Ebony's Fable

Ebony had expected too much from the dungeon. It was the same old desert when they took the difficult climb up the slope that was not so elevated but a pretty long way. The party had some trouble, the sand was looser than the rest of the 5th floor.

Hector asked for one of his shields and then slid down the slope like a slide. He was having fun on his own until he realised he had to carry the shield back up. He was not happy. It was too heavy to climb up loose ground, he slipped onto his face too many times and it got less funny so Ebony went to help after he had enough fun watching.

Hector gargled water only to spit it out and take another sip over and over again. Tasting the sand in his mouth.

In just an hour of travelling straight right from where they climbed up, they knew what shit they were in. It was the stupidly long walkway all over again. Ryley was the first to see the next, bigger, wider and steeper slope up. It was far away but within sight.

Ebony only spotted that after they travelled for another half an hour or so. Ryley’s eyesight was really incredible. At the speed they were going, half an hour was a huge distance. Another point they noted was that even the monsters were the same. Their average levels are a tiny bit higher but not hitting 140 yet. The Arrowtails are the highest level in comparison.

They didn’t have the energy or any desire to look for any caves or rooms that may be in the sand dunes. Besides the black plank Ebony got, he also had one of the Earthen-Topaz they split amongst themselves. He also got some of the Arrowtails’ tails. The wolves and worms didn’t look like they had any useful parts. So soft and sliceable that they doubted any armour of good quality could be made from it.

Ebony brought along 3 bags but only one was half-filled with tails. The plank was with Hector for the moment and the topaz was only smaller than a fist.

“There’s much fewer monsters here for whatever reason,” Ryley commented.

“No..no new monsters either.”

“Let’s just make our way up.” Hector was also bored of this floor.

They arrived at the bottom of the slope by nightfall. The rest was covered in towels or blankets from the invading chill. Tuffock didn’t bring any and was holding his tattered robes closer and rubbing himself warm underneath it. There were no trees or wood to burn and build a fire and Scarlet couldn’t possibly keep a flame up with her mana for the whole night.

Enough of the 6th floor, they carried onto the 7th before the dungeon’s imitation of a sun rose.

“Not this shit again.” Hector groaned. Once again, they were met with the same scenery. The time and distance before they spotted the next slope was roughly the same too.

They had no choice but to scale the place when they got there. They didn’t gain experience from killing any monsters and really didn’t see a need to get more monster materials. Only when they saw some level 140 did they move to hunt them.

Hector went and 'mega panched' all 8 Arrowtails at the same time. A gory mess was left as the aftermath. Ebony had realised that every one of his party members copied him. They probably had a large portion of their stats put into Constitution and Wisdom. He was wrong about them copying him.

Hector could become all sparky for 2 seconds and not end up unconscious. He could use 3 enhancements stably and for an extended period of time as well. Ryley’s shots very obviously charged up with more mana than before, less time used to charge them and didn’t get dizzy after 4 or 5 mana-charged shots.

Scarlet showed a change in fighting style. Bombarding a Teen Giant Sandworm with enough fire it turned to ashes. Only fighting close range when she didn’t have any more mana or was just bored of roasting and frying her targets.

Tuffock’s battle style never changed. His spell’s effectiveness was starting to show that he was the weakest of the lot. Not being able to push off wolves with a mace smash or pierce an Arrowtail’s carapace with his lance unless he charged his rotation of lance for long enough. No surprise with a full 500 stat point difference.

It was in the middle of the day but not any hotter than any other time in the day of the desert when Hector was complaining about the heat for the thousandth time even though Ebony was sweating more. It was really uncomfortable when his undergarment and clothes got sticky with sweat so he had been forced to use ice mana to chill himself where it mattered. Icebody Enhancement only made it worse so he didn’t cast it when unnecessary.

“GO GO GO! TO THE LEFT!”

“OH NO!”

“WHAT’S WRONG!”

“3 GIANT WORMS ARE COMING!”

“NO PROBLEM, LEAVE THESE SCORPIONS TO ME. TWO OF YOU GO AND BACK HIM UP!”

““ALRIGHT!””

“WE’VE GOT THIS!”

“OH ELLING SHIT! WE DON’T GOT THIS!”

“WHY WHAT NOW!”

“2 PACKS OF DESERT WOLVES FROM BOTH DUNES ON OUR LEFT AND RIGHT!”

“OH SHIT!”

“NOW WHAT?!”

“I DON’T KNOW!”

“ME NEITHER!”

“WHO CARES!?”

“THAT’S RIGHT! ATTAAACK!!”

All the screaming was answered with more shouting. It wasn’t too far off so they picked a tall sand dune so they could see what was going on.

[Master Warrior Lvl 138]

[Master Warrior Lvl 132]

[Master Warrior Lvl 132]

[Master Warrior Lvl 133]

[Master Warrior Lvl 135]

It was the first party they had seen in a while. Ebony thought there were requirements in place and didn’t expect to see a party of 5 warriors; they were pretty high level too. For one of the parties that came into the Ordina anyway.

“Oh, aren’t they Panic Attack or something? They are building up quite a reputation in these parts for being a party of 5 warriors that constantly pester and even succeeding to get permission from the Quest Hall to go into a dungeon in a party of 5 warriors.” Ryley seemed to recognise these people.

The party of 5 was all human, all at least 1.8 m tall and full of muscle. Their equipment had lots of metal, leggings, greaves, chest plates, shoulder plates, vambraces and helmets that covered everything but their eyes and a bit of their face. All of them spotted the same set of equipment, even their weapons. A round shield and a one-handed sword.

