Ebony's Fable

Chapter 442: Private Time



Apa snored in peace. Thunderously.

Hector was covered in frozen sweat. He huffed and puffed on the icy earth.

Standing without ruffled hair, Ebony had a faint look of satisfaction on his face. These two didn't stop growing.

"You're too elling mobile," Hector complained.

"Both of you are too easy to read." He propped up a hard ice bed for Apa and grabbed Hector's hand to pick him up before he froze to the ground.

"We were supposed to have a punch-out."

"I threw some punches."

"Complicated ass punches. What's with all the magic behind them?"

"Coming from your 10 elements enhancement?"

"Hey! I still threw normal punches. You had sound to dig deep, gravity to push us around and yourself forward. Right, Apa!?"

"Apaaa.." The Apex Ape blissfully replied in his sleep.

While Apa had cuts and bruises, he didn't receive much damage. Hector on the other hand, was heavily mana poisoned. His muscles and bones were also heavily injured. He had to use a potion from the Lord Family.

Ebony did get injuries of a similar nature as those Hector got but he mostly recovered during the exchange itself. His bones were rattled but unharmed, and his muscles dissipated impact well with the help of vibrational manipulation of mana.

The life force weakness he sustained affected his effective strength by less than 2% and would take a few hours to recover.

The mana poisoning he gave himself wasn't deep either. Not after he got his Priming.

Apa's bones were tougher than he remembered.

A passive skill would not explain it. Apa had no way to get an active skill of this nature. Not one that could strengthen him so much in a short duration. Passive skills like Conditioning or Priming took a long time to level and refine.

'Did he eat something weird and refine his Physique?' Ebony opened his closed palms and let his Scout Pigeons unravel to plant new Will Relay Buffers.

'I wonder where Gen brought his forest to?' With his range and perception, he should've found the forest of his magic origins with ease but that wasn't the case.

If it was the unexplored Glacial Region, it would make sense. All Ebony saw and fought there were the Grand Stygian-Frost Elementals before he had to leave for his wedding.

Ebony saw Orren and his party of 5 Frost Elves in the distance. They were watching the punch-out from a safe distance.

Although they were undergoing training by their elders, they weren't quite ready for Apa.

Habit was a scary thing.

A few hundred years of peacefully living in a quiet village, and it didn't matter how hard they were training now. It's not easy shaving off years of habit. Just dropping them into harsh battles wouldn't be enough.

That's why Ebony preferred younger students instead of people who never developed the habit of daily dives into danger. There was a certain edge that starting old did not have compared to those who grew up with it.

"Hey. Can we visit Arcta? This is Hector, you've seen him before." Ebony waved.

"Anytime for you, dear." Ophelia Wit replied. She was the village chief's wife.

"How's my little sister, not bullying her are you?" Enya Tu casually patted his back. She was the most casual amongst the Frost Elves and dismissed the tet greeting altogether.

Keiran Walls, the ice archer, had nothing to say. He was a cold one, and Ebony understood that when they exchanged nods as acknowledgement.

As for Korben Ind, the village guardian, he was still the same. He greeted Ebony with a smile and nod. Ebony didn't think Korben would be a decent sparring partner anymore. The only Grandmaster of Arcta's security force and proper combatant was still a bit lacking compared to their seniors from their main village.

Arcta was no longer in lockdown and was open to the public.

He could feel their nerves tighten when he carried Apa on a hovering ice bed over. Their nerves instantly calmed down when Vent made his presence known.

'I can't see how Oplot can beat Vent.' He shook his head, trying not to be so battle-focused all the time.

"Apex Ape Alpha? Don't bring him near the Lasil household." Vent commented when he saw Apa.

Apa shivered and snapped right awake when Vent started speaking. His short fur shot right up along with his twitching muscles. Shocking, he managed to hold back his reflexive punch.

In fear.

"Why?" Hector knew Vent, they met when Ebony and Xin were whisked away by Ezekiel.

"Our dear Guardian Beast Milly, will be frightened. He'd beaten her almost to death a few decades ago." Vent shows everyone respect despite the strength difference. Yet, Ebony could tell that he was especially courteous to Hector.

The Elven Nobles had a similar reaction. They didn't care much about other races' Nobles. Including the Lord family, but they looked at Hector with more tolerance for his presence.

It was in their nature to be respectful to mana. And those who were blessed by it.

Hector was naturally attuned to elements like no other. The Elves could probably sense that.

'Charm being an evolutionary advantage can't be overlooked.'

"I've been banished from Tidal. My house will arrive in a few days, and I'll host Apa there. I presume I can stay in the Icy region?"

"We don't own the lands and forests. You may stay wherever you like." Orren quipped up.

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

Ebony was about to break off and find the Thoyas, but Vent stopped him with a seemingly random speech.

"Ebony. An archer may miss. Death may miss. But Misfortune never misses. Remember that."

"There is a saying amongst the Spirits." Nutash suddenly appeared from a snowy portal right beside them. The one that shall not be named continued, "In the world where nothing is guaranteed, Misfortune is. You have been marked by Misfortune."

'Did he just open a portal? From where? I couldn't sense it, and it is so close to not just me but also Vent? I'm pretty sure the two of us easily have the top five strongest magic bodies of anyone on the planet.'

He truly couldn't let his guard down anywhere. As expected from the man whose bloodline had protection from higher beings from the Spirit Realm.

'What makes Elcra so special?' He felt like he was missing a crucial piece of a puzzle. This was 'just' an Ancient-ranked Worldcore. One that had too much attention from higher powers.

He ignored Hector making friends and chatting up the village ladies, even Mrs. Calhy who sold frost plums.

The Thoyas were surprisingly not all present.

Clovis was undergoing training with his teacher Christy, or Iceheart Lady Christy if he were to be formal.

