In a large room was a square table with 7 seats, two on each side with the exception of one.
The room was luxuriously decorated with paintings, crystals and what not. Nothing in the room was made of any mundane materials if not treated or enchanted.
“The plan is going well.” The tallest figure in the room commented.
“Ay, too damn well, Evans. They’re gathering in numbers unheard off. The border cities are gonna go crazy if they know what’s abou’ta come.” The ball of muscle sitting alone wiped his grimy fingers on his beard.
“Gero, how many times do I have to tell you to call me Chlothar.” Chlothar frowned.
“Back atcha, it’s Gerot. Too damn hard to pranunce.” Gerot slurred his words on purpose this time.
“...Haa.” The Elf really didn’t like his attitude but was already used to it.
“Don’t sigh, dear.” The second tallest figure sitting beside him comforted.
“I know, I know, Lu. It's pointless talking to this muscle head.” Chlothar took her hand that she put on his lap.
“Aaanyway. Our seers and divination mages have already reported the unprecedented numbers of trolls preparing and building colossal class-ships.” A couple of furry tails waved.
“How long do you say we have, Medina, Kye.” The serious voice echoed from the corner that faced the door.
“Aaah, dear Nav. I say we have a couple of years at best. 8 to 10 if we’re lucky. 3 to 4 if the plan’s working better than we expected or if those trolls are weaker than we thought.” The tailed one shifted herself and put her hands on his shoulder.
“Stay seated and stop seducing my husband, Medy.” A soft voice beside the serious-sounding man glared.
“You don’t have to be so guarded, Yve. I was just lightening the mood up.” Medy or rather, Medina, was back at her seat before she really angered the sweet woman.
“Makes ya won’er if sending those over to Tova was a bright idea. At this rate, them trolls are going to swarm over like migratory birds arh?” Despite the many years of using the same language, it was hard to change habits.
“On the bright side, we can remove the threat of trolls once and for all thanks to Oplot finding those things from Lacuna Expanse.” Chlothar’s wife reasoned.
“You mean if they don’t manage to exterminate us.” The other tailed one beside Medina scoffed.
“Why so glum, Kye? I know you only rose up to the ranks of kings recently but no need ta worry. Ya wife will protect ya.” Gerot remarked snidely. He never looked well upon this fox.
“...It’s been over 70 years already.” The foxman called Kye turned red.
“Aye and ya levelled what? 3 times? HAA! Stop coddling him Medina!” Gerot didn’t fear showing his contempt, neither did he fear the stronger of the two.
“Enough. We’ll increase the imperial army’s training intensity twice over. Hand down the order to draft your nobles for the upcoming war. I’ll be going over to the border to strengthen the barriers. Chlothar, Lucretius I might have to station the two of you at one of the border cities. Medina, keep us updated on any movements. Gerot, get your people to double down on their craft.” The serious man shut them up.
“Ya know ah can’t ask my craftsmen to double down on their craft. We don’t mass produce… never mind I know whatcha meant. Work them like slaves right? Aye, that’s the best way to make the best craft.” Gerot wasn’t happy for the demand of ‘doubling down’ on crafts.
“No need to get so bitter, you know that’s not what Navin meant.” Kye defended the serious man, probably only because he didn’t like the short ball of muscle either.
“Shut up, newbie!” Gerot barked back with power, crushing the foxman with his overflowing Vitality.
“...” Kye's face went redder because he couldn’t fight back. The pressure crushing him was waved away by his wife.
“How about the Guardian Knights?” Lucretius the Elven lady asked to get the discussion going.
“...We haven’t been able to get into contact with Oplot but the Guardian Knights are always ready.” Navin replied.
“He’s probably still in the Lacuna Expanse tending to the two seeds that he finally found. He’s been waiting to get out of Elcra for a long time now. The looming threat over his homeworld tied him down but with the two seeds he found he may finally be free from this prison.” Chlothar recalled the last whereabouts of Oplot.
“Bah, if he comes back and removes the trolls then he doesn’t have to worry and can leave any time he wants. Just send someone there and get in contact with him. He’ll come flying at the chance.” Gerot didn’t have much against Chlothar but something about Elves just never sat well with him.
“Send someone to the Lacuna Expanse? Who? You’re volunteering?” Chlothar raised an eye in reply to him.
“...” Gerot knew why they never sat well with him better and better.
“Ooo. How about my husband and I go?” Medina’s tails wiped against her seat.
“Medina? You sure?” The sweet lady who stopped her from touching Navin asked in surprise.
