled with numerous traps to hinder us. Oh, it can kill for sure.”
“An obstacle course. Sounds simple enough. The standardised physical strength must be for some kind of competition I assume. I bet there is a ranking.” Ebony appreciated the simplicity. It was better than a mind spell that makes one go insane.
“You know us well. Yes, there is a ranking but they don’t include any of the second generation since the spell simply cannot remove their baseline traits even if they could make them unclassed so it was deemed unfair for them to take part. Crafters are at the bottom of the list and the Kongs are even lower since we aren’t very...physically active.” Kong Tian was not embarrassed about his poor score but he wasn’t hiding the fact that he wasn’t good at the obstacle course.
It didn’t take long before he reached the obstacle course.
Ebony marvelled when he stepped past the purple line painted on the floor. His mana perception disappeared. The sensation of mana in his body no longer reminded him he was a mana being. He tested his physical fitness with a jump and tiptoes to find that it was almost like he was back on Earth. Almost, but he was probably 35% stronger.
‘Wow, I can’t get a good estimation. My calculation skill is gone too? Did it somehow regress my mind as well?’ Ebony couldn’t sense any of his passive skills. His meditation was gone and his mind clarity was muddled compared to before he stepped past the purple line. His jumps didn’t have any Flicker in them. His muscles couldn’t snap the way they could.
It was nostalgic.
‘Wizardry is so different from a mage’s magic.’ He immediately pinpointed the main reason this was working on him. Elemental or arcane mana simply couldn’t achieve this kind of effect unless he was assuming how limited mana was.
“Ebony, a timer will start once you push this button. It’s been decades for me so I’ll go ahead and test myself.” Kong Tian removed his overcoat and bundled it to tie it inside his inner garment before he smashed a comically large red button on a tree stump and dashed off.
‘This test standardised strength and physical ability for fairness. For the Xengs where individual power is important, this test probably means more than just a self-inspection. I should try to rank high. This river is impossible to swim through, I should jump on the artificially placed planks and logs like him.’ Ebony observed the raging river with occasional junk floating around.
Kong Tian was floating downstream while waiting for a suitable platform to jump to. The river seemed to be over a hundred metres across. But downstream, before the river fell off the horizon was less than 2 kilometres away. He had to do it fast.
Past the river was just a mountainous rocky slope and he couldn’t see any further.
Ebony warmed his body up and stretched to get a better feel of his physical ability without rushing. He did a breathing test to check his respiratory system. It was honestly just like the old body he was used to, except a bit more strength and speed. It didn’t change his height or frame so the spell did not physically regress him to the past.
It was pretty cool that none of his skills were able to activate. If the Cinderash had this kind of prison, he would never see the light of day because even Will was unable to be moved at his command. He had to be very careful and not overconfident thinking he could escape from any prison.
Thirty minutes had passed while he inspected himself and he pushed the red button before leaping for the singular rock in the river and contracting his calves to jump onto a small log. It was like he had wires balancing him when he barely shook after the jump.
For a moment, it seemed like Treading Steps was in action when his calves and ankles contracted explosively to push him for a 5-metre jump to a wooden crate upstream. It was something Kong Tian didn’t do.
He might have been physically average on Earth but his usage of his muscles and body was beyond any human except his mother. Possibly father but he never saw his father fight.
Over twenty jumps and furiously throbbing veins and spasms in his leg, he crossed the river and started on his journey up the rocky and uneven path. He let his legs rest and just dashed up while looking for the shortest and easiest path.
The slope kept increasing and he found himself digging his fingers into an almost creaseless cliff but he swung his body up as smoothly as an Apex Ape on home grounds. Reaching the top of the 2 kilometre cliff, he wasted no time and pushed his rested leg muscles to leap at the wooden stills, likely 2 kilometres tall rather than floating platforms.
There was never any hesitation when he lept. It may be a 2 kilometre drop but that hardly mattered. Just don’t fall and it would be no different from a 2 metre drop. The wooden logs were thinner than his arm but he jumped as if they were unbreakable and could support his weight.
There were at least a hundred stills that he had to cross but he skipped some with a longer jump, one leg landing and kicking off for the other leg to catch his next landing. This was no different from flat ground. He ignored those that were less than 2 metres apart and made sure he crossed in as short a time span as possible.
He reached the end of the line where there was a single green vine connected to a hanging metal stand that extended down to the jungle below.
Free falling, he didn’t need his speed slowed down. His current mass was without compressed mana, he estimated a dislocated shoulder and arm wouldn’t impede the next part of the obstacle course.
