Ebony's Fable

Ebony went to the same inn again since he didn’t know any other and was too lazy to look for another. The inn was obviously well to do seeing how there were [Master Architect]s around. The surrounding buildings were emptied out and being demolished, likely bought by the inn owner for expansion.

By some alignment of stars, Ebony got the same room which was just cleared on the same day or so the dwarven lady says. The price hasn’t risen and Ebony did keep some ores on him, he rented it for a week this time.

For the first time here, he was going to eat restaurant food. It was…lacklustre, after eating Roya’s food, a supposedly high level chef and Scarlet’s. It was still better than his own field cooking though. They had a noodle similar to pasta which was new. He had been eating bread for so long noodles were a great change, he preferred rice though. They had a translation for rice so Ebony was sure it was a thing over here.

Ebony went for a bath and washed his clothes and boots. He might need a change of boots already, they were wearing out fast. Checking his equipment he also noticed small chips on his greatsword’s edges, a whole lot of scratches too. It might be due to its age and was no longer holding up well, the spars with Chris and Top didn’t cause this much damage. Halvis did say it was unsold due to its comparatively low quality.

The damage looks relatively fresh too, probably Scarlet or the Rhoat hunt. Or both.

His robe's only damage was from Scarlet. The scratches were light, he could mend it but he felt that his skills were a little too…trashy to repair it. Sure he was more familiar with the fibrous material compared to Chris’s leather armor but he didn’t want to make it worse. Roya’s robes were a work of art. He could hardly tell how many threads were used to make it, much less how fine they were and the weaving was so complicated he gave up on repairing it for now.

He just remembered that he could connect the robe to his myriad bracelet which he did just that. If he charged it earlier it might not even have gotten damaged…He followed Roya’s instruction and manipulated mana to the collar. He could bring up a hood that covers his head. It was easy to do and didn’t require focus at all. The robe could take up to 5000 mana if he recalled correctly. It really was the perfect piece of defensive equipment for him, with his mana being more ‘resilient’ and all.

Ebony fell asleep seconds after lying down. Waking up hours later with a level in his Core Skill, rested and refreshed. He quickly swapped out the almost filled mana ores, he remembered to slot all the Greens and Greys he had before sleeping just in case he was knocked out longer than he expected. Blacks would get bothersome to change since he would have to change it in minutes.

It was still night, Ebony meditated to peak mental condition as normal. He felt his surroundings, senses shut off. Silence. He could feel the mana in his body a little clearer now. Ebony had long wondered if everything was made of mana wouldn’t everyone be made of mana?

Flesh mana, blood mana, bone mana, etc. His physique specifically mentioned his body being made of mana though. Now that his Mana Perception improved, some things were made clearer to him. It was true that there were probably all types of mana, but there was also unattributed or pure mana. Mana he regenerated or produced wasn't exactly pure and it was a little different from pure mana in the air. He couldn't be exactly sure as his senses were not accurate. It was just a vague feeling.

His Mana Vibration or sound magic had the widest range since vibrations between mana will transfer to the pure mana in the air just like normal sound through air.

Rather than his body not being made of flesh and blood, his flesh and blood was no longer made up of just those mana but also partially his own regenerated mana. It somewhat explains how he can heal or regenerate damage to his bones or organs so quickly, even regenerating flesh, muscles, tissues and whatnot.

Why did Ebony lose mana when he took hits? His closest guess was that his mana pool was no longer existing just in his head or mental state; rather, his whole body had become his mana pool.

Yet, that didn’t make much sense either. If he emptied out his mana, it wasn’t like the mana in his body disappeared. He would have to test if he could stop losing mana after a certain amount of damage taken.

He had another interesting idea of compressing the mana in his body but had no idea how to get around doing that. It wasn’t that much of an issue since his Icebody Enhancement worked similarly but the mana in his body was too fine to control for now. He would still try of course. With his mana resilience increased and his body being partially mana couldn’t he increase the toughness of his body in this manner? Constitution be damned.

Would his mana pool increase this way? Can he compress mana in his mana pool, casting with pre-compressed mana like what those staffs and wands do. Wouldn’t his mana pool be increased in size if he could decompress the mana before using it for magic?

Even if he could he didn’t know how to do either of that yet. Knowing too little about mana, magic and the body.

Pushing his senses outwards, Ebony could also feel the mana in the air. Pure mana, the absence of ice mana, the blackish dark purple mana, another darker blue mana. It was still pretty weird that his perception for mana can ‘see’ colour. It was great he would not be completely blind if he ever loses an eye or two, there was more incentive for training another sensory capability.

Ebony knew he wouldn’t always be unharmed in a battle, he couldn’t be sure if he could regenerate loss of senses like sight either. It was only beneficial for him to be prepared for such cases.

He took out the [Elemental Sensitivity Potion] from its wooden box. It was contained in a round bottom flask not unlike those in a laboratory. The liquid was pitch black in colour, it didn’t seem too out of place since many soda’s were similar in colour. Ebony uncorked and drank the contents in one go. The taste was mind numbing in every sense of the word.