“It’s a good chance for Kye too.” She replied coquettishly.
“...Alright. If there’s nothing else, assembly adjourned.” Navin spoke out after a moment of silence.
The room creepily emptied without a sound as soon as the sentence ended.
❅❅❅
“Should I go in? Should I not? Should I go in? Should I not? Should I go in? Should I not? Should I go in? Should I not? Should I go in? Should I not?”
‘Stupid crossroad. It’s all a mess and I can’t tell who’s gonna die. Well, half of it was done when they met up…
That little girl of mine is so strong yet so weak. That blue haired boy too. So similar. Both so strong for their age yet so fragile at heart.
Just what background does that blue haired boy have? There was someone who could hide someone’s past so well I couldn't even get a glimpse of it…I must be getting old. Was he birthed into existence recently or something? Can’t be. The only thing I could see in his future…heh hehe. One of us must be dreaming…well, I can’t make it too easy for him can I? Maybe I should go in after all.
That pink haired child though… he must be the little boy’s and girl’s descendant. Lucky rascals. Almost blinded myself from divining him. No wait. I did get blinded. How many times does that make?
Just going in would interfere and possibly make it worse though…
It’s only a possibility… I could just watch till something happens. Nah. I shouldn’t fool around, it’s her little adventure, she’ll face danger sooner or later.
...Or should I?’
❅❅❅
“Thanks for dinner, Scarlet. It was as delicious as always.” Ebony said as Scarlet came out from her tent and piled the dishes to wash.
Ryley already went to fire arrows into the distance, no idea if he was hitting anything. Ebony didn’t have enough mana to make ice arrows for him so he was running off to collect them every once in a while. Good for him that the dungeon didn’t swallow them up anymore.
Ebony had to use up to a thousand mana in Ice Injection on a single monster if he were to fight them himself. He had to stop using Chaotic Repulsive Membrane whenever he wasn’t in battle as well as his Icebody Enhancement so that he could recover mana.
Hector’s injuries were not too serious, but he wouldn’t heal immediately. According to Tuffock, it will take 3 days before a full recovery, not sure if he could estimate Hector’s Vitality or the medicine’s effectiveness. A diagnosis skill perhaps?
They made little progress on this floor, they didn't seem to have gotten close to the humongous shadow in the distance. Ebony didn’t mind. He was in no rush. His levels were rising considerably fast but not his skill levels.
After doing the dishes, he had a short spar with Hector and Scarlet in a three way battle. Hector’s injury not inhibiting his movements much. They didn’t train together for long.
Hector went to clean his armour again. Scarlet also sat around and took out what Ebony thought was a whetstone. She then went on to maintain her twin swords.
Interested, Ebony watched and learned. Even though her longswords were clean and sharp, she didn’t lax on their maintenance. Not sure if he was imagining things but her swords look even deeper red. It must have been the darkness of the night.
Ebony wasn’t hiding his observation so Scarlet offered to teach him. His upgraded greatsword was not too damaged. His membrane helped to keep it both clean and reduce damage to it. It just wasn’t an excuse not to take good care of it. It had a nice polish again after Scarlet helped him.
They were meditating under Scarlet’s calming pearl’s effect again while he played with Mana Moulding.
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It was going horribly.
Firstly, depending on the material. Hard materials like iron ore, wood planks turn fragile after he forcefully breaks or ‘moulds’ their original structure. Sure, he can change their shape but they turn so fragile he could pinch it into dusty fragments.
Secondly, it was not easy. He had to fine tune mana into extremely fine particles before they could even squeeze themselves into wood, much less iron. It took minutes just altering a small section of them. Thanks to his Intelligence stat, he was at least capable of altering iron but it took even longer.
The best he did was on fabric since he had prior experience with them. Fibrous materials just have to be untangled, strengthened by turning them into threads or ropes then weaved together. Leather was actually very similar when he made his mana fine enough.
Filling his robes with his mana, he could feel numerous tiny scratches and cuts. He didn’t really get hit though. It was likely just wear and tear from his movements and perhaps dust and wind pressure from close hits. Ebony didn’t have any of the materials that Roya used to make it but the robe itself didn’t lose much material so it was just a matter of weaving the tiny cuts back together.
He got his Layered Ice Carapaces and repaired them too. Being relatively undamaged, he didn’t need much mana for it. He got all three of them to separate into individual scales. There was a lot more than he thought. Seeing how large his shields were and how they are made up of 5 layers it wasn’t all that surprising.
Casting them with his spell glove made it really fast and he never really thought much about it while he casted them now. He cast the shield as a whole and not scale by scale, unlike when he created the spell.