When he was fifty metres off the ground, he grabbed the vine tight and kicked the nearest wooden still that he had landed on last. It swung him forward while he controlled his descent and he made a hard landing on both his feet. The tree branch he found was thick enough that it didn’t break but that made him take the shock of his fall through his body and spine. His burned palms and surprisingly intact shoulders already absorbed most of it so the landing didn’t injure him, it just sent a jolt in him.
Without any warnings, he leaned back while holding the vine to support his body and three arrows pierced the tree trunk.
Ebony liked to move atop trees because it helped to avoid many traps that could be set on the ground. His agility up here was pretty much greater than a monkey anyway.
After two minutes of moving that way, he opted for the ground. The creators of this place didn’t leave treetop traps out and it was slowing him down.
The classic swingingly tree log was easy to notice and even if he accidentally triggered it, it was easy to dodge. Wire-triggered traps were the easiest to avoid.
‘Smells like mother’s training style all over the place.’ He eyed the jungle trees that were thinning out and found a camouflaged swinging log trap that was well-placed for his needs.
He climbed onto the trap and triggered it with a rock. The 4 metre thick log swung at unnatural speeds, probably boosted by mechanisms like springs. He flew off along with the log and timed his explosive contraction of leg muscles once again to fly through the jungle.
‘Wall jumping? That’s an easy finish…are there traps on the walls?’ He saw the finish line, a red button on a table. It was a hundred metres above ground. A smooth wall blocked the encroaching jungle but there a smooth rectangular indent 2 metres apart. He could easily guess he was supposed to wall jump all the way up to the red button but it seemed too simple for a finish line.
Ebony ran through the last kilometre of the jungle, some of the traps caught him by surprise but it barely slowed him down. The nets were the most dangerous for the speed run, they were shot out so fast he could never react to them after triggering them. Fortunately, there weren’t many of them and he triggered the first one when the branch he kicked forward just so happened to trigger it.
A two-metre distance wall jump was tough but it was also the simplest thing he had to do. Unexpectedly, he climbed the whole wall without any traps on the smooth walls and gently pushed the button to mark the end of his obstacle course run.
‘That was a poor run, I spent a whole minute getting out of the tree that fell into a swamp when I landed on it.’ Ebony wiped the sawdust that was sprayed into his eyes when he stepped on an unassuming spot on the earth. He was glad he memorised the last stretch of the route and the blinding only happened right before the wall jump.
“00:47:16:58, Clan: Unknown. Generation: Unknown. Guest record, name?” A robotic voice lit up on the stone pillar beside the button.
“Ebony.” He should not be considered crazy talking to a stone pillar.
“Guest Ebony, rank 6.” Ebony took a look at the stone pillar but a person’s panting disturbed him
“…I was wrong, you might really be a Shi. There’s no way that’s real.” Not far away from the stone pillar, Kong Tian had his hands on his knees, catching his breath. “How are you not out of breath, we should have the same physical ability.”
Ebony realised the course was over and released the breath in him, steamy breath came out of his mouth and nose. His exhale lasted for a half a minute. Then his body slowly collapsed but he managed to sit himself on his butt.
“You can induce increased physical performance with or without a skill,” Ebony commented while taking a look at the names above him on the stone pillar.
1 - Shi Jian, Generation 3. Time: 00:26:05:12
2 - Shi Yun, Generation 3 Time: 00:38:24:27
3 - Shi Rui, Generation 4 Time: 00:39:02:79
4 - Shi Yue, Generation 3 Time: 00:42:55:88
5 - Shi Qiang, Generation 3 Time: 00:45:55:12
6 - Guest Ebony Time: 00:47:16:58
7 - Shi Han, Generation 4 Time: 00:47:25:38
8 - Shi Qing, Generation 4 Time: 00:48:28:08
9 - Shi Qin, Generation 4 Time: 00:48:28:10
10 - Shi Ling, Generation 5 Time: 00:49:08:68
“It looks like the Shi dominates this ranking board.” There were a few Nings on the top 25 but only because there weren't 25 people from the Shi Clan. Other than 2 Nings, a few Yangs and a single Lei the others seem to have a difficult time breaking under an hour. It doesn’t tell much other than their ability to make use of the same amount of strength or ability to cross certain obstacles. Magic ability wasn’t tested at all with this classic obstacle course.
He expected them to be good but to think that he was 21 whole minutes away from 1st place was unbelievable with the same strength and speed.
‘Nearly 40 and I still haven’t tapped into all the human body’s potential. I haven’t been training hard enough.’ Ebony was slightly disappointed in himself. He could do it again and potentially reduce his time by a few minutes with the knowledge of the course but any more than 5 minutes would be tough. It was unknown if the traps and terrain was constant or if it automatically randomised too.
The image of his mother shaking her head behind him flashed in his mind.
He still had a long way to go.