Ebony's Fable

Mallory was obviously 'used' as the middleman between the Empire and Ebony. He'd been receiving reports and requests.

Ebony had dumped a large amount of the crystals into the Turtle Fort he'd made for the survivors from Vittale City.

Every second he is near his wife, he charges Dusk. Before he split off, he would toss Dusk towards the Turtle. Once the mana had been displaced into the Turtle which was storing mana in the form of more ice scales and an expansion in turtle or tree size, before Dusk returned by gravitational tunnel. The crystals were for all his Apparitions to use.

They required a high density of crystals to maintain the flow of mana and Will required for them to display part of Ebony's current power.

Ebony took part completely, not shunning away from this.

He let the Turtle Fort and all available Apparitions loose on cities that had been taken over. So far, they had only arrived at one city and one town nearby due to their immense weight and size slowing them down. If he gave them the power source he was holding on to, they didn't need to lug around so much physical weight.

The power source Kong Jing made might be specialized for mana capacity but it had basic weight reduction, not in runic formulation but the fact that its mana capacity was partially stored in a separate compressed space. However, Ebony had to cling to this power source so that his mana had somewhere to go after overflowing. He did not want to feed Tidal's mana absorption, nor did he want to push billions worth of mana into the ground or to the atmosphere.

He was still using a portion of this essence to grow his Mireloom, but mana capacity growth was a slow process. It was similar to trying to stretch and expand one's lungs. Speaking of lungs, he made organs out of ice to store coagulated mana for Mana Chassis Implosion. Their volume was almost as much as half his whole body's worth of coagulated mana throughout his chassis. Only, this conjured ice organ was not made out of chassis. They did not increase his Unique Skill's production even though he replicated this miniaturised factory in this organ.

Instead of 2 lungs, he made one and it covered the upper half instead of left and right. Below his giant lung is an additional pouch for food juice, broken down by Mana Digestion. Concentrated sustenance. Fat.

Both were works in progress and would probably change drastically in a short period till he was satisfied with what he wanted them to do and if it matched well. Once the goal and the design was ready, he could maintain and refine.

He was not about to stuff a crafted item into his body but, he had been studying this power source in greater depth to simulate and copy the spatially compressed runes. Perhaps he would have a good copy that he could evolve to his style and carry around an expanded mana pool.

Moreover, if he tossed the power source across the skies it could get stolen. If he tossed Dusk around, any thief or robber would face the might of his Domain and be infused with all the mana he charged into Dusk.

Despite the waves around the continent, Tidal was terrifyingly silent. As if nothing was happening to the Empire of Ebbing Waves.

Navin made the Capital so stable, they were untouched.

It brought into question just how afraid these Lure people were of Navin's barrier. They did have earlier attacks, but after fending the first few off without lifting a finger, another attack hasn't happened to Tidal. It's been a few months since then.

'How tough are these curses?' It was doubtful whether Navin could cast a barrier of this magnitude on the move, but as a territory?

Tidal was solid.

Then again, he could say the same for himself. He will never be able to cast one of his fortified runic trees within a minute or two. To make it more durable than any singular shield he could cast in a moment, he needed hours. To make it durable enough to withstand an attack twice as strong as anything he can output, he needed days. Exccluding a plum bomb.

To make it essentially indestructible to any of his means together with Xin, he needed weeks.

His casting speed increased, and Dusk helped to increase this further. This time frame would have been reduced if it weren't for the fact that his offensive powers also increased proportionally.

So far, his Apparitions have not killed a single person within these two re-occupancy missions.

His Apparitions were technically unkillable now that they could transfer themselves away even faster.

Some fighters noticed the weakness of his mobile fort and Numbers. That was, they aimed for the crystals that were required for a large quantity of mana transfer. Destroying those would slow down the Will transfer, preventing the Number from escaping 'unharmed' if they could destroy them fast enough and did not miss a single alternate path.

With a large mass of crystals stored within the tree attached to the Turtle Fort, no one had successfully harmed any of his Numbers. They had no memory loss.

Suppressing a town was simple. It didn't matter if it was a friendly or foe. They flood the entire town, including any active barriers and wait out the freezing and sealing. This spell of his was capable of dealing close to no damage at all, and even increasing someone's healing. It was his healing spell after all. The only real damage might be from the cold itself. Those particularly weak to cold had to suffer the chill for a bit but as long as there was a trace of Will, they wouldn't even get frostbiten.

Once every moving object and creature was frozen stiff, he could release the Imperial citizens. This spell of his also preserved corpses.

However, he could do nothing about people who had their souls removed. Amongst the city and town he put on a pause and extracted the hostiles of, there were surprisingly few who had their souls removed. Perhaps the one with the soul extraction skill did not have the time or opportunity to go around reaping so many. A time-consuming process, or a limited number of people who had this skill set.

The situation was not unsalvageable for these places because the cullings had not begun, awaiting the soul extraction personnel or puppets. Vittale City was already deep into its cullings, and he had been too late to save them. So were the Lord Family and Xin who had been there.