He shifted the individual scales to form an orb. There were so many scales he could form a wall with them. Still he had to move 5 of them and hold them together before mentally ‘picking’ up more scales.
It was not what Ebony imagined.
The scales he made did indeed have some curvature but to make a spherical orb with them? The end product was freaking huge. He didn’t even have enough scales with a total of 15 layers of them. Furthermore, some scales were different sizes and curvature since they were designed as parts of a shield.
A little ice mana manipulation was all it would take but it’s currently not a realistic skill or spell to use.
Casting speed was one thing.
With practice, he could make a smaller orb-like spell that traps a monster. Even with his spell glove, the shield takes seconds that he doesn’t have mid battle. No monster would get trapped by it. His spell glove also only worked with Layered Ice Carapace, though it might work if the spell was similar enough using the same ice scales.
It will also be a mana-intensive spell but that was not a big issue to Ebony.
Ebony made one his size with what he had after changing its shape, trapping himself in it. He tried to break himself out after locking in the last scale.
Clearly, fully compressed ice scales were not something Ebony could break with his pathetic physical strength. He used Icebody Enhancement and managed to break free pretty easily though. The ice scales didn’t shatter, they just unlatched from each other. Making it look like he hatched from a large egg.
Ebony walked out and manipulated the orb back into shape. He tried to break it from outside this time. He couldn’t with his kicking or punching. He drew his greatsword and smashed at it without hesitation. It didn’t even budge, only a thin mark remained. Ebony then used Chaotic Repulsive Membrane and Sonic Overlay and power stabbed the heck out of it.
He forgot to mentally hold it in place and sent the ball flying off the mountain peak and onto another mountain in the distance. Ebony quickly raced off to get the compressed ice mana back. With Treading Steps, it didn’t take long.
Ebony was impressed with the toughness of his Layered Ice Carapace even if it was in another form. He only managed to make a small indentation. And the orb was only a single layer, not 5 like his Layered Ice Carapace.
‘If only I had done this before I could’ve prevented the rogue from running off.’ was not something Ebony would ever think. He did what he could, the rogue’s death was his own responsibility. It wasn’t as if his actions were Ebony’s fault.
‘So it’s easy to break from within but hard to break from outside?’
Probably due to its structure but it was not so much a restrictive spell as it was a defensive one. Of course, Ebony could freeze all the scales together to form a more perfect orb or make it thicker so that it was harder to break out of.
‘Well. It has its applications but it’ll need some work and practice to be of use.’
He returned to their camp's mountain peak and continued with his experiments. Training with Scarlet again when she was done meditating. Or attempting to do so.
Her attitude towards Ebony was confusing him.
Last night she was talking and training fine, even in the day when they chatted about their shared experiences. He thought they managed to get a little closer but now she seemed to be avoiding him again. Ebony chucked the thought aside, thinking it was maybe just a woman thing.
Because of the nature of her enhancement skill, Ebony got her to try out different breathing techniques. Like short but intense breaths to accelerate the speed at which her heart rate increases at the start so that her start up time for higher enhancement was shortened. Then a mix of short and long breaths or holding her breath for a second or two to fit her battle rhythm.
She was more annoyed or angry than usual and burned one of Ebony’s shields away together with Ebony getting second-degree burns. Ebony felt bad about his robes, wearing it down so fast.
‘Is it that time of the month?’
Ebony knew he had to do something about his weakness to heat and fire. He basically always fought in his ice enhanced state. He would die sooner or later due to this weakness. No kidding. It was even worse when his physique was taken into account.
But what can he do? The only thing he can think of now was increasing Heat Resistance.
Scarlet acted more than happy to help with Ebony’s request, making Ebony firmly believe it really was that time of the month. Did increasing Constitution help or worsen the effect of that time of the month? Ebony wondered if he’ll ever find out. Even he was not dense enough to ask such a question.
Ebony made a bathtub out of ice and filled it with hot water with his water skin cap. He had the mana ores for it. Even the hottest temperature was barely close to boiling, but Scarlet further increased it. Ebony only took his boots, socks and robes off but kept them close enough for an emergency. He had a change of clothes anyway. It was a nice chance to wash the grime of sweat off of him.
He dived in without hesitation but not with Icebody Enhancement on for now. He didn’t want to kill himself.
Ebony didn’t utter a single complaint or cry of the pain from burning. Just silently soaking himself within. Meditating while keeping the ice bathtub from melting. He kept his head under the water, only surfacing for air every dozen minutes when necessary.
