It took more effort to wake the miners up than Ebony expected. There was some confusion going on, they thought he was part of those that attacked them. It was easy to convince them with almost 30 people lying down on the ground and frozen in thick locks they couldn’t break. He made sure to compress them into thick balls of ice so that it was harder to break. With a round ball on their feet, it would be hard to run. Their arms were locked behind their backs so that they couldn't use one to smash the other to break themselves free.
Some questions later.
It appeared like they threw some kind of poison or alchemic sleeping gas that made the escorts weaker and lose control over their body. At the same time, knocking the miners and non-fighters with lower Constitutions out.
It had been a struggle at first but then they slowly weakened so much that the escorts were not a match for the numbers that Prairie Brigand had. Then they just knocked out the miners who were still awake. They were probably carried into the empty wagon while the other cargo was squeezed onto the remaining wagon for whatever reason.
The miners were under the Quest Hall and there were only 2 parties that took up the quest because hardly anything happens in these safe Plains. No one expected a group of almost 30 Master Classes. The Quest Hall seemed really dumb to lose hundreds of thousands of Greys because they couldn’t afford more freelancers but apparently, the town just didn’t have so many freelancers that were willing to take the quest.
It made even less sense when they explained that such mining trips had a decent chance of getting attacked. Shouldn’t they know to increase the security if that was the case? Furthermore, the volume of the Greys transported was very large for such low security.
Manpower was the issue. The town’s standards were not unlike Plainston's when it was still a town. Master Classes were few in numbers and Prairie Brigand were not native to the area. The area was too low level for Master Classes to want to stay for long unless they were living some kind of retired life. So to reduce the cost they just made fewer trips and transported more at once. It was known all mana ore mines were Empire property, they sort of assumed few would dare to rob them.
The older Master Miner who was human asked the halberd-wielding guy violently. He sure didn’t show mercy, the miner had really high strength. He punched a few teeth out of the guy with a single whack to the face after Ebony unfroze his mouth.
The Prairie Brigand had apparently conducted such raids more than once already. They usually attacked those that transported Blacks or Greys. The mines were Empire property and so were the mana ores in them. But if a small number of Blacks or Greys go missing the Empire really couldn’t be bothered to chase a small group like them. Putting a bounty on them was good enough, hoping someone would catch or kill them and bring their heads as proof.
That was generally how it goes. Their bounty wasn’t so high a strong party would come after them or multiple parties to join up and carry out a search for them. It was a waste of time to chase a small movable group of bandits that didn’t have a very high bounty. Their bounty is just an estimate of their total stolen amount divided by the estimated number of people in their group.
They didn’t live a very comfortable life. Blacks and Greys didn’t let them buy good equipment and they couldn’t exactly trade a huge amount at the Quest Hall without getting their identity revealed as the large volume trade would be so obvious as all the surrounding Quest Halls communicated with each other.
The worst thing was that the mana ores wouldn't be shaped into standard myriad bracelet usable ores. They would need the right connections to jewellers and such if they wanted to use it as currency instead of a power source.
They were in the midst of searching for a way to ‘launder' mana ores but didn’t have the right connections or any middleman to help them. Only some small-time mages and black markets bought them to power certain equipment or experiments. Ebony was impressed by the Master Miner's interrogation abilities. Perhaps the halberd guy was the type that spilt the beans easily.
The miners asked him to dig the corpses of the freelancers back up so that they could take any form of identification. Namely the quester crystal so that their families could be notified. Something that he didn’t consider. It was a little disrespectful to the dead but he was sure they would be fine with it if their families could at least find out what happened to them. He mentally apologised before digging them back up.
He didn’t expect the miners to strip all of them down to their undergarments, even the women. Claiming that the equipment was usually sold and the ores sent to their families if they had one. If not then they could claim the ores or even Ebony as the one who saved them. It was the usual protocol for them and the miners had seemed a lot calmer and used to the situation than he thought they would be.
The coachmen said that the 4 Panther Mules could easily carry all of the Prairie Brigand members. They had brought 2 to pull a single wagon for speed. The Panther Mules had quite the balance of pulling power and speed, leaning towards speed. Greys weren't even all that heavy unlike Roya’s robes that Z&Z transported.
