“Are you going to tell me how?” Ebony inquired.
“That would have to wait till you can beat it out of me.” The older woman poured the rest of the tea right in front of them onto the grass.
“...so it wasn’t peaceful. That’s why I was born on Earth. How strong was my mother?”
“You know the grading system people use? It is not accurate and there could be huge differences between one Grade 6 to another Grade 6 but that would do for a scale. Third generation Xeng combatants are all Grade 8 Emperors. So was your mother but she was stronger than I was before I evolved.”
“Does that mean tier 8 skills?”
“Not at all. Sixes and a couple of sevens for core skills. You should know better than to think skill tiers is all there is in battle. Wait a minute, how old are you this year? Standard.”
“I’m 37, I got teleported or was transported over when I was 16.” Ebony actively shut out the calculations by Earthen years, he did not want to follow that line of thought. It made him feel far older than his mind felt.
“A year’s delay. By the way, it has been thousands of years since your mother, my sister gave birth to you. Few of my children or descendants know I have a sister but fear not, I will introduce you properly as a third generation Xeng. I have waited for you for a long time, never knowing when you’d show up.”
“Is there a reason why I was transported to Elcra, of all places?”
“Back then, that was our only home. The exact location can’t be pinpointed since the whole point was that you were hidden from their enemies. But you had to appear somewhere with your parents' leftover aura. I assumed you woke up near Xienor.”
“Not even close. Hoarfrost Glades.”
“Ah, was there a big turtle?”
Ebony didn’t reply immediately. Rue was apparently ‘killed’ by a Xeng. He didn’t believe that the turtle was dead, less and less after he grew stronger. Ful, the tree should be dead if that were true.
“Relax, I hold no grudge with that turtle. An impressive creature that one. It killed one of us second generation when we were young. I’m sure he died happy knowing there was something so strong on Elcra. Much later, I found out that those creatures' creator was friendly with your father’s tribe. That might be why you were transported near the turtle. A living creature would attract you better than a leftover aura from thousands of years ago.”
He ate his fruits in silence, trying to build a timeline in his mind.
“Can you tell me what Shi Wu was like? I mean as a mother and family woman? I only ever knew her as a sister.”
Ebony had no problems with that, he wanted to know what his mother was like outside of what she showed him.
Their talks quickly extended into the night.
‘Looks like she’s the same person we both know.’ Neither of them was surprised to find that Shi Wu hardly acted differently and her personality was close to that of a rock that knew warmth and love deep down. Also, training.
Sharing about Shi Wu did make him feel slightly closer to this stranger of an Aunt. Almost enough for him to feel like she was a relative. He was swayed surprisingly easily but thinking about how he called Kong Jing sister in a short time, this didn’t feel that out of place. No one else knew who Shi Wu was so that must have played a part.
A couple of giggles were let loose at Shi Wu’s awkward moments of showing care or concern.
The couple thousand-year-old lady was a bit sad that Shi Wu never told him about her other than a mention of her existence. Ebony believed that the rain that fell in their view was not a coincidence nor was it a spell.
They didn’t take the reminiscence too far. He changed the subject to the topic of baseline traits.
“You have a portable module, look up the God of Knowledge’s library and search for books on baseline traits.”
“I’m only a grandmaster. I don’t have the reputation for access.” He wished he could access that kind of knowledge.
“Who referred you? Never mind, pass me your bracelet.” The woman who looked almost identical to his mother had a slight frown and a lightning strike was sent down in the distance right after her frown.
Ebony didn’t think much about it and passed it over the table. The bracelet was bound to him but it didn’t mean he couldn’t grant permission for others to use Eidolon. That was how he let Kong Jing use it too. It was slightly different from the rest of the functions that couldn’t be passed over with permission.
She held it up and then placed it back down. “You have access now but Hex is inferior or rather, only a small part of itself so there’s a limit to how much access it has. It's rather annoying, but this knowledge guy is also the secret guy. Anything you read in there is forcefully kept secret to you so that he can continue selling the same knowledge to everyone else. You will find yourself unable to speak if you try sharing the knowledge you learn from his library. But only to people who don’t already know.”
