Ebony's Fable

Ebony already knew what to do and he had scanned the bookshelves that held slates and cups earlier.

The cup sizes are almost always directly related to their tiers. The higher the tier, the larger the cups.

However, a look at his core skills and what options spread out for him made him pause despite his fading body.

“Huh…is this not filled?” Ebony stared at the cup that held a purple fluid that represented his second core skill. His domain. Instinctually, he knew it wasn’t full.

He carefully poured some fluid from his pitcher in.

Then, he was faced with a choice of where he wanted the fluid to flow. Through the sticky white threads that held the slates.

‘That took like 1 ml and it evolved…I knew I was almost there. But only two choices. I could spend more to change or mutate it further but there’s no need. This was the direction I had been pushing my domain towards.’ Ebony didn’t waste another moment here. The slates didn’t transmit details of a skill to him, just a vague understanding of what it entails.

As for Perpetual Tranquillity Spring’s Cup, he could recover all he had at the beginning and still not be able to fill it up.

The bookshelf for his Core Skills was connected to basically every part of his space. Be it every single skill or slate present or the monoliths. He could pull a slate from his class skill and slot it over here or, create something brand new. That was how he previously got his second Core Skill. Not that he made a conscious choice or remembered anything about that.

Ebony didn’t feel a calling or a phantom pull. He ignored it and left the third Core Skill empty this time.

He no longer had feet but he still had a sensation of walking and his feet touching the ground.

“Haa. This blinding light had been glinting in my eye for the past…3 hours. I’ve been here for 3 hours. That feels long. Or is it?” He unwillingly stood in front of the fifteenth bookshelf for his Class skills.

The desk was empty.

But a single slate on the bookshelf was shining brightly. The cup was a plain, fully transparent vessel. The fluid within was…bubbling.

It was spilling over to the desk and shelf before the fluid crawled back into the cup.

Ebony could feel it screaming at him, “Hurry up and accept me.”

He didn’t know if it was thanks to Perpetual Tranquillity Spring but he calmly took the slate into his hands to feel the information within

“Ethereal Form Arts. Mastery type. I believe it follows the trend of tier 1 mastery, tier 2 style, tier 3 technique and tier 4, arts. Xin reached Arts before she evolved with her dual sword wielding. Form huh, I still haven’t reached formlessness after all this time. Fine, come. I’ll personally merge you with my greatsword style after getting out of here.”

The cup tipped itself over and spilled all over the desk. The slate flew off its shelf and slammed itself onto the desk. As if it wanted to implant itself onto the desk permanently. The slate absorbed the fluid and the now empty cup seated itself before the slate. It morphed and grew into a bigger vessel before the blinding light settled.

It cost him nothing.

He was right. There were skills that people could get but didn’t just because they denied it. Consciously or not.

Ebony checked every one of his skills but he had evolved and refined many of them to their limits. Their vessels probably expanded after that. However, he didn’t expect improving his skills in this manner to be so cheap.

The lower tier skills that had lower refinements could be increased by 50% base effect for a measly 0.5ml or less. Even a tier 3 skill’s base improvement percentage of certain skills could be increased by 10% for 1ml. However, it depended on the current refinement rate. It got more expensive depending on how refined the skill already was.

Thanks to the pricing on the Fortification monoliths, Ebony misunderstood the value of the liquid potential. It wasn’t that the skills were cheap to improve. Fortifications were just fundamentally more complex.

It stroked his ego a little. It seemed like, if he didn’t spend any liquid potential on Fortifications he could easily evolve 7 or 8 tier 3 skills to tier 4.

Ebony already knew the vast difference between tier 3 and 4 skills. Partially because of how his skill set worked so well with each other but percentages or unique effects aside he got a compounding effect. For example, a tier 4 movement skill changed his entire dynamic.

With more speed or specifically, acceleration, he was generating more power. When Ebony attacked something with his body or greatsword, it was almost always a combination of all his magic. Any one of his spells or skills increasing in power would in turn benefit his other skills.

