Ebony's Fable

‘I’m conscious. Great, let’s see. No sea of blood or floating wine glass, grails or chalices for me. Wait, it's blank white here.’ Ebony looked around but it was just pure white.

He looked down at himself to find his naked self standing. He could feel the ground or at least the sensation of standing and could move his body normally.

Not even a moment later, other colours started to materialise in front of him.

“Was I on the loading page or something?” Ebony recalled Ning Xin directly waking up in a bloody sea.

He was watching a stone floor building up. Then wooden desks started to appear. Behind them were bookshelves that started forming.

Ebony wasn’t sure if he had a lapse of attention or he blinked but his entire sight changed as he could see an endless line of desks all with a bookshelf placed right behind and against the desk. In his hands was a pitcher of transparent fluid. It looked no different from regular old water.

‘My sight can’t go far…it’s like I returned to having a normal human’s eyesight. I have to hurry before I begin to disappear. This pitcher of water, are these my so-called points?’

In the next second, he instinctively understood a little about this place.

There was a crystal monolith right beside where he stood. It represented his physique and for some reason, it looked battered and old. Actually, it felt like he was standing on part of the monolith. On the monoliths were protrusions that held vessels of different shapes and sizes.

Surrounding the crystal monolith were three other white monoliths. Similarly with protrusions that held cups. These all held cups instead of having weirdly shaped vessels. The monoliths represented his Fortifications and all three of them were different in size.

Within sight were the endless shelves and desks that spawned.

The three bookshelves closest to him were related to his Core Skills. On two of the desks in front of these shelves were white slates. The last one on his right had a bookshelf but the desk didn’t have a slate of unknown material on it.

The weirdest point of the endless line of bookshelves that contained slates instead of books and desks was the cup of water or empty cups right in front of the books.

‘Cups and fluids to pour. Does this symbolise anything? Don’t get distracted, me. Okay…all the cups are different in size and the fluid inside is not all transparent.’

Ebony walked towards the left desk and found the slate on the desk having the words ‘Perpetual Tranquillity Spring’ on it. Despite not having any more words, looking at them refreshed all his thoughts on the skill. The other slates on the desk were his previous lower-tier versions. He quickly looked up at the shelf with slates on them.

There were many different titles but it was filled with meditation-type skills. Some slates were black instead of white and the cups were much bigger and empty.

‘So the empty cups refer to skills that I’m less compatible with or have spent very little practice in that direction. The cups with fluid in them mean I can get that skill or add that mutation to my current version. But most of my core skills’ slates are black.’

Ebony looked over to the shelves to his right. The one in front of him had the most black slates.

He ran over to the shelves behind the three he was closest to.

He found fifteen desks and shelves all side by side. His Class skills were placed out here.

The ‘shelves’ were a mystery. When he tried to pick a slate up, he found it connected to the shelf by a sticky white thread. He would get dizzy and see the thread connecting to dozens if not hundreds of other slates in his mind. These threads continue to link up to other slates that are further connected to even more slates.

‘They are connected to skills of the same type but higher tiers or mutated versions. If I pour some fluid into the respective cups, I can connect to these higher-tier skills. Some threads are grey, some black. I’ll assume that means the direction of my training is very different or these skills are just extremely different versions of my current skill that requires far more of my…points to obtain. Okay, I got it. It’s odd how I’m understanding this place instinctually but now’s not the time to be fascinated.’

Ebony ran back to the monoliths.

The crystal monolith was huge, it was no different from a tower.

‘All the vessels are huge. All the fluid in my pitcher wouldn’t even be able to fill up a single one of them. But almost every vessel here has some fluid already in them.’

The more he looked around and understood the monolith the more fascinated he got.

These were his base values of his entire being.

Be it base health or mana regeneration. Elemental resistance. Resource pool size. Mass. Bone structure. Muscle density. Skin thickness.

He could even give himself scales or exoskeleton in technicality but he wouldn’t be able to. Not even if he poured all the fluid from elsewhere into the weirdly shaped vessels. This monolith basically represented his race and personal body, mind and soul.

He could straight up increase his Strength by 10% without increasing his Strength stat. It would make all future investments in the strength stat more worthwhile. This monolith was the entire reason why different races had unique strengths and weaknesses.

