“Your skills are decent…your fighting capabilities are impressive. Interesting way of using sound magic. There’s something else weird around you as well, even mana is avoiding you for some reason. Gravity magic of your Sub-Class I suppose. That shell spell is tough but only from how compressed it is and your control over it is not bad. If it's a tier 1 skill then it's quite refined but if it's tier 2 it's very unrefined. I can see how it will be troublesome to kill you...” Gen would have to have Appraise or higher tiered skills if he knew Ebony had a gravity Sub-Class. He wondered why Gen’s mostly closed eyes suddenly opened wider at the end of his appraisal of his capabilities.
“...Thanks. It's a layer of repulsion. Layered Ice Carapace is inspired by you guys, the toughness is from mana compression. I guess you can easily sense that. I actually came here because I wanted to know if you can teach me about that.” Ebony pointed to the majestic maple tree. His own research into shields and their structure didn't help much, unlike the refinement to his Ice Swords. Probably since his shield wasn't made like a normal one.
Gen also got close enough to touch Ebony as his head bent down to stare at Ebony before he noticed. The staredown would’ve intimidated anyone else, Gen wasn’t doing it on purpose but Ebony was forcing his knees not to go soft under the immense aura of overflowing Vitality.
“...Your Class…I’m not seeing things am I?” Gen continued the staredown for a long time before asking. Ebony was told that Appraise was rare to have so he didn’t recall that Appraise let them read people full Class. At least, it slipped his mind.
Ebony just raised his palms and lit a flame up to answer Gen’s question. Then he seemed to feel a freezing breeze brew up in the underground dome.
“Probably partly due to my physique…I’m sorry, actually, I showed one person that I can actually use this. No, 2. Only to scare off the first but I trust they won’t spread it. If Appraise or higher tiered Idenfication skills can see my Class then maybe more people know…” Ebony apologised.
From Gen’s reaction, he probably didn’t think Ebony can even use combusting ice mana. It wasn’t as simple as making ice mana explode. Ebony also didn’t see Ton, Sei or Gen use it before. As for people with higher tier Identify, he just didn’t consider it before. On second thoughts, if he had been sincere about keeping it secret maybe he shouldn’t have ever used it in battle and find some way to hide his Class as a first priority. Roya not being able to Identify his Class made him think that it was the same for everyone.
Gen didn’t say anything for a long time, looking up towards the ceiling instead of staring him down. Ebony thought he heard a sigh.
“Continuing on this path of magic or not is your choice. Listen closely to a little history to understand what it would entail.” Ebony blinked twice at the unfamiliar voice in his head. It wasn’t Gen. He didn't know who it was but that didn’t matter for now. The sudden talk about a history lesson didn’t really bother him. He took out his throne-like seat made of ice and made himself a drink as he listened to the new voice.
❅❅❅
There was a saint known as the Life Grafter. He had other titles like the Breeder or Race Creator but he was mostly known as the Life Grafter.
From plants to animals to monsters, the Life Grafter was interested in all forms of natural life. Researching, observing and understanding all lifeforms he came into contact with.
One day, he decided ‘why not create a new species or breed?’ Perhaps he had gotten bored or maybe he was already done with every lifeform. He was just a gardener when he was young or so the story was told.
So he started with grafting plants. He was a genius. But even geniuses fail, especially for the Life Grafter who failed more often than not. Plants were easy to graft, he made breakthroughs for all alchemists and similar Classes. New plants with greater healing properties and many different combinations of elemental ingredients were made.
His rise had been unstoppable, he was respected worldwide. Fast growing plants with far better healing properties and even cheaper and easier to grow were groundbreaking.
Then he moved on to animal cross-breeding. He had been unfamiliar with caring for animals and seemed to lie low as his fame stopped growing for years. A century or 2 later, the world he was in had a severe food crisis. His name was spread again as he distributed food, meat. The new species of farm animal was also distributed to farmers. They were large and didn’t eat much, yet they had a lot of meat and flesh and didn’t even take a few months to mature.
As if unsatisfied, he moved on to monsters. Then he mixed different life forms. Mixed different elemental lifeforms. Intelligent life then, sapient creatures like humans. Gen’s very race was created by the Life Grafter. No doubt, all the creatures created by the Life Grafter that had intelligence treated the Life Grafter as their parent, their creator.