The problem was that there wasn’t enough space for them, even considering 10 people died.
The Master Miner who interrogated the halberd guy suggested killing them all and bringing their heads. Even haughtily saying he doesn’t mind if they fight it out till only 10 survive. Ebony didn’t agree with his methods. He merely made the wagon bigger on both the left and right sides with ice flooring and walls. Doubling as a cage.
He made sure it was roughly the same weight on both sides of the wagon so that it wasn’t off balance, making it easier to pull. There was no dirt or paved roads for a distance so it was just earth and it was easy to topple the wagon if there was some kind of imbalance.
They shut up with the complaints with a little leaked mana. He started to find out why Sister Jing used it so freely. It was just so convenient. Some of the Prairie Brigand members even pissed their pants. Exaggerating much. The mules were scared as well but didn’t dare move.
With no further complaints, he sat beside the coachman and kept the ice cage extension within his control. Well, they were good boys and girls who didn’t even make any noise.
In less than an hour, Ebony just jogged slowly beside the wagons. The ride had been so bumpy and painful for his butt. There was hardly any suspension at all, unlike Z&Z’s completely stable ride.
The good thing was the mules were so scared, especially when he ran beside them, that they sped up and pushed themselves. The bad thing was that their stamina wasn’t that great and they had to rest every 6 hours.
They completed the six-day trip in four as he pushed them to move a little in the dark as well. Honestly, the distance was something he could cover in hours. He just didn’t feel like leaving the non-fighters to travel by themselves.
Though the four day trip showed him that the miners were more than capable of defending themselves from a couple of level 20 to 50 monsters. They defended themselves pretty well with their pickaxes. Clearly, it wasn’t their first time facing monsters. Their hunting skills for food had much to be desired but their ability to protect themselves was still decent.
He had learned a little from the other Master Miner, Bava, who mostly stayed silent. The only one who he got the name of. He had a type of pickaxe mastery that Ebony was a little fascinated with. Ebony watched him defend himself from an attacking hyena. He never swung the pickaxe in a wide swing. The pickaxe spun in his hands and stuck close to his body. He used his pickaxe like a spear and spun it to defend himself.
Slapping the hyena away the first time it charged towards him with the flat body of the pickaxe. The hyena was only level 44 and that single swing had enough force to make it bleed and have a slight concussion. It shook it off in a few seconds but Bava waited for it. The hyena didn't give up and attacked again. It only found a sharp metal tip protruding from its neck moments later.
The other Master Miner who was more aggressive only pierced heads and crushed hearts with brute force and wide swings. Inelegant.
Bava told him that he naturally learned it with his own experience in the mines. More often than not, they would be in tight spaces and he needed to keep his swings as small as possible so that he could move his pickaxe around. Keeping the weapon as close as possible helped and any aiming adjustment was done with his body instead. It was nothing amazing, like how Ebony fought with his greatsword in the tunnel. Just much tighter spaces.
Ebony made a mental note to prepare for such cases for when his huge sword was harder to utilise. The tunnel walkway in Ordina he swung his greatsword had been pretty wide.
He had tried practising just spinning Icicle around during the time they rested. It was good training to move around his heavy ass sword. The problem with it absorbing ice mana without coughing it back out was unsolved. It made using Frost Injection with Icicle impossible for now. Still, the blade itself was very cold to the touch now so at least there were some signs of change.
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The change of pace also gave him the chance to start on his runic notes and revision. Rather than drawing up any scrolls, he just rewrote all that he remembered.
Starting from writing down the Korun language and the translation of each symbol's meaning. Segregating an element for each book. He started with the basics that do general things like the anti-dust and preservation magic one. The elemental spells and all that can wait.
The town of Ailbury was a little bigger than the old Plainton. There were many miners around, not surprising with a mine not far away. Ebony just tossed all the Prairie Brigand members at the front gate and let Bava handle everything.
The few dozen Greens or Greys really weren’t worth his effort and he decided to just leave. Finding any old inn, booking the best room and taking a nice long bath. Washing all the clothes he wore and also his robes. Wiping Icicle down despite how little it had been used so far. Feeding it all his excess mana while he was at it.
