Ebony's Fable

'So that’s the ice swordsman hybrid and the Xeng woman. She really is wearing a full mask. The other guy…seems like a normal stone mage, looks young for a human mage for one. Time for my dramatic entrance.’

“Yo yo yo! You’re in the presence of the great Hector! Wait, I'm not the last one here? Damn, dramatic lateness failed.”

‘Damn it I didn’t check for the last guy. Whatever, let’s see. WHAT THE HECK! Meditative? A mana slave? But he's so young, a slaver? Should I report this? Nono, if he’s moving around publically like this the slavers should long be dealt with.

Frostblaze… where did I hear that from? Can’t recall, a minor branch of magic maybe.

Oh level 55 already, in just weeks and without going into a dungeon. Bardic gravity mage?! Interesting!

The Xeng is similarly a… woah what the heck? Genius Sword Witch of Flames? There are classes with ‘genius’ in it? So she has 250% fortification? That’s sick man. It would take forever for me to get 4 elements to that level with only 7 Wisdom as an unclassed, if not impossible.

Her Sub-Class seems more normal, a wind lightning mage.

Their levels are similar, they're both hybrids too. Maybe she or the Xengs destroyed the mana farm and he followed her until now? Nevermind. I want to test them out now.’

“Hey! We don’t really have to wait for the last guy, let's just start checking what we are capable of. The introductions can be done when the guy arrives. Little guy, you can pick someone you want to have a go at first!”

‘So he chose him. Either way is fine.

Freak she’s fast. I need both wind and water enhancement. She used wind to envelop her swords, I can’t land my punches well.

Oww lightning is unfair, that hurts. I’ll turn wind off and earth on for now. Damn I can’t keep up this way. What’s that beating sound? She can still go faster and stronger? How much was she holding back? No, how much is she still holding back?

I’ll have to use wind, water and earth together then. Can’t keep it up for long though.

Freaking shit, it’s not enough. She’s too damn fast I can hardly follow her hands with my eyes much less deflect them.’

“I give up! I give up! Enough enough!, my poor amour can’t take it any more.”

‘Man, my deepsea scaled snake armour took quite the beating. Forget it, it’s just a cheap set of armour.’

“Oh hey you guys are done too? Who won? Let me guess, the swordsman over there. Mr stone mage will need to save mana for 3 more fights after all.”

‘To level so much over such a short time shows that he’s stepping over levels. The kid looks like a normal stone mage. Hmm. Haha, one that has a secret. An item to hide their sub-class isn’t cheap. Maybe he isn’t even a stone mage but stone mage is his sub-class instead. This party is getting more interesting.’

“Ye..yes.” the one with secrets replied. Ebony, the meditative ice swordsman, stayed silent. Hector already knew his name when he saw his profile.

‘Damn, do mana slavers really erase people’s memories so that they can have a ‘clear and calm’ mind nonsense? They did say it really works and children are brainwashed over years so that they can quickly become meditators.

Since he’s not just a meditator he was probably saved or escaped before he classed. But bardic… sound magic. Did the slaver use sound magic as well? Hypnotism together with brainwashing, the slavers aren’t just any random group.’

“Holy… chill man how much mana are you pumping into that enhancement spell?”

‘His body just turned into crystal. No, ice. Ice enhancement magic and he’s not playing around. I will have to use my enhancement almost at full capacity for effects to show on my body.

This guy…he's not planning on fighting me without his sword is he? What kind of ‘swordsman’ does that? I’ll just use water for now.

Ouchh! Hahaha! He’s tough, and strong. Well, that’s about right, if I remember correctly basic ice enhancement gives Constitution, Strength and Endurance for the most part, it still depends on the spell itself but that should be about right.

Damn is he really a swordsman and not a martial artist? He’s elling good. I need earth enhancement for defence.

This guy… I’m so much faster. How is he hitting me and evading my blows by just gars? Annoying! It’s like fighting Wel in close combat. If he’s not blocking, countering or hitting me I feel like I'm just hitting air.

Slamming ice mana into me to slow me down. Pretty effective. I can see how he kills stronger monsters with his skill and this ability to slow monsters down.

Fireheart Pump should allow my blood to melt the ice but I don’t really like the feeling. It makes me sweat. Wait… he’s not going to stop pushing ice mana into me is he?’

“Stop stop stop! Chill man, you still have 2 more fights to go. You bully. Mana bully.” Hector couldn’t help complaining.