Stronger Sonic Intrusion? His flames could spread out further and deeper with more ease.

Stronger gravitational pull and push? Mana could be repelled deeper, faster. Mana within his opponent's body that had Will imbued could burst into flames.

He didn’t even have to mention mana compression which was almighty when it came to buffing any skill that used mana.

If he had 7 skills that suddenly jumped from tier 3 to 4, his general combat capabilities would skyrocket.

Would it be more obvious than all his Fortifications combined? Maybe, maybe not.

But that would be putting the cart before the horse. Fortifications were the foundations for his skills’ power.

“Hmm, that was my last class skill slot. Where would my sealing magic skills go? Do I need to make space for it? I’m not getting any prompts to merge skills or purchase an extra skill slot. Would my evolution sort itself out? Probably. Perhaps that level of autonomy is beyond my jurisdiction at the moment.”

Ebony didn’t feel a need to spend his precious liquid potential on any of his skills. He worked hard enough to change everything the way he wanted.

It was the same as he walked through the shelves containing his Sub-Class and Profession skills. Sure, there were interesting modifications that were present. He could get it for a cheap price. But he could also train and practice in that direction the moment he woke up.

The result would be the same except that the journey would take time and effort.

There were interesting skills, some that he had no idea he could learn or practise.

Things that are related to weird energies or properties. Luck was one. However, he had no option for a skill that related to luck in all the shelves present. That was only found on the monoliths.

There was one thing he noted. The shared skill, Entity Evanescence was not here. He could sense his original skill, and there were traces of what Entity Evanescence covering that slate but the skill was not his.

Ebony went on to his Generic skills. The most endless of shelves that continued further than he could see.

He evolved a skill or two. Got another skill practically free and was still left with almost 12ml of liquid potential.

He was already left with a torso and a single arm holding the pitcher of liquid potential. The rest of his body faded away from this space. Yet, it still felt like he was taking steps. He could still feel the sensation of his legs touching the ground.

In the end, he found himself back in front of the crystal monolith.

Looking up, down, left, right and centre. He just splashed the rest of the fluid onto the monolith itself instead of filling any vessel.

“Doubt that’s going to refine my Physique but this feels the best. Aayyahhh, sleepy…” Ebony yawned and faded away completely.

❅❅❅

Ning Xin felt vastly different after becoming a Grandmaster.

She didn’t know why.

It wasn’t just the changes to her body or overall strength. She just felt different.

She had lived in Xienor long enough to know what she was feeling. Confidence and nonchalance.

However, she had also walked the world long enough to understand that she was becoming arrogant. If she talked about it with Ebony, he would probably hit her with numbers.

“Let’s say we’re top 1% of the population. Assuming a population of 1 billion, there are 10 million people as strong as if not stronger than us. And Elva has more than a billion people.” She could hear his voice repeating similar-sounding words.

That probably wasn’t the case but she got his point.

Evolutionary rank of Grandmaster, King or even Emperor aside she couldn’t even beat Korben the village guardian despite her rise in power. She initially thought she was close and only lost since she was adapting to her new body and mind but the Frost Elf always found a way to counteract her. His ability as a mage at keeping distance was impeccable.

At a distance, she was not a big threat to someone capable of consistently keeping her away.

Korben learned fast and had a flexible mindset. He was learning her ways as fast as she was learning his. It made him a great training partner for fighting against real mages. The years and levels he had over her were not just for show. The long-lived species' gradual and slow method of training had a late payoff.

Sparring with Ebony just never felt like fighting a mage or a swordsman.

A couple of days after Ebony went to evolve, she faced what Gen called The Itch.

It was unbearable. It wasn’t painful like melting and regenerating her body but it was torturous.

It was also the best time to get rid of the kinks in her movements.