By making this change, he would likely receive some notification about his Physique refining in some form.

He could further increase his natural resistance to cold. He could remove his decreased heat resistance.

He could heighten his perception of danger.

He could increase his reaction speed.

The possibilities were endless.

Until he looked at his small pitcher.

‘Before that, let’s quantify what I have. I’ll just call this liquid potential. This is all I managed to gain or achieve during my time as a Master. Let’s just say I have 1000 ml and give the vessels and cups an arbitrary but comparative volume to gauge the amount I need. My mana sense is numbed and weakened but I can still estimate volume with Calculated Hunch.’

“Wow. That’s expensive. Removing the decrease in natural resistance to heat by 15% costs 450 ml? I haven’t even checked everything else out and I don’t think it’s worth it.” He spoke to himself.

After a few seconds, he already found out how expensive it was to change anything on the monolith. 450ml was about one of the cheapest prices he could pay. The other was increasing something he couldn’t put into words.

The monolith didn’t have words written. He just knew what the vessels represented once he looked at them and had it in mind. If he had to guess, it was elemental affinity but at the same time, the word affinity felt wrong. Of course, he didn’t have to fill up the vessels. He could probably pour 10ml and get a proportional increment.

He was guessing the monolith looked battered because he forcefully changed his own body’s make-up. It felt like he succeeded without many drawbacks but he might face some future problems. He hoped not but he would feel better if the crystal monolith was looking pristine like the other three.

He walked away from the crystal monolith without using any of his liquid potential. It felt like the section where he should spend the remaining pennies he had after making his main purchase.

The largest white monolith was his Class Fortifications. It had exceedingly little information in comparison to the crystal monolith.

Base Mana and Stamina regeneration increased by 500%

Mana efficiency with Ice Magic increased by 200%

Mana efficiency with Body Enhancement Magic increased by 200%

Balance and fluidity when wielding a greatsword with one hand increase by 200%

Movement speed increased by 200%

Ice Magic is 250% more resistant to heat

Flames of frost are 250% more fluent in seeping.

Ice Magic is 100% colder

These were the ones that he already had. Just by looking at it, the pitcher he held was moving towards the cups that held liquid. Some were blue, others transparent.

“Oh? Nice. It only takes 15ml to increase ice magic resistance to heat from 250% to 500% and 5ml to increase freezing flames’ seeping fluency from 250% to 500%. So cheap. At least I can finally take back my loss from missing out during my Classing.” It was probably cheap because he already achieved what was needed to get those.

Increasing base mana and stamina regeneration from 500% to 750% would take about 60ml.

Ebony didn’t care about how he could instinctively gauge the possibilities without pouring the fluid in. He just knew the moment he thought about it.

If he were to increase ice magic resistance to heat and flames of frost’s fluency in seeping from 500% to 750% it would only take 30ml each.

It appeared cheap compared to what he could gain from it but he wasn’t complaining. It wasn’t as if he was holding 1000ml of liquid potential. He just gave it a value to make it easier.

The rest of the upgrade by 100% was also very cheap. The cups were almost full to begin with. He could even change some of them slightly for almost no cost.

However, when he thought about having a fourth Fortification that gave him 250% instead of 100% the cost rose to over a thousand. He didn’t have that. It appeared that a person at a certain stage of evolution could only wield so much power and breaking that balance wasn’t easy.

Dozens of Fortifications were completely new that he could pick. Three of them had half filled to three quarter filled cups, the rest were less than a quarter full and some barely had any liquid potential within. Since the cups were of different sizes, the volumes didn’t match proportionally to their fill percentage.

The three that cost the least to get were ‘Ice magic is 100% more resilient against kinetic impact’ ‘Ice magic is 100% more resilient to mana’ and ‘Mana efficiency with lightning magic increased by 100%’

At this point, he knew that picking lightning magic would also change his class to one that included lightning magic. At the same time, he could ignore it. When he walked over to his sub-class, a similar option appeared but with a different price tag.

The next most filled cup was an increase in sealing magic’s efficacy in stopping all mana from escaping by 100%. When he focused on it, it was possible to change the effect to stopping Vitality. He could even merge and do both for a higher price.