“Done? Let’s do a final sw…”

Something was flying towards the duelling party that cut Hector’s words off. Everyone reacted well.

“...what are those people thinking? How can they put 2 level 50s, a low 70 and mid 80 with me?” the voice was ear-grating.

‘Who’s this bastard? Don’t tell me he's the last party member?’

“This must be a mistake. There’s no way they’ll put together a party with such a large level gap. I’m gonna withdraw.”

‘Damn, it really is the last guy and the 3 of them were interesting enough. I was about to see what the stone mage had to offer.’

“Why don’t you have a go at us before you decide who’s the one making a mistake?” The stone mage's attitude did a complete one-eighty turn.

‘That line was pretty cool. I knew it! This guy is pretty interesting too. I need to take it down in my cool quotes notebook.’

“The heck? That was hella cool! I gotta take down that line.” Hector took out his notebook and was penning the line down, thinking he could use it one day.

“Have a go? No need. If everyone of you can take even a single shot from me, I’ll eat my words and babysit y’all.” Hector didn’t even need to guess to know that this guy was some low noble.

“Haughty much?” he couldn’t help but say. His hands didn’t stop writing the words down before keeping his notebook.

“Hey hey don’t you think his character changed real quick.” He poked the ice swordsman’s sides.

“Mmm. Personal grudge maybe?” so he said but it seemed unlikely to Hector.

“A power archer, there aren’t many of those around. With his attitude he is probably some noble with an archer type lineage.” Looking at the archer’s bow and charging stance it was obvious to Hector that the man was a power archer.

‘I didn’t get Wel to check the local nobles. I should make a call later.’

“He’s draining the mana in the atmosphere… and aiming for his neck.” the ice swordsman said.

‘Draining mana. Common amongst many archer lineages. Can this guy see the trajectory or something? Can the stone mage really take it? From the looks of it this noble is either the child of a baron or viscount family. Tier 2 lineage and likely his core skill at best.

It would depend on how many concurrent skills he’s using to shoot a single arrow. He’s not crazy enough to really try to kill the boy right?

Ha! The boy did it. But how did he shatter the arrow in his grip? Damn I couldn’t see from here.

Now it’s my turn, I need to show off after losing twice in a row. What if they think I’m some weak stuff? NO! I can’t let that happen, I should go with a bang.’

“Hmph. Passable.” The remark was grating to the ears.

“Haha! I’m next!” Hector was getting pumped up. He got all 4 elemental enhancements going, his body can’t take it for long but he didn’t need to keep it up for long.

The arrow was let loose.

“SUPERRR PAAANCH!” Hector punched out with his Coalesce Punch, managing to merge 5 punches to land at basically the same time.

His earth enhancement has always been focused on his muscles. Increasing mostly Strength then, Constitution and finally Endurance like ice and stone but at different degrees. The decrease in Agility and flexibility was horrible though.

Water through his blood increases his Agility, Vitality and Endurance. It decreases Strength since it dilutes blood and oxygen levels. Only by a small amount of buff and debuff each but it makes him very agile and his movements smoothen by a whole lot. The decrease in Strength wasn’t all that much either. It lets him pull off many techniques otherwise impossible for the normal him. Water was the elemental to go to for most fights, it was incredibly balanced.

Fire pumps from his heart, in his blood through his whole body increasing Strength and Agility. More Strength than earth and more Agility than water. It was damaging and reduced Endurance though, Hector didn’t use it as much due to that.

Wind was the perfect elemental enhancement to go with his water enhancement. His breath filled and the enhancement counters the decrease in Strength of water enhancement. Taking in too much air into his lungs and blood flow has caused heavy injuries back then and almost killed him. It has always been intensely difficult to manipulate multiple elemental mana at the same time after all.

Each punch of Coalesce Punch was assisted with compressing air on the surface of his fist.

Hector watched as the tip of the metal arrow was dented inwards before it even touched his fist. The arrow crumpled from its own force before being blasted into smithereens by his Coalesce Punch, better named ‘Super Panch’

“How was that? Jerk.”

‘Heh, that should be enough to shock and awe them ain’t it.’ Hector looked around. The ice swordsman who kicked his ass had no change in expression since he saw him.

‘No no, it must be because of all the brainwashing. I’m sure he was awed by my super panch.’

The Xeng lady’s…stupid mask is in the way.