At first, he came out when his health reached 150. Healing from light burns or scalding didn’t take too long but the peeling skin and all that was pretty annoying. He then dived back and climbed out when his health reached 100. He had blisters and swelling over his entire body. It took hours just to get back to reddish skin.
Fortunately, no one was looking. He stripped off his clothes since they kinda got stuck to his peeled skin. He had to change a set of clothes after this. His Layered Ice Carapaces acted as a screen to block him out of sight.
The lower he lets his health get the faster his Heat Resistance rises. Scarlet was asleep already and he didn’t want to disturb her even though the water had cooled. Ebony wanted to fully recover so that they don’t get suspicious as well.
When it was Tuffock’s duty, he hid in his tent and practised Mana Moulding. At the same time casting and making another Layered Ice Carapace since Scarlet destroyed one. Coming out and training during his hours. Staying awake and another round of sparring with Scarlet.
She had a fruity scent when she came out today. Ebony liked it more than the floral scent but both were nice. Much better than Hector’s sweaty body.
When it was Hector’s turn to stand watch, Scarlet and Ebony went around the area to hunt.
The earthen-hide bears don’t move in large groups. They found a couple of them not long later, moving at their speed. Two of them, both level 100.
The two of them were not subtle, the bears noticing them from the get go. The bears charged on fours. They were half a gir tall or 2.5m tall and about half as wide.
Scarlet formed a spear of fire just as they started the charge and propelled it into one of their opened mouths. Her cast seemed almost instantaneous to Ebony. His own Ice Sword took twice to thrice as long to form, attacking the other one.
The bear he attacked chewed on his Ice Sword like candy. They split off into their own battles.
The ice candy chewing bear didn’t even slow down facing the Ice Sword towards its face. It came crashing with a claw swing across Ebony’s body. Ebony didn’t dare take the hit, his Layered Ice Carapace already by his side. The bear wasn’t slow at all.
It was fierce. It kept clawing and biting, trying to knock the shield away. It had thick but sharp claws that dug a cm or two into his shield every hit but Ebony used all three of them in tandem, trying to push the bear around. The bear was strong, it sent his shield flying out of Ebony’s range of control with a good knock.
Ebony moved around and got his shield back in action as he delayed for an opportunity to get a strike in every now and then. He didn’t save mana and casted Frost Mist Perception Sphere. Annoying the crap out of the bear. Stabbing it felt like stabbing a rubbery steel wall.
Ebony felt the resistance but only with a power stab did he draw a bit of blood. Ebony’s Ice Injection stopped it from bleeding too. The ice mana was repelled and pushed into its body as much as it could but the thick hide of the bear protected it from any hindering of its movements. The ice mana didn’t manage to penetrate through its hide, the bear being unaffected by the light poke from him.
Ebony didn’t let up. The bear was likely pretty resistant to ice as well due to its thick fur. It was not affected much by just a bit of frosty mist in the air. It was many times stronger or more difficult an opponent than the lvl 140ish mud golem. It was smarter, less repetitive, and more aggressive. His ice magic was not working well to slow it down and weaken it.
Yet, it was only a matter of time before it was slain by his blade. It was tough, he couldn’t deal much damage to it. But so was he. They were similar, the bear also couldn’t harm him. His shields do a good job at keeping the bear off him. He was also pretty fast with his movement speed fortification.
He shut Chaotic Repulsive Membrane off for the moment. Channelling the mana to Frost Mist Perception Sphere and keeping as close to the bear as he could.
In time, he could hear and feel the bear huffing chilled breaths. A normal animal wouldn’t get tired so fast much less a level 100 monster. But the increasingly dense chill kept wearing it down as it breathed in the frosty mist.
Scarlet was finishing up her battle, the toughness of the bear a challenge even for her. She was less aggressive at the start of the battle as she couldn’t even cut its fur without spending a large amount of mana. So she was ‘slowly’ getting her enhancement and tempo of her sword style to increase in strength.
The fur of the bear didn't catch on fire for a long time as well. Its fire resistant fur is evident, its hide, fur and body were likely pretty good materials.
Ebony piled on attack after attack on the weakened and exhausted bear. Sonic Overlay was like a transformation of his greatsword into a chainsaw. Though that’s a little of an exaggeration it really made him able to cut the bear's thick and tough hide when he experimented with turning it on and off.
Surprisingly he took it down roughly the same time Scarlet did.
They returned to camp as Scarlet needed to recover her mana.
Staying on this floor for some time appears to be a good idea.