He could also increase his mana’s indistinctiveness by 100% but for a price of 200 ml. When he checked the smallest monolith for the same Fortification, it was there for a price of 50ml instead. Ebony was a little befuddled. Regardless of which monolith, these all represented what he achieved and could achieve. Why were the prices so different?

Just pure compatibility issues?

He quickly summarised what he could get on this monolith in order of price instead of vessel fill level so that he could move on. He filtered out those he didn't even have a sliver of interest in.

Ice magic is 100% more resilient against kinetic impact - 5ml

Ice magic is 100% more resilient to mana - 5ml

Casting speed with Ice Magic increased by 100% - 5ml

Casting speed with Body Enhancement Magic increased by 100% - 8ml

Mana efficiency with lightning magic increased by 100% - 20ml

Casting speed with Lightning Magic increased by 100% - 25ml

Ice magic is 100% more flexible and malleable - 30ml

Stamina efficiency with movements increased by 100% - 35ml

Sealing magic is 100% more efficacious at sealing mana - 35ml

Sealing magic is 100% more efficacious at sealing vitality - 45ml

Flames of frost’s adhesivity increased by 100% - 50ml

Ice Magic has an increased effect of 100% Intelligence - 50ml

Increased attunement with Body Enhancement Magic by 100% - 70ml

Body can delay momentum loss by 100% longer -120ml

Will’s effective range is amplified by 100%

Will gathers 100% faster - 120ml

Will’s capacity is 100% greater - 200ml

Sealing magic is 100% more efficacious at sealing essence - 200ml

Flames of frost reaction with heat is 100% more congruous and tranquil - 200ml

Flames of frost reaction with heat is 100% more violent and combustible - 200ml

Will is 100% more compelling - 210ml

Lightning Magic is 100% more numbing - 220ml

Base mana capacity increased by 100% - 350ml

Flames of frost’s reaction with heat is adaptable, 100% more tranquil or violent as per your Will - 450ml

There were more but they were just too expensive to even consider when he had so much more to spend on. For example, ‘Sealing magic is 100% more efficacious at sealing all energy’ costs 12800ml. He wasn’t phased by the extra zero.

There were some illusionary cups present but he assumed he just hadn’t done anything concrete enough to make it possible to gain them.

The monoliths were linked to their respective shelves as well. It was clear that all ice magic would mean that his Class monolith was connected to all related ice magic. And movement speed connected to the crystal monolith together with generic running skill and class Phantom’s Flicker.

‘If I pick up a new skill, will another Fortification open up? It’ll probably be costly even if that’s the case. Hmm, how long did Ning Xin say she perceived here again? I don’t feel myself disappearing or fading away. Wait, I’m already forgetting what she told me about her evolutionary experience.’

The price would stay the same if he picked three but they would rise vastly if he wanted to pick a fourth. It informed him that the known limit wasn’t there for show. Ebony made it a point to remember the information he was gaining and write it down before he forgot.

Without a doubt, his minimum expenditure on his class was upgrading all the fortifications he already had. He instinctually knew he could swap the 250% of ice magic’s resistance to heat to another Fortification but he didn’t see the need to at the moment. Perhaps in the future when there was a unique or powerful Fortification he liked.

Base Mana and Stamina regeneration increased by 500% ➡ 750% - 60ml

Mana efficiency with Ice Magic increased by 200% ➡ 300% - 5ml

Mana efficiency with Body Enhancement Magic increased by 200% ➡ 300% - 3ml

Balance and fluidity when wielding a greatsword with one hand increase by 200% ➡ 300% - 7ml

➡ Balance and fluidity when wielding a greatsword increase by 300% - 2ml

Movement speed increased by 200% ➡ 300% - 10ml

Ice Magic is 250% more resistant to heat ➡ 500% (15ml) ➡ 750% (30ml)

Flames of frost are 250% more fluent in seeping. ➡ 500% (5ml) ➡ 750% (30%)

Ice Magic is 100% colder ➡ 200% - 8ml

For a cheap price of 2ml, he could remove the restriction of one-handed wielding. He had long ironed out his style and wielded Icicle single-handedly from time to time but it would be much better if there were no restrictions at all times.

For a total of 175ml. He deducted that value from 1000 and went to his Sub-Class. Deciding on three new Fortifications for his Class could wait till he knew how much spending money he had to spare.