‘Yes yes, she must be shocked by my punch under that thick mask of hers.’

The stone mage boy…covered in a stone suit from head to toe. No surprise or awestruck expression when he brought the stone down.

‘Ha ha. He must have been so amazed he hid it behind his stone armour but being as shy as he was he must have not wanted to show such expression. Yeah all of them have been stunned silent by my super panch.’

…

‘Ha. Should I have used that?

At least this noble is smart enough not to offend her for no reason. He’s been well educated and not too foolish, workable.

Oh man, that face of his when she asked him to shut up is priceless.

Shit its that beating sound again. How is she planning to handle the shot though? Fire, wind or lightning are mostly offensive and evasive at best. I don’t imagine her having much defensive potential. And her stats are far below the noble’s.’

…

Oh mahh elling hell hole.

She sliced the damn thing in half. Right down the centre.

She really is elling scary. And now that I see, that body is freaking hot too…

What am I thinking? Ughh should I pick up a girl at the bar later. I must be crazy to think that way of a Xeng. I bet someone is watching her or us right now.

They say the Xengs are all-seeing and those walking around the Empire at such a young age and low level are on the watch by one of their oldies or something. I really wonder if that’s true.’

‘Ting’ ‘Generic Skill Sheer Divination Resistance level up 31 → 33’

‘HOLY SHEIT! HOLY SHIT! HOLY SHIT! I’m so sorry! I mean no harm. I really don’t!’ Hector bowed deeply towards many directions hoping he didn’t just offend someone that can erase him without lifting a finger. Fortunately none of his soon-to-be party members were watching since they were busy with the sliced arrow. His head didn’t go pop either.

…

A…a mind reader and divination mage? That’s too damn much… Mental Resistance didn’t level though.

…

‘Man, I know the Xeng lady would have some way of dealing with a power shot but the ice swordsman too?

I don’t believe he's going to kick the damn arrow.

Is he as good with the sword as her? Wait, is he being taught swordsmanship by her? Lucky bastard. That seems unlikely though, he is carrying a single greatsword instead.

I should stop them before someone dies.

What for? She asked what for? Is she so confident he can deal with it?

A shield? What? What an extravagant waste of mana, that’s huge as ell! Over 3000 mana maybe? With mana efficiency which should be common enough as a fortification that’s still at least 1500 mana.

Spells depended on stats and skill level. No way that’s enough to cover a 40 level gap.

The archer’s skill is at least tier 2 if he doesn't slouch around and was trained with his lineage skill. With 2 or more skills powering the shot. It also wouldn’t be weird for his skills to reach the 110 requirement and surpass that by now.

That heavy bow looks to be at least 75 or maybe even more than 100 tiv bow. Drawing the bow consecutively should not be easy even at level 90s unless he has a very unbalanced Strength ratio. Yeah. He is either too lazy to shoot a fully drawn arrow or just decided to go easy on him.

…wow. That shield spell is impressive. Meditator is so unfair.

It doesn’t add up. The Ebony guy’s Wisdom and Intelligence is definitely high but his speed isn’t shabby either. Most base elemental body enhancement has a flaw or decreased stat. Ice and earth or Constitution enhancing ones usually reduce Agility. At least for most basic and tier one enhancement spells. No doubt that weak enhancement isn't tier two.

Even if the noble archer held back, is a level 55’s Intelligence for the spell high enough to take it on? Definitely a tier 2 spell at least then. Maybe it’s his Core Skill, even if it’s not, it's at least at level 90 to come out with that little damage unless the spell is a combination spell or has more tricks behind it than just a simple ice shield spell.

He spent at least a few hundred mana fighting me. I didn’t get to see his fight with the stone boy but I saw broken and frozen stone laying there earlier though it got blasted all around by my awesome punch now. Another couple hundred to freeze stone.

He might have double the size of his mana pool to cast so much and still be able to cast that huge shield or just have lots of Wisdom but Intelligence should still be his highest stat.

It’s not exactly without demerit though this would mean he needs 20 hours to recover his entire pool if he doesn’t get a chance to meditate.

No way, the slavers are good enough to use sound and mind magic. They likely ‘conditioned’ his mind to work fast and not about capacity.

100% mana and stamina regeneration it is. Warriors and mages be damned. I should’ve gotten the meditation skill to 25… forget it I don’t have the talent as with most so young.