He ate at the inn itself. It didn’t taste like much even though they claim to have used spices heavier in flavour as many miners liked heavy and strong flavours. Weird. The chill in his heart and the loss of taste came back.
Ebony meditated the rest of the night without any magic training. He found nothing wrong with himself so he took a nice long sleep. Connecting his robe to his myriad bracelet to prevent scaring people. He pulled out the bed he was used to sleeping on for better sleep, there was more than enough space in the room.
It took Ebony 34 or 35 days to reach here after separating from Sister Jing. It would probably take Sister Jing herself a day or less to travel the same distance. Actually, it might just take her hours as she didn’t have to travel through the jungle or anything. Just teleporting through the air.
Estimating other people's travelling speed because normal people travel either by walking or at best jogging. No matter whether they were Master or Journeyman. That, or they rode a mount or travelled by carriage or wagon. In all cases, they needed to rest every single night. There were probably few that ran at top speed for the whole day. Not even considering the poor terrain that made it a rough journey, the distance may take others at his level 3 to 4 months to cover. His movement speed even increased by more than double with the evolution of Treading Step.
It was a great break for him in Ailbury. He restocked his supplies a little with fresher food and all that. Going to the Quest Hall here for a few empty Blues just in case. Asking around for directions. He was on the right track, Plainston was pretty far but Bubble Hill stretched all the way here so there was no issue directly heading for Hoarfrost Glade which was past Bubble Hills.
Leaving the Quest Hall and back onto the streets. Ebony had everything with him already and was leaving Ailbury. Strolling around and tasting whatever street food seemed interesting but there was nothing that he could taste much off.
A small patch of red entered the corner of his vision. His head snapped towards the familiar red. Scarlet.
She was far away at the end of the street, intently looking at a kebab stall owner barbecuing sticks of meat. Completely decked out in bright red as usual. Her voluminous lustrous ponytail was longer than he remembered. It was ridiculous how it never got in the way when she fought.
Ebony’s heart palpitated. His mind in a disarray for a second before settling down again together with his heartbeat stabilising. His feet turned around and he quickly left the town before she could spot him.
He was too ashamed to walk up and stand before her. Instincts told him she was a lot stronger than she had been. He wouldn’t even stand a chance against her as he was right now. When she was busy improving herself what had he been doing? Tailoring? Learning craft and runes? Cooking? Relaxing while moon gazing?
The only useful abilities he picked up and strengthened were Reinforced Mana Chassis and Treading Stride. A little skill refinement and that’s all. They said they would travel and fight together. How can he do that if he was lagging behind. Dragging her down was unacceptable even if she didn’t think that.
Everlasting Tranquillity was no longer disturbed by the entity known as Scarlet. Ebony’s feet brought him out of Ailbury without a moment's hesitation. Bubble Hills wasn’t too far west and he reached in a short time. He didn’t stop or slow down, jumping from hill to hill was not impossible when they were close to each other. Even jumping past a couple was possible. The hills were pretty short, practically mounds of earth.
Since his mana was used for charging up his robe, monsters didn’t avoid him. The number of monsters was not low. He heard that they moved up here when many people moved to Plainston to wipe the monster population further down south.
As long as they didn’t or couldn’t chase him, he would ignore them. If they were persistent enough to attack him he didn’t let them go. No longer as passive with his hunts. Always using full force, for there was a chance that his predator had strength beyond what he expected.
Frost Injection didn’t work but he didn’t stop attempting to use it. It only didn’t work through Icicle.
There were no Mud Golems in these parts. Cysarus were few in number to begin with. Under Bubble Hills was supposed to have some pretty dangerous creatures but they don’t usually come up due to the lower mana densities on the surface.
White started to show up in his vision before he knew it. Nothing hindered his advance into the world of snow.
The Frost Elves had told him that Hoarfrost Glade could be generalised into Chilly, Icy and Glacial regions. If they drew circles on the map of Hoarfrost Glade, the centre would be Glacial then Icy would cover the largest portion of it while the outermost region would be Chilly.