“Spell?”
“No. It’s better if you don’t ask. Finding out these things yourself is what makes every Xeng unique from each other outside Clan skills. That brings up a question, you’re 37. Whether it is from the viewpoint of your aunt or that you’re part of the Shi, I am very keen on seeing how far along you are with our clan skill. Shi Wu and I developed it together.”
“I’m unaware of what you’re referring to. She taught me flexibility, adaptability and having no real moves. I wasn’t able to follow it completely and made an active kicking offence skill.”
“You don’t know the clan skill!?”
Ebony’s eardrums were close to popping at her shock.
She brought him to the second floor of the temple-like building. The entire floor was an empty training room thousands of times bigger than what it looked like from outside. She didn’t bring him far from the door.
“I’m aware of how fragile you are, augment yourself and come closer.” Her words did not allow him to be comfortable.
“I’m not sure I would be a good target for whatever you are trying to do.” Ebony wasted no time before this person overestimated her control. Fortunately, this room did not extend any kind of suppression to his powers like the environment outside. It was too bad Dusk or Aegis wasn’t around to support him but at least his Will was topped up.
He walked up to her, standing less than an arm’s length away.
“Ready?” Without any visible motions, he was hit by a force that pushed him against the wall. For a full half a minute, it was like he was blown by a fan where his facial muscles and skin were comically blown back.
‘There was no mana in that, it wasn’t a spell.’ Ebony had Battleforge simulate the same scenes in his mind.
“You must have seen this skill.”
“I was on Earth, how could I have seen or learnt this skill?” He landed on his feet from the wind pressure that blew back to the rest of the wide room.
“You misunderstand, I said skill but it’s just muscular control.” She cocked her head to the right oddly familiarly. Just the way he and his mother would do, only in the opposite direction.
“I was often told that I’m untalented, may I see that one more time.” He
“Brace.” The older woman raised her palm and Ebony reflexively crossed block in front of his face.
The same thing happened but instead of intense wind pressure across his body, it was concentrated on his face. This unbelievably strong lady was playing a dangerous game with his life!
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
When the wind pressure that he couldn’t pull himself out of let his face out of the hard wall behind him, he wiped the blood from his nose.
“I see. I didn’t know that was possible and it’s so simple.” Ebony raised a palm to his face. With a bit of difficulty, the muscles in his palm spasmed and snapped. On the third iteration, the wriggling flesh snapped in tandem and his hair blew against the wind pressure that was formed by the explosion of snapping muscles under his skin.
‘How did she do the one before she raised her palms? Ah, snap it across the chest and belly. Ug, this hurts and drains muscle endurance immensely. Kinda like Quake Kick but it doesn’t require mana. Phantom's Flicker also uses similar muscular control but ten times gentler on the muscles. Maybe she changed and made me learn it as a movement ability but I never thought to use it a more aggressive and taxing version throughout my body.’
“Auntie, there’s no way a human body can produce this kind of effect with their stats.”
“Wrong. Your mother can do this Unclassed. We typically hunted Masters when we were unclassed.”
“What? Even for a breeze, I believe we need at least a couple hundred points in strength. I can coordinate and optimise the snapping of muscles with control and technique but to produce a shockwave and that much windpressure would be impossible.”
“Hmm, I don’t blame you for thinking that. Read up on the basics of baseline traits, and then I can discuss it with you. The greedy law of secrets doesn’t allow me to speak with anyone who hasn’t paid up to read unless we find out from a different source and know it before reading it from the library. It’s almost time for breakfast, come with me for a family meal.”
“...Okay.” Ebony was beginning to think of Ning Xin when food was mentioned.
“I have 4 daughters, you must have seen their names on the record. My Eldest daughter, Shi Jian, is the only one unmarried. The others all have children. The last I heard from you and my sister was from her. You remember sparing with her don't you?”