I classed last year when I was 20, spending 5 years to get all 4 elemental enhancements together with their manipulation counterparts to 25. Even meeting the requirements for my desired Sub-Class and Profession before that, getting all 3 classings in a combined Classing.

But I’ve been taught meditation since I was a kid. Over 10 years and it’s only level 15 now…

I made the right choice. This party is only getting more interesting. My journey will start here with these people.

❅❅❅

“My cute girl. Be careful of the pink haired boy and blue haired boy.” a cheeky aged voice called out.

“Grandma? So you still remember me? Leaving me and running off like that, I thought you no longer care about your granddaughter.” Scarlet replied on the callstone embedded on the inner side of her mask. The call was initiated by her grandmother so she didn’t have to spend any mana.

“Oh my, was my sweetie lonely without your little ol’ granny?” The old lady teased.

“Hmph! You’re the one always complaining about being lonely when I’m not around.” Scarlet showed a side she only shows to her family.

“Sniff sniff sniff. My own grandchild doesn’t care about me anymore now that she has a few cute boys by her side. Granny will be so lonely when one of them steals you away from me.” Scarlet’s grandmother’s exaggerated sniffing and fake crying could be heard through the purely mental connection unlike normal callstone’s with a sound function.

“Ebony is just a good sparring partner, grandma. Stop it with the fake crying.” Scarlet had long been used to her grandmother’s antics.

“Oh? So this Ebony boy is the only one that came to mind when I said cute boys. Hehehe. I see I see ‘just a good sparring partner’ was it?” Scarlet can imagine the smirk on her grandmother’s face at this moment.

“...if you keep up with your nonsense I’m going to end the call, grandma.” Scarlet knew that she couldn’t fall to her tricks and provocation.

“Now now I just wanted to play around with my cute little grandchild a little. But granny still won’t agree with just anybody trying to take your hand. He’ll have to get my approval first.” Scarlet’s grandmother tried to pacify but couldn’t help add on.

“I’m going to cut the connection, grandma.” Scarlet threatened.

“Hold on a second young lady, I didn’t raise you to be rude to your little ol’ granny. I only raised you to be rude to people you find bothersome and annoying.” Chided the granny.

“...”

“Now, like I said, be careful around the pink haired boy called Hector or something. He is destined for...greatness in a sense. As for your dear sparring partner… never mind granny will leave your decisions to you.” Going back to the purpose of her call.

“Grandma, you’re scaring people around me by divining them again aren’t you? No wonder he acted weird after he saw me. What do you mean by leaving me to my decisions?” Scarlet never forgot Ebony initially openly avoided her, recalling her nefariously playful grandmother and her tendencies made some sense of Ebony’s reactions.

“Heheeh, you’re in trouble now my cute little girl. The boy’s the first thing that came to mind huh? You didn’t even concern yourself with me asking you to be careful. The more ‘greatness’ in one’s future the more danger they will face. He will likely be one of the main winners or beneficiaries of this crossroad of fate that I told you about.

The dungeon will likely be the reason for it. With you being on the same team, the benefits should extend to your party. As with the danger. That is to say, if you take the wrong road you’ll be plummeting to your deaths or worse. All I'm saying is that your party will have over 95% chance of someone dying in the near future. I hope you won’t be one of them. Be careful child.

For the boy you call Ebony. I peeked at him twice. Both gave me roughly the same results. Results that are new even to me. Everyone I have divined was to peek at their future obviously. As for Ebony, I can’t see anything regarding himself. His future is pretty blank but not completely, unwritten so to speak but there is one thing I saw on both attempts.

Anyway, don't you know that one of the greatest hobbies of a Seer is to scare people out of nowhere by raising their divination resistance. Their reactions never get old. Ha ha ha!

Remember that one time I peeked on a criminal on the run from the imperials after he managed to sneak away? He shat his pants like a baby. He kept on running and running then, hid in a dungeon even though the imperials had long lost his tracks. Ha! And then he died in there since he was too paranoid to come out. Well, maybe I went too far with that one. I did sneak a peek at him every time he left the dungeon, levelling his divination resistance.”

“Grandma…”

“Oh! Oh. Oh, and that time a century or two ago when I divined little Navin right before he was about to fall asleep for a year or so. That was so funny, he thought it was a national crisis and now his palace and almost every archduke and duke’s palaces, castles, and mansions are fully equipped with anti divination that’s a little troublesome to peek through. They put so much time, effort and resources in that that they didn’t manage to fully defend a few cities from the trolls’ invasion. And they thought that the loss of those cities were what the bad omen was when they could’ve avoided it if they didn’t spend so much on a sub-par anti-divination system.