Tier 4 conditioning contained more than just a general stat buff. It tied together their entire skillset or their ability to incorporate all skills better. It was closer to a Core skill than a Class skill.

She was still guessing some of Ebony's new skills but that game could wait till he woke up.

Other than combat, she was just hitting herself over the fact that Ebony landed a sneak attack on her.

‘I even said I would go on the attack…this won’t do. Why is he more aggressive in this regard?’

Perhaps it was because she was a Grandmaster when she got ‘The Itch’ but hers only lasted for a month instead of 4 months that Ebony faced. Her body and mind felt so relieved once it disappeared. It was like a mini evolution or physique refinement.

Kiva tied her hair after she tied the little girl’s hair up. The little girl grew up and her fingers gained some dexterity so she could do little crafts and hold a knife steadily.

Roya had been delighted to see that Kiva had an interest in braiding or just arts in general. Ning Xin’s long and voluminous hair became practice material for the little girl. The little Frost Elf could already wield mana to a frightening degree of accuracy and precision. It was enough to discourage an average human mage who practised mana manipulation for ten to fifteen years. The elves truly were born to be mages.

The discovery of her capabilities made her play with her tiny pool of mana more and it also put the little girl to sleep more often. Mages needed more sleep in general and it was likely the overuse of mental stamina.

Ning Xin needed plenty of sleep. Supposedly, not too different from any other Grandmaster warrior. She had no fortification or physique refinement that reduced sleep requirements and was no different from any other human in that regard. However, she found it hard to sleep every day.

There was too much energy within her body and it made her energetic. She might have eaten too much after waking up and then feasting with Ebony for his pre-evolution feast. She shouldn’t go hungry even if she didn’t eat for a few days. Not that she would do that.

However, thanks to her evolution resetting her body clock her sleep schedule wasn’t messed up. She just slept a full 7 to 8 hours every 4 or 5 days instead of 1 or 2 hours a day. It made every session of sleep so much better.

It wasn’t uncommon but their sense of time had gotten off track as they evolved. She asked her Sister Jing about the lifespan calculating thingamajig. It was something that existed but her sister didn’t know how to make it. She had to reinvent it herself if she couldn’t get her hands on a sample.

It wasn’t important but Sister Jing was intrigued by the prospects of making something she hadn’t tried her hands on.

Ning Xin plucked the little girl sitting on her shoulders off after her silky black hair was braided into loops.

“I’m gonna go fishing with Grandpa Lasil, do you want to come?”

“No! It’s so boring. I’ll go play with Willow. Bye bye!” Kiva put on her socks and shoes before getting stopped by a door. The little girl turned back to look at her with puppy eyes.

She smiled and opened the door for the short little toddler. The door handles here were all pretty high up. The little girl wouldn’t reach it even if she jumped with her short and stubby little legs.

The village was safe, they let her run around once she gained the stamina to go around the village and back by herself. It allowed her to be free and gain some independence. If there weren't 4 pure combatant Kings around the Thoya’s probably wouldn’t let her run around by herself.

‘I’ll make her and Willow a burger for lunch. There’s still an hour before they set off.’ The village was sealed off but the mages connected their usual fishing lake to an artificial lake not far outside the village walls. All within their sealed area.

Ning Xin’s new pastime was fishing with some of the villagers. When she became patient and not as inexperienced, she wanted to go back to Xienor and ask Uncle Wu if she could fish with him.

“Okay, bun, patty, lettuce, cheese, onion. Right, they don’t eat onions. Then tomatoes, pickles and bun again. I’ll toss the patty in a new sauce today.” She made a burger for herself and her fellow fisher enthusiasts.

Only a single burger for herself because she was satiated. But she didn’t miss out on onions. Lots of onions.

She torched the buns after stacking them up with a snap of her fingers. It was very difficult to get the buns in the texture that Ebony remembered. She had to experiment with many types of flour before she got something he felt could be considered a burger bun. She had a lot of fun deciding on stack order. The flavour profile changed drastically simply by changing the order she stacked the ingredients.

