Ebony's Fable

The monolith for his Sub-Class was not much taller than him. It was thinner than the Class monolith by half. He tallied the upgrades for his current Fortifications to 100ml. There was a pattern that a direct increase in strength or power had higher costs.

His training’s focus has always been more towards fixing his weaknesses rather than building on his strengths. The complete opposite of Ning Xin. They complemented each other and made sparring with each other productive.

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

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

Body’s natural gravitational flow reversed and increased by 200% ➡ 300% - 15ml

Body naturally reflects physical vibrations with mana vibrations at 100% frequency. ➡ 200% - 25ml

Gravity Magic has an increased effect of 100% Intelligence. ➡ 200% - 50ml

Instead of blue fluid, the cups here were either clear, intense dark purple or some yellow.

“I can include lightning magic in my Sub-Class…I would prefer that so my Class can include sealing magic that feels like it'll match better with my current skills. Should I even add any more types of magic? My skill slots are running out. Oh, some skills can probably be merged with practice or I can pay my way through the easy way. That would be a terrible waste of what little liquid potential I have.

Sealing magic is a must. It fits ice magic and I believe I’m pretty good at it but do I need lightning at this point?

Mana efficiency with lightning magic increased by 100% - 35ml

Casting speed with Lightning Magic increased by 100% - 50ml

Lightning Magic is 100% more numbing - 120ml

There were only three choices that didn’t cost thousands and they were all present in his Class’s monolith. Mana efficiency and casting speed were both more expensive than if he were to incorporate it into his Class. However, the numbing one was practically half-priced.

This made him more sure that compatibility or something similar was taken into account. Because he used a numbing effect with sound magic or vibrations to be specific. As proof, there was a similar Fortification for sound magic.

Ebony had two lightning magic spells that were currently generic skills. Besides lightning mana manipulation or resistance. If he was being honest, he was fine with them staying as generic skills. Especially seeing how expensive and counterproductive it would be at the moment. They were good support skills but he had his hands full.

However, he wasn’t sure if that would be the case once he evolved into a full-fledged Grandmaster. He would likely be able to handle more and incorporate lightning into his fighting style better. He never shunned a wider variety of skills to handle different situations.

Instinctually, he knew he could assimilate lightning magic into his Sub-Class. Logically, he didn’t know how that would work. He only had 1 empty Sub-Class skills slot. That would only fit lightning mana manipulation but not his spells.

Just when he asked that question to himself, a few vessels phased out of the monolith.

“I see…I can spend vastly to get another skill slot. well…I can’t afford that. Or I can spend an average amount to merge some compatible skills or just delete a skill and use that liquid potential to pour elsewhere. Sister Jing was right, I can just take skills or parts I don’t like and redistribute them. Battle Song and Sonic Intrusion are the most compatible but merging them still takes 550ml because I always used one as a support and the other as an attack magic without any practice in merging them as one skill. Lightning magic’s out of the picture.” Ebony ignored that Battle Song was the skill that had the least improvements among all his skills. At least the measly tier 1 skill was currently highly refined.

Body natural ability to absorb and pad out vibration increased by 100% - 10ml

Sensitivity to gravity mana increased by 100% - 15ml

Precision of vibrational sense increased by 100% - 15ml

Gravity Magic is 100% more stagnant and stable - 30 ml

Sound Magic has an increased effect of 100% Intelligence - 60ml

Sound Magic’s mental impact increased by 100% - 120ml

There weren’t any more that he could reasonably afford. Even so, these were options that he had been working towards. Although the description was slightly off, it might be better than what he had hoped for. Especially the first, it basically increased his toughness against all physical impact. Cutting most if not all physical impact and damage by half was impressive.

If there was something he knew about Fortifications it was that they all had some kind of limit or threshold. If he was hit hard enough, his body probably wouldn’t be able to pad force or vibrations out.

He spent another second to focus and check what other future possibilities were open to him. There was one interesting one that made his body repel anything with a mass twice as well but it cost 700ml.