His Apparitions even gave up fighting altogether as there was no point. They waited for the Turtle Fort to expel enough mana and didn't go out to have their crystals destroyed, should there be someone capable of doing so.

Ebony had Mallory keep quiet about him, telling the citizens he saved that it was an unknown old mage of the Empire who stepped up. Returning from Lacuna Expanse as a powerful Emperor. This was a believable story. It was not uncommon to hear of Freelancers or Nobles who reached the ranks of a King and decided to leave Elcra through their World Dungeon.

Anyone with decent mana perception and met him while he wasn't hiding his mana would be able to tell straight away. He used too much mana to hide its signature. This was also merely for the citizens.

The nobles and most of Lure already knew there was a semi-Xeng ice mage with a wonderful soul.

Ebony did not hand over the people of Lure that he sealed to the Empire. So far, no more Demons and no Soul Puppets were spotted.

At the old location of his house was an empty open spot. When he carried his house away, including the underground pool, it left a deep rectangular hole here. And quite a mess for plumbing. But they had earth mages fill the space up and fix the issue in no time. Since it wasn't occupied, Ebony parked every sealed member of Lure he captured so far.

He didn't steal or store their mana, the only expenditure he took from them was the amount of mana that it required to keep them sealed. For those who were strong enough, they made him expend more mana than he could absorb through his runes and his sealing spell. Ebony rationalised it as a collective responsibility and had the spare mana from other members to be siphoned towards these stronger members. All in all, at the current numbers, there were still mana positive so he could capture a few more that were stronger than the amount of mana they produced.

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

Essentially, it cost him nothing to keep them sealed here.

Ebony started to bring those sealed at the Glades and near Plainston through a few safe routes of gravity tunnels. Making a mini turtle to transport each of them through more dangerous areas. An invisible walking coffin.

One of his Apparitions reminded him that even slowed down, they still needed food. Hence they had an IV drip with nutrient potions connected. These potions were extremely cheap and widespread to obtain, he didn't need to pay a penny either when the sealed people were paying for it.

Most did not require Will, to keep sealed just pure mana. Taking into account the time a Number would have to spend maintaining them, maybe 0.02 Will per minute was about how much they took. Before he knew it, there were over 200 frozen statues displayed out in the open.

None were Grandmasters or below. Over 200 Kings were more than sufficient to take a single Imperial town or city without a King. It was even overkill if it wasn't for the fact that tearing down Navin's barriers was a hassle when it was powered by hundreds of thousands.

Although most of these 200 were those that surrounded him in his trailer while he was resting up after evolving. Only a couple dozen worked on the City while less than a handful took over the town.

The Elven representative doing the same thing as Ebony was the Painter of Animation.

Navin remained in Tidal to keep the public sprit and security up.

Yvette was missing in action. He wasn't able to find out more about her location or status. The Empire needed her healing skills and ability to meddle with souls greatly. At the same time, she was as big as a target as Muse was, if not bigger.

Oplot was also missing. Ebony had a suspicion they were both together, and that gave Navin peace of mind to remain here. Like Ebony, Scarlet and Hector, the three of them had been party members when they were young. That wasn't even many years ago. They were maybe two to three hundred years old.

Later in their roaming days, Shi Ling met them as a young girl. The Xeng of that generation, but she didn't stay long enough to become known as one of the Empresses of Elva.

Before the training he planned for his students started, Raika nervously found him and told him that Madam Wilcox wanted to inform him that the Magus Consortium was going to enter the Epic Dungeon that finally opened back up to the public a year ago and it was their turn.

It just so happened that he was present.

The old lady knew about his 'banishment' but also knew that Raika was one of his students and could contact him rather easily.

While he didn't want to get involved with an Epic Dungeon, he still held interest in Spectral Veil Stronghold, the dungeon with special rules. He could enter as an observer and do just enough not to steal any credit. Perhaps he could send a Number instead,d and they could have some fun.

Raika no longer had the same look in her eyes when she looked at him in the past. Now, she had deeper admiration, respect and fear.

Xin spent most of her day with her student, and so did Ebony. Excluding their meal times. His personal training hours have been turned into a 16-hour session every 2 days. Neither of them slept as often. 2 days without an intense battle did not feel long at all.

Admittedly, those were some short training durations. But his Will, stamina, and mana exhaustion rate had increased vastly. The short duration was more effective than spending day and night sessions. He would increase the duration once he felt comfortable leaving his students. He first had to come up with future training plans for each of them and oversee their current progress. He wasn't comfortable leaving them with Seven against the Tetramyth.

If they suddenly had all the Emperors shut down and make one super Ant, even he might not be safe. The chances of that happening were low. There was a limit.

That limit was the individual Tetramyth's baseline not being able to handle the load. It could be the load of physical stats. It could be mental. And it may even be their soul, not being able to handle an overload of physical and mental stats.

Arcanite Cortex Formicidae were not that evolved, their current Potential was low if their average ant could be beaten by anyone 1 to 2 evolutions lower. True Tetramyths were not weak even in individual battles.