“I met your daughter? On Earth?" Ebony had revisited his memories so many times he immediately thought of someone, someone he lost to when he was made to fight people. 'I thought that was a boy or man...Shi Jian is the name at the top of the list for that obstacle course. Is she thousands or hundreds of years old even though I met her a few decades ago? And Oplot is only over a hundred or two hundred years old when I met supposedly met him decades ago...'
"You did..."
Ebony already recalled before she replied. The person he recalled was the one who beat him thoroughly in combat, in pure technique. However, his impression of him or her was no longer that strong. It was just a loss and young or old, Ebony didn't really care much about the results of a spar but what he gained from it.
"I noticed that generation 4 has the most people but it dropped sharply from 4 to 5 and a small drop from 5 to 6. Throughout every clan. Is there a specific reason?” He only knew that from the list of names and family or clan names he saw earlier.
“Yeah, it’s not easy for them to find a match that doesn’t have a blood relationship with each other. Even harder if they don’t like each other. But the main problem is that our fertility just keeps dropping. Read the books on baseline traits, it can explain why our fertility is dropping too. Of course, it’s also because some of them are not ready for children.” Shi Tao was a woman of many words, unlike his mother. Perhaps she was just excited to meet and talk to him in the same way he wanted to learn more about his mother from this woman.
“Who should I expect to see and greet?”
“None of them here know about you. I have told my daughters I had a sister once but they might not remember since they were babies. As for the rest of my descendants, don’t worry about them. I’ll make them aware of your status of a third-generation Xeng. They will introduce themselves.” Shi Tao brought him back downstairs and entered a quiet dining room.
Ebony blinked three times in succession. ‘They have very strong genetics…’
Seated at a huge circular table were 8 women and 6 men. They sat up straight and didn’t say a word to each other. All 8 women looked just about a copy of Shi Tao just younger. Excluding 2 masked women he couldn’t see their facial features. Their frames were slightly different and so were their heights but their faces were nearly copies. Fortunately, he could differentiate them from his mother who had very slight differences with Shi Tao in her brows and the angle of their nose bridge.
While none of the women showed surprise, the men at the table were all looking at him. Some were confused and others surprised but none spoke up.
“Ahhaha, must have kept you kids waiting. Shi Ling, get another chair. Come, Ebony, sit here.” Shi Tao took a seat closest to the door, facing the window. She patted the air beside her where the shortest version of the woman placed a stool.
“Mother, this is?” The woman closest to Shi Tao no longer held back her curiosity. If there was any, it felt like the other people at the table were eyeing her and hoping she asked.
“Shi Qiang, this is your cousin. He is a third-generation Shi, my sister’s son. Introduce yourselves.”
“I have a cousin? You’ve never told me anything about a cousin. Is he why we drove back to this corner sector?”
“Yes. I didn’t know when he would appear. Be careful, in terms of age he is part of the seventh generation. As you can tell, he is extremely fragile so we’ll skip any handshakes.”
“Greetings cousin. I am Shi Qiang of the third generation and this is my husband, Shui Feng.” Shi Qiang, the person who was ranked fifth in their obstacle course, patted the man beside her when she introduced themselves.
“Pleasure to meet you, cousin.” Shui Feng flashed a gentle smile. Their language had a proper term for ‘cousin’s male cousin’ but there was no direct translation in Gia or Elcrian. He was the lankiest person around, more so than Ebony. It was hard to tell what each of their strengths were because either no one emitted aura, or aura couldn’t be sensed because he was in this building.
Shi Qiang gave a quick glance to the rest of the people at the table.
By order of how far away they were seated from Shi Tao, they stood up before introducing themselves, unlike Shi Qiang.