I did feel bad about that one so I got your father to do a little clean up of the naughty trolls. Fortunately they could evacuate the people in time.

Oh! And that one time where…” Scarlet’s grandmother explained and went on to her old stories. She would not stop for hours and hours at this rate and Scarlet had to stop her before she got into it.

“I remember, grandma. You have told me many times already. You didn’t finish what you were saying, what did you see on both attempts?”

“I knew it girl, you’re doomed. You just can’t stop thinking of that Ebony boy ri.” Scarlet cut the mental connection before her grandmother could finish what she was saying.

She had enough of her nonsense. Her divinations are almost always on point but at the same time divinations are in the end, just predictions. The only reason why her grandmother is always teasing her like this was that telling Scarlet will likely affect her predictions in a way and that she wasn’t going to tell Scarlet anyway.

It was better not to continue listening to her ridiculous and nonsensical teasing since she probably won’t tell her what she saw anyway. Ebony was a hard to find duelling and sparring partner to train her skills and fighting judgement.

He was a few months younger than her but fighting him felt like she was training with one of her seniors or elders with many years of fighting experience. Ebony seemed to know every move she’ll make before she even moves. Otherwise there was no way he could’ve kept up with her speed.

The only unfortunate part was his most likely self taught swordsmanship. It was originally quite painful to watch but he was sanding the edges and flaws with every spar and it was now...barely decent. With his flexibility, smooth flow, transitions, footwork and most importantly prediction or judgement ability a well timed swing could parry her swords and it never stops there as if a continuous flow or a river.

Scarlet was even more irritated and annoyed to find out that Ebony was still holding back much of his skills.

Earlier in the day, during the party meetup event it was the first time she saw what she thought was the true capabilities of Ebony. Furthermore, the fact that Ebony was seriously trying and landing blows on Hector told her that he never took their spars seriously. His blows are always only aimed right before it lands and never on her body and only his parries and counters have the feeling of strength or resistance.

He fought with a martial artist barehanded without any related fortifications or maybe even without any skills except maybe a generic kicking skill he uses from time to time.

Sure, the Hector guy who was surprisingly well trained, didn’t use any active skills like the one he used to destroy the metal arrow. But Ebony was a hybrid mage and swordsman! Not a martial artist or a barehanded close ranged fighter, even his Sub-Class.

Just how was he trained to be that strong? How hard has he been training? No matter the time, day or night, Scarlet has always been disturbed by the absurd mana radiating from his room. The icy mist was nice when it was just a little. She had high heat resistance and everything but sparring with her Core Skill was extremely uncomfortable since her body gets really hot. If there was a side effect to her Core Skill it was that it made her easily irritable when her body gets uncomfortably hot. It made her more rash in battle and her control of magic more volatile and explosive.

There was rarely a time when Ebony only used ‘a little’ mana. She had to immolate the inn sometimes when it got too cold.

No one complains about it in the day since, either no one was in their rooms or they just enjoy the cool air in the unbearably hot Summer. The summer heat was pretty bad for most and it usually gets really hot in the rooms. It was just a lot colder at night, luckily Ebony seemed to be training his Sub-Class skills recently for his classing.

Scarlet had never heard sound from his room so he could at least keep sound magic in control and gravity magic should be reasonably weak at low levels so no one would notice other than mages and those more sensitive and perceptive towards mana in general.

The one thing she knew was that he never stops training. Even when he was walking around or eating, he had magic running. He wakes up earlier than she did, and goes to sleep later than she does. That or he doesn’t need to sleep, because the mana radiating from him never stops, ever.

She had long been used to ultra high exposure or density of overflowing mana from her hometown. Gaining strong resistance against it, it even feels more natural to her compared to the normal atmosphere in imperial lands.

Long having recognised and familiarised with Ebony’s mana signature, it was different from what she was used to. There was the presence of vitality in his mana. Inhuman.

Scarlet has always thought that even if she lost in strength she will never lose in hard work to gain strength. She thought she was desperate enough for power. She was clearly proven wrong. What was pushing him, motivating him to train so hard?

Whatever it was, It only served to push her harder.