Even if some fortifications could be deactivated or worked around with manipulation, it felt like a pain if his body just repelled every physical object around him so he wouldn’t pick that even if it was free.

The further or perhaps deeper he tried to glance, the stronger the mental feedback. He was getting dizzy when he had to blink twice at the information he got.

“Luck? I can make gravity magic gravitate luck towards me twice as well. Luck is a real phenomenon?” Ebony pulled his mind back from the monolith. Putting aside the nonsensical 5-digit price tag, he was truly surprised luck was a thing that he could affect.

He had no way of knowing what that Fortification would do. Would it give him bad, good or just strong luck?

Ebony already decided what new Fortifications he was going to pick for his Sub-Classes. It might have helped that his choices were limited here.

He jogged towards the smallest monolith. His Profession’s monolith was only a metre tall but it was just as thick as his Sub-Class’s. He squatted down and placed his palms on the surface.

Mana Compressibility increased by 200% ➡ 300% - 2ml

Mana Resilience increased by 200% ➡ 300% - 40ml

Mana Density increased by 100% ➡ 200% - 100ml

“One of them is practically free and density is overpriced in comparison. Its connection with the crystal monolith is thick. Hmm, the entire monolith’s connection with the crystal monolith is thick. I guess my mana is a bigger part of me than my sub-class. Let’s see my options…wow, I have more options than my sub-class.” Ebony could reason that compressibility was something he was the best at, he also practised it the most.

As for making his mana more resilient, it was hard to say if his usage of mana was aimed towards that. As for increasing density, it was no different from compressibility. It simply touched upon his base stats and had a strong link with his physique or whatever the crystal monolith represented.

Mana Tensile strength increased by 100% - 20ml

Mana Viscosity increased by 100% - 25ml

Moulded mana pathways stores 100% more energy - 30ml

Moulded mana pathways durability increased by 100% - 30ml

Mana is 100% soother - 40ml

Mana Chassis is 100% more malleable - 100ml

Mana is 100% more magnetic - 100ml

Base mana capacity increased by 100% - 200ml

Mana Chassis’s resilience increased by 100% - 250ml

Mana Chassis’s recovery speed increased by 100% - 400ml

Mana is 100% more explosive - 400ml

Mana is 100% more resistant to foreign intervention - 500ml

For all his choices so far, he could easily reduce the fortification value from 100% increments to 50% or even 25%. The price dropped so much that 25% was mostly free for all the 2-digit expenses for a 100% increment. He just had no reason to do that.

Unless he wanted one of the expensive Fortifications. Like sealing magic’s ability to seal all energy. If he lowered it to 25% he could afford it. Just 980ml.

The option was juicy but not juicy enough for him to desire a measly 25% Fortification by sacrificing everything else. He’ll just work on that during his time as a Grandmaster and it would be far cheaper in future. If he ever decided that he wanted to focus on sealing magic the ability to seal ‘all’ energy was pretty amazing.

Ebony was spoiled for choice. Be it his Class or his Profession. He could think of a specific Fortification using his imagination and the monolith will give him a vague price for it. If it was even possible. He was a little too imaginative at times and nothing he came up with was feasible.

Quite a few options were questionable. The expensive options were either vague or really specific. What even constitutes ‘foreign intervention’? Does it make his mana less likely to be controlled or influenced by other mages and natural ambient conditions? That was pretty likely.

‘Getting another 250% is not possible unless I sacrifice something else but getting two 100% fortifications for profession only doubles to triples the price. Getting a third 100% sub-class fortification multiplies the cost by 5 to 6 times and getting a fourth class fortification roughly costs 10 times more than the original price. I’ll stick with the limit of 3 for my class and 2 for sub-class but my profession’s options are great. Damn, the more expensive one would count instead of the cheaper option…’

Ebony didn’t move away from the monoliths to check out the shelves and desks that held his Core, Class, Sub-Class and Profession skills. No matter how great the options he would be presented with, he saw skills as something he could learn or get with effort and time.