They did tell him the effects it would have but the numbness went away in a second. It was supposed to last a few minutes but the effects sort of dissolved the moment it reached his mind. Probably Deep Persistent Meditation’s doing, there was little that could disrupt his mind. Mental magic sounded interesting though, it would be a good idea to find a mental mage to test some things.

The purple so dark it was near black was blocking everything in his mind’s sight. There were another 2 tones of blue that wasn’t the ice mana he was familiar with, although it was much sparser in the air. A brown coloured mana was near the ground, stationary. Colourless mana that wasn’t pure mana was fixed in place all around too. They were orderly and other mana passed through it like it wasn’t there.

Ebony made some guesses, the blue was water mana and something else. He could use ice magic, being able to use water shouldn’t be too far fetched.

The brown was either wood which the floor was made off or earth from dirt that was on the floor. Ebony was guessing it was earth due to its sparseness.

The colourless mana could be air, or the types of gases for all he knew. But air should move around at least so he had no idea what it was. It was the faintest one and Ebony couldn't really 'catch' on to its presence.

The black… darkness perhaps. It was night time and wouldn’t be too weird for darkness mana to fill the entire room.

Darkness felt a little off though. The mana was radiating from every object within his senses, even himself to a very small degree.

With no time to waste he used his own mana to grab at the mana from the one most prominent to him to the least. The potion only lasts an hour and he only had this one try.

He used to think he was using his mana to move ice mana to cast ice magic. It was true at first, his own mana was used to cover and guide ice mana. However, when he got Ice Mana Manipulation Ebony was directly manipulating ice mana itself or he should be able to. He didn’t, that was why he used so much mana for so little return in the beginning.

This hour let him realise the small truth that elemental affinity was a real thing. Just because he could sense the different elemental mana didn’t necessarily mean he could manipulate it. His mana directly scraped off the brown mana, went through the colourless mana and slid off one of the blue mana. None of these mana felt ‘right’ or natural like when he manipulated ice mana. They seem to reject him.

The other blue mana seem to constantly disappear and reappear, never staying still. It didn’t reject him the way the other mana did though, it was just harder to catch on. It acted like a naughty child that kept escaping his grasp.

The dark purple mana instead was almost as receptive to him as ice mana. He spent about 45 minutes focusing on it alone.

‘Ting’ ‘Generic Skill Gravity Mana Manipulation learned’

Gravity Mana Manipulation - Ability to move and shape Gravity Elemental Mana at will using mana. Ability to manipulate Gravity Mana increases slightly per level.

Classification: Gravity magic

‘Gravity… now that I think of it, such a large planet has about the same gravitational strength as Earth?’ Ebony thought. The power to control gravity sounded great and he could imagine ways it could match with ice magic. His thoughts went a little off tangent about the strength of gravity on Elcra though. He hardly felt any heavier or lighter since he came here but never really thought about it till now.

Since he already got the manipulation skill he could play with it later. He spent the remaining time with the other blue mana that wouldn’t sit still but didn’t manage to get the manipulation skill in the end.

The effects of the potions wore off and it was like he was missing or lacking something in his mind. It was only momentary and a weak feeling at best.

Gravity mana from the ground was the strongest. Ebony was no expert but from what little he knew, everything with mass attracts one another. The greater the mass, the greater the pull between two objects/bodies. Ebony wouldn’t use the word radiate but gravity mana seems to be appearing out of nowhere from the edge of an object’s …influence.

The lighter the object, the smaller the radius where gravity mana starts popping up. No it wasn’t popping up, it was closer to say it was cycling in a spherical fashion. If that made any sense at all.

Starting small, Ebony found it easier to aid the movement of gravity mana towards where it wanted to go than to do the opposite. Essentially all of the gravity mana within his range of perception was getting pulled downwards into the ground, small objects including himself have too small amounts of gravity mana to matter much as there wasn’t much he could manipulate.

He didn’t have to worry about conjuring gravity mana anytime soon. It shouldn’t be common to have places without gravity anyway.

Ebony helped push the gravity mana towards where it was going. Which was to say, increase the strength of gravity on himself and whatever was around him. He could hardly feel the increase but he knew he was doing something.

You would almost never find those who had rare magic as a main Class holder. Gravity, space, time were some famous ones that were known to be powerful. There were many more of course. It was due to the downright outrageous amount of mana required.

It may take an unclassed a lifetime just to get the manipulation skill to level 25. Not every Class has an apprentice version and these rarer magic usually doesn’t have it. That was not including the skill or spell they need to create which would be impossible with such a small mana pool.

According to Clovis and the books Ebony had read, unclassed 15 year old humans had an average of 3-4 Wisdom. Dwarves had a bit higher at 4-5. Elves had an known average of 7-8 while Beastmen excluding foxmen had 1-3. That was just sad, the few mages around was understandable.

Ebony estimated increasing the strength of gravity in a 1 metre radius from him to use as half as much mana as keeping ice mana combusting in the same time frame. This was when he had 100% ice magic mana efficiency so it was still possible for him to keep up the usage.

When the sun rose he stopped casting to fill up some mana ores, detaching his robe’s connection for now. The quester crystal thing was really useless so he just kept that in a random robe pocket. Going down for breakfast, unfortunately, eggs weren’t on the menu. They obviously exist here too, perhaps just not sold in this town.