Before he knew it, the Life Grafter made an army of intelligent creatures. He already moved out of his world long before as his homeworld alone wasn’t enough for him. He needed as much research materials as possible so he travelled far and wide. There were strong monsters, there were weak monsters, there were smart ones and there were less intelligent ones.
He couldn’t possibly fit every one of them in his backyard. He also never gave his creations any orders, letting them go free to do whatever they pleased. As nature decree. All of them followed his wishes and did whatever their instincts told them, meaning some still stuck with their creator. He was a kind man and didn’t kick any of his creations out, treating and caring for them like his own children.
However, he was no longer seen as a saviour that made stronger, cheaper and easier to grow healing ingredients or animals that were fast growing, had a lot of flesh and needed very little to eat. His reputation grew to one that was an evil madman that made creatures of mass destruction wherever they go. A cult.
All his creatures worship him as their father, going around praising him. The Life Grafter didn’t remove monsters' natural behaviour, including their normal hunting and killing instinct. Perhaps he had decreased some and there were some he didn’t, but it didn’t change the big picture. Many of his creatures went around eating and killing whoever and whatever they pleased. It was natural to them, they needed to eat. They saw a moving piece of flesh that was weak and they ate it.
He was already a saint by this time and the Life Grafter himself didn’t know that some of his creations had been going around and causing havoc wherever they went. Even pronouncing him as their all mighty creator. No problem or trouble found their way to the ears of the Life Grafter until another saint came to his doorstep and destroyed their home and went after their creator’s life.
The Spear Saint.
The voice in Ebony’s head said it had no idea why the Spear Saint wanted to kill the Life Grafter but the absolute wrath of a purely combatant saint was not something the Life Grafter can withstand.
The Life Grafter had 4 creations that he was most proud of. The strongest, most Intelligent and also loyal bunch that just peacefully stayed and enjoyed a leisurely life with the Life Grafter.
The Frostblaze Amur Diatium Turtle. The race of Gen’s progenitor. The Life Grafter always tries to make at least a pair of the same race so that they have a partner and also allow their race to flourish but it is not always possible. So Gen wasn’t exactly the same species as the proeniturtle whose corpse lay there.
Easy to guess, it was a mix of the Frostblaze Amur Maple Tree that the Life Grafter found by luck and the Diatium Turtle. Even he hasn’t made a creature based on another creation of his. There were too many variables and the creatures he made were usually from 2 or more natural life forms.
The progeniturtle was said to have a seed planted when it was still an egg, he was the only one who survived and the Life Grafter didn’t manage to find any more of both the extinct turtle and tree seed. The batch of eggs was dying when he got them and the Life Grafter thought to use the self strengthening and growth of a plant type. The Frostblaze Amur Maple Tree seeds he had were the perfect choice as they were of the ice element. Though the tree isn’t extinct anymore with the turtle's effort, the Saint was no longer here where they were.
The Gluttonous Solar Blooded Phoenix. Unlike his other creations, the phoenix wasn't messed around with. The Life Grafter merely hatched it to observe a real life phoenix. Even the saint himself didn’t have the ability to change or add any ‘inferior’ bloodline or genes to the phoenix egg that he somehow got. So he just treated the phoenix egg like other bird type eggs that he had handled. He incubated it with numerous techniques and methods he had and found out which one the egg was most responsive to.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
Phoenixes were one of the strongest known creatures along with dragons. Even their eggs weren’t simple and hatching them was no easy feat. The egg absorbed all the mana and essence in the surroundings hungrily. The Life Grafter took decades before he found something that had enough energy to hatch the creature. The phoenix hatched and even treated the saint as its parent, imprinting perhaps.
It was a blood phoenix apparently. The Life Grafter doted on the creature like any other but found it to have an insatiable appetite. It never stopped eating and the Life Grafter had a headache over finding things to feed it with before his other creatures got eaten by it. The phoenix ate anything it was given, loving hot food the best. It ate, ate and ate before the Life Grafter bought a mini sun for it and became the phoenix's favourite. It grew up in time and went to find actual suns to consume before being the Gluttonous Solar Blooded Phoenix.
Of course, the ridiculous notion of buying a sun went over Ebony’s head. Same as whatever the existence of a Saint was.