Keeping it sealed shut in preserved boxes before chasing after Kiva. Her short little legs must not have brought her far even if she ran. Making a couple of burgers didn’t take much time and Kiva would be distracted mid-trip.

There she was, sitting on the snow near the Lasil's home.

“What’s wrong?” She picked the girl up by the armpits, got her on her feet and dusted her butt off.

“I got tired.”

Ning Xin was almost exasperated by how weak the Frost Elves’ bodies were. Kiva was already at the age where Ning Xin used to run around a forest to hunt birds or chase wolves down. She gave the little girl the benefit of the doubt as the Frost Elf was half her size at the same age.

Carrying her the rest of the trip with a baby bear waiting for them on the front porch.

Unlike Kiva who grew slightly, the baby bear didn’t grow at all. Physically or mentally, the bear was exactly the same after years had passed.

It was odd, monsters grew at extreme speeds. It was true that Milly wasn’t really a monster and she somehow didn’t see either bear as food or prey but she was sure that Milly didn’t have a Class.

‘Perhaps Willow’s father?’

Nothing special happened. It was peaceful.

The fishing trip went well.

Kiva was asleep in Willow’s embrace and had to be carried home.

Ning Xin lost a cooking challenge which bothered her less than she imagined. She got too used to catering to the Thoya’s taste buds and Roya tried hard to cater something that bode well to human tongues. Putting aside how none of them except maybe Sister Jing was fully human.

She was fine with it being peaceful or quiet but she missed a certain person. It was quieter than it should be.

His increasing lack of presence did not work on her. He wasn’t exactly silent when they were together. At least, not all the time. It wasn’t obvious when he was around but she was irritated when he wasn’t around.

Roya made more clothes for her. Comfortable ones to wear around the house or outdoor clothes that weren’t battle gear. Her armour and clothing didn’t have to undergo massive changes. Only small adjustments thanks to the crafters forward thinking.

Ning Xin was a lot less resistant to fashion. She didn’t care much about them being impractical for battle anymore. The gaudy red wasn’t all she wore either. Black contrasted her skin tone nicely and white fit her black hair. Her hair was now fully onyx black. Luckily the gloss wasn’t that obvious and it didn’t make her hair look oily.

In her day-to-day life, her evolution made her uncomfortable in a few aspects.

It was her senses. She didn’t have any Fortification related to that so it might just be from her Perception’s rise after her Conditioning got to tier 4. She smelled better, heard more, saw clearer, felt more and tasted more.

It wasn’t good. The village always smelled nice and was quiet. But tasting more ‘precisely’ just allowed her to taste minerals and dirt better. Her sense of touch, more specifically, her skin’s sensitivity was making light gusts of wind and the feeling of clothing rubbing against her annoying. It took some getting used to.

Wind wasn’t an issue, her affinity seemed to have risen and wind mana around her settled themselves. Not to the point that they actively defended or aided her but they would not interrupt or touch her if she didn’t want it to.

Fire, on the other hand, would actively follow her intentions. Fire mana within her swords’ reach would be able to sense her intentions to some degree and aid her. It wasn’t a large range but it was a step forward. It was pretty much what Ebony could do with Will and they might even be the same thing. The difference is that he could make use of it consciously.

She could command fire mana to do her bidding but it still took mana and mental focus. Ebony’s usage was complete control over every minuscule movement of ice. Unless he imbued concentrated Will that programmed the ice mana. However, it completely took away all of ice mana’s natural movements.

The fire mana around her might follow her intentions but they wouldn’t do what they couldn’t. Ebony’s Will forcefully overrides or adds abilities to his conjured ice.

To be fair, neither of them uses ambient mana. There weren’t many places that were abundant in fire mana either. So the effect was not really useful. This affinity wouldn’t even be able to barely hinder a Great Fire Mage’s spell much less a Grand Fire Mage unless she personally tried to hinder their spells. She wasn’t exactly a fire elemental.