Fortifications on the other hand were something he couldn’t do anything about once he left this space. Yes, he could work towards them and that’s how some of these options appear. The more he acted in a certain matter, the cheaper the options were. The prices weren’t directly correlated to how strong, weak or unique the Fortifications were. It was simply what suited him best and what his actions brought about.

But these were stagnant from evolution to evolution, unlike skills. Although it was true that he was already facing trouble with improving his skills any further he felt that at least he would have goals to chase after. It was also true that certain skills were just impressive and didn't seem likely to train towards.

So, Ebony didn’t plan to use much of his liquid potential elsewhere. He can consider skills after whatever leftover potential remains.

“I’ll simply upgrade all my current fortifications, 175ml for class, 100ml for sub-class and 142ml for profession for a total of 417ml. Leaving me with 583ml. I’m poor. The cheapest options aren’t terrible though.”

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

Resilience to kinetic impact strengthened his ice magic against physical attacks or defences. As for mana, it probably toughened all his conjured ice against any type of spell made of mana. He wasn’t surprised he got either of these to such a low price as that was essentially what he had been doing.

In a sense, this was probably a very common Fortification. Just increased mana efficiency and casting speed. He believed this was one reason why some Frost Elves’ spells were so tough despite the thinner mana used.

Casting speed was nice to have but Ebony didn’t think he would get it. Although body enhancement magic was cast ‘almost instantaneously’ speed was always relative.

He had noticed that he was beginning to lag in this regard. Those Apex Apes could catch him off guard and he couldn’t react in time to Ning Xin’s burst from time to time. At their current stage, every fraction of a second mattered. However, Ebony’s Will and mind could react and his domain and entire skill set was based on slowing his opponent down.

His mental reach, or the maximum distance he could control his mana had increased day by day. But it also meant exerting influence on something further away took more time. Even so, he didn’t want to spend a precious slot on casting speed.

Ebony sieved out all lightning magic fortifications. He ignored stamina efficiency. Yet he was still left with plenty of choices. Caring not about expenditure, he continued to sieve out what he cared little for that he could do well enough.

The flexibility of ice magic, attunement with body enhancement magic, delaying of momentum loss, the effective range of Will and even capacity of Will were not considered. As for increasing his base mana capacity, he could easily deal with that with a skill.

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

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

Will gather 100% faster - 120ml

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

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

He was still left with many choices.

“Merging ice magic’s resilience to kinetic impact and mana would cost 25ml instead of 5 plus 5 but it’s a decent overall buff. Adhesivity of my flames is kinda useful but my flames are already good at seeping into my targets. I want sealing magic for sure. Will is going to be important, I’m using it more. It can cover up for my casting speed of any type of magic so gathering it faster would be great.

Adaptable reaction with heat is great for combining spells with Ning Xin but essentially useless for myself. Hmm, that’s not completely true, high-frequency sound magic is generating enough heat to melt common and even uncommon metals now. Since all my magic can essentially turn into sound magic with a thought, there would be so many more spell possibilities.”

Ebony realised that his voice echoed in this space even when he was just thinking.

He was unexpectedly greedy and wanted everything. Unable to decide immediately on his Class’s fortification but went on to decide on his Sub-Class’s. It was an easy pick.

Body naturally ability to absorb and pad out vibration increased by 100% - 10ml

Sound Magic has an increased effect of 100% Intelligence - 60ml

Nothing groundbreaking but a general boost towards all sound magic to meet his growing needs for attacks that could break through tough shells and skins. As for the first one, it was a straightforward defence boost and it’s cheap.

Deducting 70 from 583 left him with 513.

On to his Profession which was mana galore. He ruled out mana pathways which was a boost to his runic endeavour. That was a hobby and a side hustle. It was nice to have but not crucial.

Tensile strength was because of how he used his mana as ropes and weaved them all the time.

Viscosity was likely a side effect of all his compression and usage of mana to slow down moving objects and people.