Ebony went to the Z&Z company store to look for Andel or any of the escort party to hand them the condensed vital muscle. Maybe to exchange contacts with them too, they were the few people he knew here anyway.

Since he already knew the way, he could go back to Arcta on his own too to get either Roya’s or Halvis contact. It wouldn’t take anywhere near a week with his speed but he felt that there was no need. It hasn’t been long and was a little weird to go back there so quickly

“Welcome to Z&Z, how may I help you?” a different lady was at the door this time. The beauty standards in this world were a lot higher with stats and Class Evolution actually changing the body.

Their store was already in the middle of work and expansion, not different from the rest of the town. Their scale of expansion is only below that of the Quest Hall.

Ebony just asked for Andel and gave his name, not just anyone knew Andel’s name according to the man himself. The clerk also complied easily, probably having heard of Ebony.

“Hey Eh?! Ebony! What can I do for you today?” Andel called out but coughed out in surprise for some reason. Maybe he didn’t expect Ebony to come back so soon. Andel was actually just shocked by Ebony’s level.

“I saw the request for a condensed vital muscle. Here. It's for Top isn’t it?” Ebony took the thing out and tossed it over.

“Ah? Oh… you found this? I mean, you hunted Rhoats?” Andel’s expression changed from confusion to shock as he caught the heavy ball. It would explain his level and the absence of a Sub-Class sure sped his levelling up.

“Yeah? How else would I get that?” Ebony returned the question

“Yeah… anyway, the others are out there in the back, do you want to see them?” Andel seems to have given up.

“Sure.” Ebony saw no reason to refuse.

They actually had a training ground for their escort personnel. There was the public square too but not many people go there other than the youngins without a Class. Well the public one was actually just an empty plot of land and wasn’t exactly a ‘training ground’. The one here had targets and equipment at least.

Ebony didn’t see anyone else but the ones he knew, even Top was watching by the side. Ebony went over and exchanged greetings. Top bowed in thanks for saving him, he was visibly depressed. Ebony could see he had difficulty breathing, the injury worse than he initially thought.

Their spar didn’t go on long and Ebony caught up with what was going on. The new dungeon forming changed things up for them quite a bit.

Fergus and Rowent no longer wanted to be transferred for obvious reasons of a faster advancement here. As they were contracted, they couldn’t just go into dungeons willy nilly. They needed permission from their higher ups, they said they were more than qualified or had enough contribution to have their request approved. They would be getting more escort parties from other branches due to the expansion.

Fergus and Rowent were quite recognised for their skill and talent. Chris and Dina were young but Dina was also being watched as an up and coming talent. Top was quite trusted for his leadership skill apparently. That was the problem, they couldn’t get approval with Top’s current state. The company didn’t allow a different party member or outsider either.

The condensed vital muscle was pretty rare but not impossible to find. Andel did them a favour by using his name to put up a request but they were the one’s paying for it. They had a contracted alchemist a city over and were grateful for the first good news in a while that Ebony got them one. They were much clearer on his capabilities and didn’t question where or how he got it.

Even with the concoction, Top's injury wouldn’t fully heal in time, he might just heal enough to get the green light to go dungeoning. It really depends on how fast they can get the medicine made or how long it’ll take the dungeon to fully form.

They really didn’t have much freedom and Ebony wouldn’t contract himself to a company for any reason. They couldn’t even go out to the nearest woods or plains for a leisure hunt without permission. If they receive injuries outside of their duties they would need to pay for their own medical fees.

None of them held onto a callstone. It was a little weird since callstone wasn't that expensive. Didn't they have to be easily contactable for work reasons? Andel’s bracelet was half filled with callstones but all were filled up with company and business contacts or so he says. Were they making up excuses not to give Ebony their contacts?

'Whatever.'

“Any good blacksmiths to recommend?” Ebony asked.

“Here in Plainston? No. None of them are even half decent.” Fergus said.

“Actually none in the surrounding towns or even the closest city have any decent blacksmith. The oldies are stuck at level 100 apprentice blacksmith and youths are apprentice blacksmiths that are apprenticed to apprentices.” Rowent dissed the local blacksmiths.

“What about your equipment?” Ebony questioned.

“Haha they are the very reason why people bother signing harsh contracts. All our equipment is supplied by company contracted blacksmiths. Z&Z has a pretty long history already, they have methods of training many, many classes.” Rowent explained.

“Many long running companies have their own secrets, skills, classes and all that. Our company has pretty much everything, though our blacksmiths are not the best, they aren’t too far from it.” Fergus added.

“The good things are mostly circulated between our company’s members and we exchange them with our internal currency. A client like you would at best be able to get the relatively newer smiths’ in training’s work.” Dina cut in.

Fergus and Rowent obviously had the best equipment, the bow and staff both looking expensive. Chris and Dina haven't accumulated enough for better equipment outside the standard issue.

Ebony participated in a short duel with them before leaving for the inn again. He was going to focus on training his magic and get a Sub-Class before the dungeon fully formed. He should get there sooner than his Class and the increase of mana he had.