“Nice to meet you uncle, I am Shi Han of the fourth generation and daughter of Shi Yue. I greet you on behalf of my mother who is not in attendance today. That is the same for two of my daughters, one of which is married and has two daughters of their own.” Shi Han was the tallest of all women around the table, a full head taller than Ebony himself. She continued, “this is my husband, Huo Tianyu.” The orange-haired man had a squarish face and thick eyebrows. He had a stern expression but it was cooled down by every stone face at the table.
“Ni-nice to meet you granduncle. My name is Shi Ling, I’m from the fifth generation. Daughter of..uh granddaughter of Shi Yun. My mother is Shi Rui!” The masked girl waved her hand around.
“No need to be nervous, I am a lot younger than you are,” Ebony stated it as it is. He did not expect to see a nervous version of someone with a face so similar to his mother’s. This woman wasn’t married and didn’t have a husband to introduce. She was the tenth on the list while her mother and grandmother were second and third respectively. Although the obstacle course where everyone had the same strength and speed didn’t reflect their actual power, it was the only measure he had of who was stronger.
The rest of the women acted more normal.
Shi Ke and Shi Yi were from the fifth generation and were both married. Their husbands were Qin Yan and Kong Xuan respectively. Qin Yan had pure white hair, lashes and brows. He was either blind or his irises were white too. Kong Xuan looked very different from Kong Tian and was much bigger in frame.
The most respectful was of the last three of the sixth generation.
Shi Yu, daughter of Shi Yi and Kong Xuan was the only other unmarried person at the table besides Ebony and Shi Ling.
Shi Quan and Shi Mei were sisters, descendants of Shi Yue of the third generation. Their husbands were Lei Tian and Fang Bo respectively. Lei Tian had long yellow hair tied in a ponytail and his eyes were piercing even without the effect of aura in the room. Fang Bo barely squeezed his muscles into their layers of garment. He probably wore the shirt because he had to not because he wanted to. They were technically 4th generation but perhaps they weren’t that old or their parents married late or gave birth late, he wasn’t sure.
Meeting dozens of strangers was one thing, meeting this many people that he had to firmly remember was another. One thing of note was that in the obstacle course, all the people at the table was in the top 50. Husbands included.
Shui Feng was the most scholarly and least muscular person at the table but he was top 20 until Ebony kicked him down a spot. Amongst all Xeng men, he used to be top 5 in the means of bodily control, trap detection and avoidance and other tiny capabilities required to cross the obstacle course as fast as possible.
Ebony would’ve tried to remember their clan’s emblem if they weren’t all wearing the Shi clan’s emblem.
Taking his age and low level into account, he stood up just like the younger generation.
“I am Ebony Rime. Son of Shi Wu.”
Ebony took in every frown and half smile in the room. Unlike Shi Tao’s light reaction, they must not have expected him to take on a different surname. The Shi Clan took on Shi Tao’s surname, very different from the other Xeng clans that took on the male counterpart’s surname.
Even though they were combat and strength-focused, the Xengs followed the tradition of taking the father’s surname. All except the Shi.
He expected this reaction. It must have been like stepping on their pride that he took his father's surname despite being a Shi himself.
“I finally understand, mother.” Shi Qiang eased the tense mood in the dining room.
“Granduncle, you must be pretty awesome!” Shi Ling clapped and smiled in glee. She was like a ray of sunshine in this room.
“Ah Ling,” Shi Han chided the younger girl.
Ebony did not understand what Shi Qiang understood or why Shi Ling had that reaction.
“My nephew here placed sixth on his entry.” Shi Tao nodded to the exuberant girl and patted his shoulder, almost forgetting how ‘fragile’ he was.
“Wow! So awesome! On your first try too!” Shi Ling immediately forgot her aunt’s chidding.
‘Young lady…you are hundreds of years older than me aren’t you. Maybe not, she might be like me and born later than my actual generation. Yeah, that makes sense.’ Ebony realised that despite being from the fifth generation, Shi Ling might be the youngest in the room excluding him.
“He did it without our clan’s skill.” Shi Tao reached out for the stack of fluffy white buns.
Now he got more intense stares.