In Roya's words, her husband Halvis had been spurred by the rapid improvements by his son and fellow villagers and 'begged' Glacial Lord Korta Ind to allow him a visit to their village's knowledge repository.

Halvis had lost his family's lineage from a young age. But the Frost Elves as a race weren't exactly young. They had plenty of families that specialised in farming or the like.

The only issue was social hierarchy. Even if the Thoya ancestors were alive, they weren't very high up in their caste.

The Elves took caste very seriously.

Though the Frost Elves eased up on differentiating their people, it was part of their culture and wasn't removed completely.

Without a significant contribution or payment, Halvis would have no chance to enter the Frost Elves' knowledge repository within a thousand years of his life.

But he had a son who was studying under Iceheart Lady Christy. A wife who was the Death Tailor's student.

Ebony's general view on them was that they were all nice to each other and tried to help their fellow villagers overcome old rules and norms.

'I bet their knowledge repository is from their main heritage since they are connected to their people on Yggdrasil.' Ebony felt a thirst for the knowledge they had accrued over generations.

According to general knowledge about Elves, not the Elcrians.

Yggdrasil, the World Tree, was the faith of the Elves.

A mighty God.

Tended by Gods themselves.

Hex never dealt with this information and public information about Elven Gods was limited.

At the very least, Ebony was aware of more than a handful of their titles.

The Elves had many subspecies, amongst them only a handful stood on near equal terms to what they saw as pure-bred Elves.

Wood Elves.

Dark Elves.

Frost Elves.

Glyphborn Elves.

Ash Elves.

These were the only publicly known subspecies that had Gods amongst their people.

The Elves on Elcra were the Wood and Frost Elves. A branch of lower-ranked families exploring the universe and taking root on Elcra before developing into what they are today.

Developing to the point of being able to reach Yggdrasil by their power, without Eidolon contacting their people, was proof that they were re-acknowledged by their people again.

Knowledge did not need physical transportation. Ebony had no doubt that their knowledge repository was centralised and basically had no limits to what could be in their library if they had literal Gods amongst their race.

"Thank you! Ahh this is good juice!" Hector thanked Roya.

"Quieten down, you're scaring her." Ebony saw Kiva flinch from Hector's enthusiastic voice. "What did you make a stop for?"

"Torsh City has a florist that grows a flower only found there…" Hector grew softer.

"For the girl you're seeing?"

"Ahahaha."

"Didn't think you'd ever have trouble getting close to another person." Ebony didn't know anyone more sociable than Hector.

He didn't even take ten minutes before he had Kiva playing with him. Kiva tied him up with her ice threads, and he 'struggled' while wiggling around the floor.

"I'm guessing you're here to evolve again?" Roya smiled cheekily.

"There's that, but we're also moving to the Glades." Ebony tried not to feel bad about using this spot for his evolution every time.

High-pitched screams echoed. Screams of laughter?

In any case, he rushed out to see Kiva riding Apa and holding on to his fur for dear life.

If he didn't have Tier 5 Meditation activated all the time, he would have begun sweating. Apa had no control over his strength; a casual pat from him could turn a Number to dust!

However, he didn't have to be overly worried.

It appeared that Apa knew how to treat small and weak creatures. Perhaps from his experience with baby Apex Apes.

Just in case, he hopped on behind Kiva and wrapped her up in his mana for shock absorption. Apa rose from his slumber, and they heard a bear's roar from the Lasil household.

When the fun and games were over, Hector held Apa's hand and went out to have their fun. Although Apa did toss Hector like a javelin right after leaving the village's enclosure.

It was then tea and mana manipulation technique discussion at the Lasil household with Korta, Nutash, Grandpa Lasil and the Death Tailor. The young herbalist girl of the Lasil family was still the same shy girl, but she avoided him whenever he was around.

"So Death isn't an element but closer to an Aspect?" Ebony took in information with a hint of salt.

He didn't know much about Aspects, but it was what Shi Ling used as well. Their mana's properties were unique compared to mages, and the key difference he noticed was how inflexible their mana was.

Their mana pretty much couldn't be shaped or converted to another element, even if they had affinity for it. Specialised mana or energy source for specific functions or spells.

Mages were generally very flexible with their spells.

Ebony's usage of mana to edit his spells mid-cast was what he liked about magic. His spells, even after being cas,t were always changing depending on the situation.

Once Shi Ling covers her target in diamond, she couldn't strengthen, weaken or turn back the spell immediately with a single thought. The Death Tailor also couldn't bring someone back to life whenever she decides to pull her Death spells back.

They questioned him about how his married life was after the wedding. There was a bit of a cultural difference, but the older members nodded while reminiscing.

'Flowers huh.' They had a talk, celebrating special days every year was too much trouble as the years pass so quickly.

Birthdays just didn't feel special to either of them.

Celebrating occasions was nice, so they decided on a celebration every decade. That didn't mean he couldn't get presents and gifts.

Ebony had a house in Arcta, and he cleaned the kitchen before chopping some fruits and skewering them on a stick. Red and yellow, sweet and sour. He carved them into flowers and Xin's favourite animals to eat.

Once he had 999 different flowers and animals, he bundled them into a bouquet and breathed an icy breath to frost their surface.

Checking every fruit, every carving to be perfect before he stored it in his bracelet.

Looking out the window, he saw Dusk flying ahead of their house and grabbed it. Just the staff and not the tree, he might have to refer to them separately till Dusk was immobile again.

The talk about Misfortune marking him and how they've never missed their target had him uncertain about his protective measures before he went into evolutionary hibernation.

With each seal on Dusk unlocked was an exponential rise in the staff's supportive abilities.

Now that his wife had friends for company, he could be in a trance for some time.


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