Other than 5 of her senses, her natural reflex and mental processing speed are increased, making everything slower. It was disorientating but her evolved meditation skill helped balance her impatience.

Controlling the speed and strength that she went about using on a day-to-day basis was difficult. Thankfully, her stats never increased from the evolution.

Levelling from 299 to 300 took some time. She didn’t expect to level up from 300 to 301 without hunting anything. Sister Jing said it was the experience that spilled over from before her evolution but that didn’t make any sense to her.

Her stat gain for levelling up was 20 points from her Class, 15 from her Sub-Class and 5 from her Profession. The points from her Profession were allocated 1 to Agility, 1 to Perception and 3 to Strength . It was an odd split but that Profession stats couldn’t be allocated the way she wanted so she left it be.

She had 35 points to allocate but she ignored it temporarily. It wasn’t a significant boost and she hasn’t even gotten absolute control over her movements.

When the forty-fifth day after Ebony went to evolve came, her ears twitched as he would take longer than her in a few hours.

Of course, she guessed that he would wake up around the same time. The food preparation had been completed a few days back. Ribs and brisket were being slow roasted for the past twenty hours. Stew that took even longer all sitting outside the Thoya house. An open kitchen so that she didn’t cause an internal meltdown within the house.

A little bit of cooking was all it took to make these Frost Elves sweat.

Having so much free time to cook gave her the chance to try cooking techniques and styles that took hours or days.

In the end, he beat her record by 5 hours. No one disturbed him even though they felt his aura seeping out.

‘Huh? They should’ve made it so that essence can’t escape the room, I don’t feel his mana or vitality so what is this presence?’

She started getting the table ready for dinner the moment she sensed his awakening but began tapping her feet on the floor when the entire table and all the Thoyas were around but Ebony took his own sweet time.

“It’s been three hours!” She thought she timed it well but the dishes had been sitting out for two whole minutes. It shouldn’t take that long for him to get his bearings.

“I saw him going into the bathroom ten minutes ago.” Clovis keyed in.

“Bada, bigger. And smelly!” Kiva commented. They walked past him on the way down to the dining room.

The little girl didn’t know that everyone excreted ‘stuff’ from their bodies after or during evolution.

Ning Xin smacked Sister Jing’s hand away when she tried to sneak a bite in. The space mage had disappeared from the village once and only returned yesterday.

It took another five minutes before he came before them.

His cyan hair was almost pure white now but his irises were still pitch black. Looking into them used to be intimidating and one could easily get lost in them. His facial features didn’t change much except a barely noticeable increase in his jawline’s sharpness.

Ebony was good-looking. She believed that most would agree even if they didn’t have her biased view. He was lean but muscular and his cold expression was attractive to her. Though, it was also cute to see it change from time to time.

He wore a short-sleeved t-shirt that exposed his chiselled forearms. She had to stifle a laugh when she thought about how that chiselled arm probably had less strength than hers as long as mana wasn’t part of the equation.

He gained more bulk than she expected but it wasn’t anything drastic. He also stood at about the same height as her. They weren’t really any shorter than Roya or Halvis now. She did not expect much physical growth from him because he had focussed more of his stats in the magic and perception department.

Ning Xin’s feet shifted and scraped the floorboards when they shared eye contact.

‘Something’s very different. He’s somehow…demanding more attention with his presence but his presence is also thinner.’ Ning Xin acted calm, her Intuition was feeding her emotions that she could feel from everyone present but Ebony showing up seemed to wipe that clean and she was forced to sense his alone. Her heartbeat was alarmingly loud.

“What took you so long?” She was a master of her own body, there was no way her heart would betray her. It was her damn core skill now.

“I was writing down my experience before I forgot. Sorry for the holdup, let’s eat.”

Ning Xin used food to shut her Intuition up.