Ebony looked around as he pushed deeper. There was a lack of trees unlike what he was used to seeing. There were large mounds of snow, rocks underneath. It was rocky terrain but still flat lands as far as he could tell.
The monster here seems to be going back deeper into the glades or was hibernating as it was silent around with no living creature in sight. Only lightly snowing.
3 weeks was spent just running around and mapping everywhere he went.
Other than a rough battle with 6 level 110 Snowskin Monkeys where they almost strangled him to death it was a very quiet and uneventful exploration. They worked well together, 4 of them locked his limbs down with their agility and speed. The other 2 used their tails to strangle him while attempting to claw his eyes out. They were hard to latch on or attack due to their skin which can soften, harden, thicken or move around at will. They could even keep up with his speed so he had taken a lot of effort to take them down.
He made sure to rest every 2 days or so while he had the chance to rest. Already having reached the point where everywhere ahead was snowing so heavily he would have a hard time looking for his own feet. Ebony couldn’t be more grateful for the Transient Roaming Kappa to teach him his footwork and movement technique.
He would’ve taken so much more time if it wasn’t for that. Moving through snow was a heck of a lot easier as well. Still, he cheated and conjured ice under his feet whenever he wanted to stop moving. It prevented him from falling knee-deep into the snow.
It was honestly more snowy than chilly or icy. The rocky terrain was only a small area before forestation was seen again. Ebony would pick nuts or even the fruit that saved his life, the vital crabapple when he saw them. The Inferior rarity ones don’t even heal a single point of health for him anymore. Ebony didn’t find any that were higher in quality but at least he could still eat them to quench his thirst or sate his hunger.
He didn’t know how long he would be here, his supply of food might last him more than a year if he didn’t overeat. Rationing it well could last much longer but he should still get whatever he could find in the wild. Fortunately, with water mana ores, water moisture absorbing waterskin and his knowhow of water runes, water was probably not going to be a problem for a long time.
Even with all the stamina in the world, his consumption of energy due to how much he moved around required him to eat more than a normal human. The increase in movement speed didn’t actually increase his stamina consumption by too much. Perhaps because the higher tier skill was all about efficiency in movement. Perhaps because he just couldn’t tell since his Icebody Enhancement that was constantly cast also increased his Endurance.
Ebony felt like he lost sense of touch or feeling due to the long term casting of Icebody Enhancement and also the numbing cold. Just because he had a high resistance didn’t mean he didn’t feel cold. Even a Grandmaster like Kong Jing with all her Constitution felt cold in winter. Constitution didn’t increase elemental resistance by much and the craftswoman and mage might not have high Constitution so it might not be too surprising.
At least he didn’t get the mana poisoning that he had been hearing about. Likely due to him being a partial mana being. Or maybe the loss of sense of touch was a minor side effect. It was hard to tell what was causing what.
His robes were already fully charged with both mana and ice mana. There was no need to worry about ice mana since it was abundant here. Though he was told to not make it a habit to cast with ambient mana he could make do with it if it really came down to a lack of mana. The mana charged into his robe was for the durability and toughness runes so it had its strongest defensive capabilities now.
He had inscribed a couple of low heat producing runes on paper which he kept around. If it got too cold inside the snowstorm and if his cold resistance doesn’t level in a long time till the point where he was going to die he could paste it under his robes after activating them. Since he liquefied Greys to inscribe them for the low heat effect it would run out in half a day. He would probably burn himself and maybe damage his robes if he used Greens over a long period of time. The paper would also burn out in a single use so he had to keep track of his stock.
Ebony wasn’t all that proficient with lowering the output of the strength of mana used yet. Otherwise, the quality or mana ore used wouldn’t affect the effect of the runic piece of paper.
He didn’t use it yet since he wasn’t exactly getting frostbitten or taking damage from the cold as of now. It was dark and dim where the snowstorm was. Nothing much could be seen deep inside, except for some shadows of tall trees or a growl from time to time.
All his senses and perceptions tingled. The density of mana here was much higher than Ordina, at least 5 or 6 times. It didn’t bother him at all but he could see why it would bother other people so much they didn’t come here. Other than the many reasons such as the cold temperatures and deadly monsters. Ebony would find more and more reasons in a very short time.