The absolute strongest of his creations, Lightquartz Twitch Tiger. A Quartz Bolt Twitch Tiger was mixed with a light elemental. The voice in Ebony’s head didn’t say much about it other than it having absolute power. It had the explosive speed and durability of the tiger itself and exceptional control over the light element. The Life Grafter even managed to make a pair of them and successfully become a race that had hundreds of them.
Lastly, a race the Life Grafter had been working on before the Spear Saint attacked. The voice commented that it has the closest similarity to Ebony’s strength. Mana. Unsure how crazy the Life Grafter was but it tried to make a dragon. Once again, for a creature that was said to tear gods apart, Ebony had no idea how but the voice said that the Life Grafter got a hold of a dragon egg.
Even changing the dragon’s genetic material. He changed the scale of the dragon to be made of pure mana. A mana being like Ebony. Basically, a dragon whose scales and perhaps even more than just its scales were made of high quality mana ores. It was just a baby the last the voice in Ebony’s head saw it.
After introducing this awesome sounding saint, the voice went on to talk about Elcra. Asking Ebony if he knew about Elcra’s history. Ebony only knew a little from what he read about the creation of the Empire of Ebbing Waves and the time before that. Whatever Clovis taught him as well.
According to the year, the Empire was 5535 years old as of today. The voice pauses for a time as if calculating based on what he said. They might have different ways of calculating time for all he knew.
Apparently, Elcra didn’t have 2 continents Elva and Tova. It used to be a single larger landmass.
It had been like any other day where they just ate and slept when the Spear Saint came barging in. Their world was destroyed with ease and all the weaker creatures were slain. Many couldn’t even withstand the saint’s aura.
The Gluttonous Solar Blooded Phoenix was already mature and massive by this point. All the surviving creatures including the progeniturtle and Gen who had merely hatched days before the attack and the Life Grafter himself rode the phoenix. The 2 strongest Lightquartz Twitch Tigers remained to hold the Spear Saint back.
The voice in Ebony’s head was clearly depressed when it said the progeniturtle’s partner, a Glacial Snow Turtle also perished before they could take flight.
The Life Grafter was no fighter, but he had travelled far and wide and was an old and experienced man. He didn’t want his dear children to die with him. The power of the Spear Saint was clear to him. He led the Gluttonous Solar Blooded Phoenix to bring them to different worlds and let his children go where they were most suitable to live.
The descendants of Lightquartz Twitch Tiger were told to hide in the light, there was a high chance they were still around. After a few stops, the only ones left were the Gluttonous Solar Blooded Phoenix, a family of turtles of slightly different breeds each, the Life Grafter himself and the baby dragon in his arms.
The Spear Saint caught up and the closest world they were at was Elcra. The wrathful Spear Saint roared the moment he saw them from afar. He swung his spear, the blinding flash was unforgettable to the hatchling Gen. The Gluttonous Solar Blooded Phoenix dived down to Elcra the moment it sensed the incoming Spear Saint. It was split right down in the middle along with the entire Continent Elcra.
No wonder the Fissure Sea or the border had such a straight coastline. It was sliced into two. Ebony was awed by the story. How big was the whole continent? How tough was the earth in this magical world? Yet, according to the voice in Ebony’s head, the entire thing was cleanly sliced in 2?
The Gluttonous Solar Blooded Phoenix only just reached Saint Class at that time. It barely managed to let the family of turtles down where it was the most comfortable for them and the most uncomfortable for it together with the Life Grafter and the dragon in his arms. The blood dripping down from both sides of the Gluttonous Solar Blooded Phoenix burned the lands before rising up and reconnecting both halves of herself. It was hardly injured by getting cut in half.
It flew up to meet the Spear Saint in battle. The 2 Lightquartz Twitch Tiger also wasn’t dead yet, the Spear Saint probably shook them off somehow. The Lightquartz Twitch Tigers caught up to them at the same time that the Phoenix flew up. The 3 of them fought high up in the sky.
Protection of their father and creator was left to the oldest of their family. The Progeniturtle. He wasn’t the strongest and was only at the peak of Emperor Class but he was no weakling and was definitely the toughest, the most intelligent and of course, the eldest.