Magnetism was interesting, he didn’t have that in mind during his training. It might be from gravity magic training and his experiments with mental imaging during these sessions.

Base mana capacity was not on his priority list.

All 3 mana chassis options were attractive.

Mana Chassis is 100% more malleable - 100ml

Mana Chassis’s resilience increased by 100% - 250ml

Mana Chassis’s recovery speed increased by 100% - 400ml

Malleability was especially attractive. He had no doubt it was because of how forceful he was when he ‘refined’ his physique by punching his mana chassis into place and freezing them there. If he got this, he had a feeling it meant that he would have an easier time changing, perhaps fixing, his physique if he ever came across a problem with his self-engineering.

Ebony had used this new body against the Apex Apes for over a year without any problems but he would be lying if he said he wasn’t worried he did something against his natural growth.

Resilience might make it harder for him to overdraft or explode his mana chassis for a burst of mana. Although it might further increase his body’s toughness and maybe, resistance to magic he was leaning away from this.

Recovery speed was simple. It was just great. Recovering his mana chassis from overdraft or implosion faster was quite a boon.

He put explosive mana or mana that was resistant to foreign intervention aside.

Getting two fortifications was ultimately not worth it. The more expensive option would be doubled or even tripled and he couldn’t afford that unless he took two of the cheapest options which were tensile strength and viscosity.

Ebony zoomed in on the most boring choice.

Mana is 100% soother - 40ml

Out of all the options he had for his Profession, he couldn’t keep his eye and mind away from this.

Then, he was left with 473ml for his Class Fortification.

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

It was a general buff to all its properties and his flames were considered ice magic. Resilience to physical or mana might not be directly doubled with this but all other properties would increase in a more balanced manner.

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

He might be new to sealing magic but he felt like it fit him amazingly well. More so than sound or gravity magic. His sealing spell which was currently a generic skill was pretty amazing. He sealed some of his internal organs and the vitality and mana would be redirected to other parts of his body. It was energy efficiency at its finest.

When he sealed half his body, he essentially sped up his physical healing towards the other half. The spell countered his momentary weakness if he lost a limb and had to regenerate it. It was far from perfect and vitality, mana and stamina could still leak into those ‘sealed’ organs or body parts.

Other than healing himself, it was also an offensive spell. He would cast it over an injury and his opponent would have a harder time healing or regenerating as the seal would also stop vitality from flowing in normally. Although it meant the rest of his opponent’s body healed faster Ebony doubted many people healed and regenerated so fast. Excluding certain monsters or races like the Trolls.

In short, sealing magic had jumped and fit into his fighting style almost perfectly in less than a year. The only problem was that it was almost impossible to cast from a distance if his opponent’s magic body was strong. He would have to touch them and he needed a precious seconds to cast the spell. Longer if the area that he wanted to seal was larger.

Will is 100% more compelling - 210ml

This was the Fortification that called out to him the most intensely. He felt like he was getting brainwashed into picking this fortification and Ebony trusted the pull that this space was edging him towards. This ‘pull’ might be how he made all of his decisions during his evolution from Journeyman to Master.

Ebony didn’t ponder any longer. His toes were missing. They faded away from this space.

He ran to his Class Monolith and tilted his pitcher of liquid potential into the respective cups that held his Fortifications. The transparent liquid flowed down into the cups but they didn’t dilute the coloured fluid. They changed to the same colour and filled the cups to the brim.

He felt his mind and body getting prickly when he got base mana and stamina from 500% to 750%.

Without pausing, he poured the fluid into all his finalised decisions with certainty. He didn’t fear spilling a drop.

Each and every vessel he filled to the brim would cause some reaction within him but he ignored them and continued.

When he was done with all three monoliths, his pitcher had but a little puddle that was roughly 13ml or 1.3% of the total volume of liquid potential he had. After all, he was the one who gave the arbitrary value of 1000ml. Every other value was just a calculated estimation in proportion to what he had.