Tetramyth herself was known to reside in the Mass Extinction Supercluster. They were 'safe' from her reach to a degree. And this also meant little help her kin here could receive from her, but Ebony could be vastly underestimating a God. Range might not a limitation to them. For all he knew, they might carry a statue of Tetramyth, if they had permission.

Perhaps it was more accurate to call her the creator of the Mass Extinction Supercluster.

'Opps.' Ebony stopped himself from thinking about Gods. One would never know if a God could read and hear his thoughts when referred to.

Time ticked away in the relatively peaceful City.

While Three met up with Madam Wilcox and Damien, the leader of the Magus Consortium. Seven joined the study group of Numbers temporarily, and Ebony took over as a temporary trainer.

Xin guided her disicuple's life force control, jump starting her manipulation by doing a dangerous act of charging a stream of her life force into her disciple through blood magic and then forcing the young girl to perceive her life force. Once perceived, it was probing. After probing was manipulation. Within the span of 2 weeks, the Journeyman might have been the first person to consciously manipulate life force as a Journeyman on the planet.

Ebony rested against a replanted tree with a book in one hand and a frost plum in the other. Not the bomb, but the edible one.

He sensed his students screaming, roaring, crying around him. They were separated.

Even the 3 Unclassed were facing the chase of two hundred Journeyman Tetramyths.

He did not stop any of the Arcanite Cortex Formicidae when they were about to land a fatal blow. His presence alone already made their experience gain lower. Learning from Gen, he had to throw away any intention of helping and saving them for them to feel the full experience of a death battle.

Of course, he did not let any Master ranked Tetramyth near the Unclassed. These guys were in a separate little dome. Just like how Raika is in a separate dome. The Arcanite Cortex Formicidae didn't even need to send Grandmasters for the level 300 masters. The lightning mage student of his could be easily overwhelmed by numbers due to her limited mana pool, and her body's stamina was limited.

For them to lose a hundred or so ants to learn how to tackle a lightning mage? The Tetramyuth didn't even consider that a price.

She was the oldest, and also the one most stuck in her ways. It was almost disappointing how she could barely take a hundred of them before she dried up. Now she was depending on the little bit of regeneration that her moving meditation gave her. At least she could run and hide, none of these ants could catch up to her.

As for the rest of them, the journeymen amongst his students. They were split into smaller groups. Even though they practised teamwork, they lost to the Tetramythian strategy.

Yes, the Emperor had sent a large group of commander-type Tetramyth for this training exercise. They were expecting him to send strong units, but both sides could tell that they were both inexperienced. One was inexperienced in battle, the other was inexperienced in hunting a small group down.

None of his students were dead yet after all. Seven did not raise their survivability in vain.

The Arcanite Cortex Formicidae Emperor and their translator mind mage sat together. They did not like frost plums, the ice element was not within their range of desired sustenance. They've opened up to each other when he saw that Ebony truly didn't stop his troops from slicing off Tharnuminium Tower's arm. The Dwarven shield warrior had long reached level 100 under Seven's training.

This Ant was one with ambition. She was aiming to become a Saint within 1200 years from now, and she'd already had a plan and direction for the natural materials she desired to modify herself for her next evolutionary picks to be affordable. However, she faced an 'impossible' mountain.

The Spirit Nexus skill. As long as she couldn't grasp the skill, she would never become a Tetramythian Saint recognised by their kin. Much less her dreams of becoming a Tetramythian Angel. Sadly, she had made no progress in this regard in the past 300 years since she'd become an Emperor.

A 300-year-old active Emperor that was not being used in her Saint's Power house was quite something. Already deemed as one with talent, and should not be used as a stat pack. No wonder she had intelligence beyond a 3-4 year old child.

Not to mention, this particular ant had never stopped on any conquest till they arrived on Elcra. She was able to push her skill levels up, not just her stats and levels. That was to say, she had unspoken permission to rise to the same rank as her mother.

This training camp will end on any of some conditions. One, his student shouts the magic word of 'give up'. If they do, they would never be his student again.

Two, his student kills 1 of the commader type ants. That individual student passes, but the training continues till all 19…if all 19 survive meets the passing condition.

Three, the commander-type ants give up. They could not think logically, but the Emperor had given them an order to give up when they felt that those lost more than they could gain. She left it up to the commander type ants to figure out, by instinct, what was too much loss, or what they gained from killing so few creatures.

However, Tetramyth as a race did not know what giving up is. That kind of logical thinking was reserved for Emperors or at least, a King.

Raika already 'succeeded' But her passing mark and her very life depended on her younger classmates right now. It was perfect, the endurance of Elcrian traditionally trained mage was horrendous. She needed to learn how to circumvent or get around it.

The three unclassed….as expected from the 3 people he got to train from a younger age. They did not have particularly bad habits that required huge efforts to cover or erase. They had that instinct. That drive. And the intensity. Be that as it may, their physicals actually lost to the 'weak' Tetramyths. None of them got even a single kill in.

Seven might have trained them too much like Ebony. They had survival instincts and ways to conserve energy. Yet their offence was weak….something he used to be guilty of.

To be fair, they were still developing their skill set. Ebony did not allow them to read many skill books or any. Other than a few essentials, he had been trying to make them all Skill creators.