He started his plans to trick the Spear Saint somehow. Building this underground dome and creating defensive barriers while the Spear Saint was busy with his brother and sisters. He actually read and studied in his free time. Making a clone of their father and getting him to imbue his essence and lifeforce inside then, hissing loudly before attacking the Spear Saint from where he was on the ground since he couldn’t fly.
The freezing flames shot right up to catch the Spear Saint’s attention. He glanced down at the pest to see it freeze the Life Grafter and send him underground. The Spear Saint’s target was the Life Grafter, not wanting to lose sight of the man, he chased. But the hiss had been them communicating. The Lightquartz Twitch Tigers understood, they were incomparably fast anyway. Using light illusions and getting the real Life Grafter out while the Spear Saint was distracted and then escaping into the distance with the Life Grafter and baby dragon.
The Spear Saint broke through the hard earth like jelly and swept away all the disturbance the progeniturtle caused. Slowing him down a massive deal with the flames of frost. The Spear Saint was enraged and only realised the weak presence of the Life Grafter underground minutes later. Minutes were a long time for them. He also only realised because the stronger Lightquartz Twitch Tigers weren’t in battle with him. The turtle was also so damn annoying at trying to slow him down. He had ignored the progeniturtle due to how weak its attacks were but it realised the turtle was pretty tough too, not to mention the insane chill and how good it was at slowing him down.
It didn’t care about a weak turtle, leaping back off into the skies to chase the tigers.
The gluttonous sister bird of his was always troubling their father and the turtle didn’t have a very good relationship with it but it was family too and it hurt to see it struggle. The Spear Saint was further pissed by the relentless Phoenix trying to tie it down to Elcra and put effort into killing it.
Turning back and giving a thrust of his spear tore a huge hole into Elva. The Phoenix didn’t want the continent that she put her naggy older brother on to be destroyed and dragged its even more massive body with a hole in it to the other continent. With it out of sight the weak older brother of theirs couldn’t interfere but he could sense the strong shockwaves and quakes since the continent of Tova hasn't drifted far yet.
The Spear Saint riddled Tova with holes as well. But the Phoenix was known for being undying, persistence kept it going and going. The Spear Saint couldn’t get rid of it easily.
Its final moments were days later. It rose up to the sky in a single flap with less than half his body remaining while the Spear Saint slapped it away with his spear. Dispersing most of the Phoenix’s body. The progeniturtle cried as the Gluttonous Solar Blooded Phoenix sent part of her Heartblood Essence to him. He stepped over villages and crushed towns without care, catching his sister. The silly grin on his sister wasn’t wiped off. “It’s cold.” The voice in Ebony’s head repeated.
He buried his sister under a volcano, picking whatever was left of her and preserving it. The progeniturtle was stuck here, unable to leave as it didn’t have any methods to fly or travel through space. The Spear Saint might come back if he couldn’t find their creator so he hid with his remaining kin.
Scatter seeds of the Frostblaze Amur Maple Tree to fulfil the wishes of their creator and father then conceal it because they were worried the Spear Saint would come back. They were just seeds anyway and the whole family was deep underground.
That was over twelve thousand years ago.
The Progeniturtle took care of his remaining kin in suffering. With no clue whether his father and creator was alive, his brother and sister tiger’s well-being. The memory of his partner dying right beside him and his foolish sister bird that smiled even when it was dying as he carried her on his shell to where it was the warmest and most comfortable for her. It haunted him but he still had his son no, his son was dead too. He still had his daughter, grandchild and great-grandchild Gen to care for.
The Spear Saint came back once, fortunately, the seeds hadn’t grown at that time. That was good news to him, that meant his father wasn’t dead and the Spear Saint was still looking. Waiting for him to leave was stressful. Then he never came back no matter how much time passed.
Thousands of years passed. His kin all grew up. He was old, he was tired. Their race was always hidden but even when they went out they were rarely challenged. He was the only one with the powers of Frostblaze together with his daughter. Perhaps his blood thinned out too much to pass it down any further.
He had enough. He stopped hiding and returned to the surface. Many years later, the eastern barbarian showed up to challenge him. The barbarian was strong, very strong for a fellow Emperor of such a young world. He was happy. He could finally leave this world. He could finally rest. Visit his partner. His children. His brothers and sisters.
He didn’t bother removing the blade in his body. His kin saw it as a curse. He saw it as a blessing.
Release.