They were a mess. No teamwork, no cooperation. Yet none of them got hit by any attacks. There were 3 dead sandworms, cut into many pieces. A dozen or so Arrowtail corpses with 2 still alive and ganging up on one of the warriors. He kept shouting as he backhanded a tail with his shield and swung his sword to cut the attacking tail before sweeping his sword and cutting the other incoming tail. Then pulling his shield back close and ramming into the first scorpion, jumping on it and stabbing down into its back.

2 groups of roughly 50 desert wolves from both the left and right dune when they were in the small ‘valley’ were in a brawl with the other 4 warriors. They were really spontaneous and noisy with a lot of screaming but none was in any danger.

“Pretty good.” Ebony commented.

“Yeah, wanna just leave?” Hector asked.

“Sure.”

None felt the need to stay and watch or cut in on their hunt.

The party was all pretty high level and none really looked like they were in trouble anyway.

“HEEEY!!!” one of the large men called towards them and waved his sword arm. He was the highest level one and the most relaxed one.

“OH HELLO! A GOOD DAY TO YOU PEOPLE!” Another one of the warriors looked over as he slashed 2 wolves at the same time while blocking himself from an incoming bite.

“YEAH! HAVEN’T SEEN A SINGLE PERSON FOR A WEEK NOW!” The third guy commented.

“HAPPY HUNTING!” The fourth guy laughed and called out but was busier with more wolves on his tail.

“WOAH! LEVEL 100 JOURNEYMEN?! BE CAREFUL NOW!” The last and looking the most free from attacks was surprised before asking them to be careful.

“JOURNEYMEN ON THE 10TH FLOOR?! IMPRESSIVE BUT TAKE CARE NOT TO BITE OFF MORE THAN YOU CAN CHEW!” The first guy gave his sincere opinion. The over hundred wolves didn’t bother them one bit.

“THIS IS THE 10TH FLOOR!?” Hector seemed to be infected by all their intense shouting. The party known as Panic Attack were acting a lot more friendly than Ebony expected. Hector would probably get along with them great.

“HAH?! OF COURSE IT IS! HOW DID YOU GET ALL THE WAY HERE WITHOUT KNOWING THAT?!” The third guy answered in confusion and asked with as much confusion.

“WE THOUGHT THIS WAS THE 7TH FLOOR!” Hector replied even louder.

“I DON’T KNOW HOW YOU GOT UP HERE BUT I’M PRETTY ELLING SURE WE CLIMBED UP 10 DIFFERENT FLOORS! WELL, NOT ALL ARE SO DIFFERENT WITH THE DESERTS!” The first man answered, he seemed to have taken it as a challenge of who was louder and put in even more effort into shouting as loud as they can.

“ALRIGHT THANK YOU SO MUCH! HAPPY HUNTING TO YOU TOO!” Hector thanked and returned the well wishes.

“10th? Grassland, forests, mountains, walkway, desert, desert and desert right?” Hector turned back to them.

“Maybe the walkway was just a shortcut.” Ebony then went on to tell them his hypothesis about the walkway being the way up along the ‘outer walls’ of a tower. His own Mental Map roughly confirms it but it was hard to map the entirety of the structure from the internals so he was not 100% sure.

“That makes sense. The monster's rise in level was too much for a one floor difference. The core golems were also practically elite monsters, which should have been pretty rare. Not to mention Ordina wouldn’t have the resources to expend on so many elite monsters. Whew! We really hit the jackpot with the hidden treasure room. That was probably the best things that the dungeon could make at this point.” Hector considered as he looked at his notebook and edited some parts.

“It…it seems catered to us too,” Tuffock added.

“I doubt they are of Rare quality though,” Ryley said. He wasn’t disappointed either way. Coming from a house of archers he was taught quite a bit about all things bows. His grandfather was only at the peak of Master Power Archer from what Ryley knew. A step away from the ranks of a Grandmaster and also the noble rank of an Earl. And even his bow was made from just Rare materials. Costing millions of mana, dozens of Blues, practically half of their liquid funds and a family heirloom at this point.

That single step separating him from a Grandmaster was a gulf that the majority couldn’t cross. It may take dozens to hundreds of years of effort if they didn’t have the talent or didn’t take the risk to push for more Natural Potential.

An Uncommon ranked material could already make him one of the better bows in his family. Though he’ll have to match it with other similarly strong materials which would be damn hard to find on the market since nobody really sells it just like that. Some large companies do have their own contracted parties to collect materials and sell them but in the end everyone needs to use materials for themselves. This corner of the continent just didn’t have a large supply of anything really.

Ryley’s allowance and savings would hardly be enough to get good, suitable materials from other cities. Putting on orders from the Zees would only allow them to upsell depending on how far they would have to deliver the items. Reality was such a bitch, these low-quality items wouldn’t even be worth much closer to the Empire’s Capital. Ryley might be able to find a rock on the ground that was better than what he had if he travelled out of his home city. At least that was what he was told many times.

The fact that they were on the 10th floor did not make it any more likely for them to reach the top of the dungeon. They were reaching their limit and ability to cope with the current monsters; a few levels difference for an evolved monster had a bigger strength difference than the same level gap for a monster under level 100.

Not including Hector in his most ridiculously powered up mode, none of them were faster, stronger or even better at killing than the desert’s wolves, worms and scorpions. Even Scarlet. Ebony also knew that throughout the past 10 levels, Scarlet didn’t get one bit faster except maybe her skill level rising and heart rate buff kicking up a notch.

Surmising that she didn’t add a single point to Agility. A surprise to him. Her spell power and amount of spell casting did increase but not all that much so he wondered what she added her stats to.

The party was delayed by a large group of Arrowtail Scorpion so they made camp a little later when they arrived at the edge of the slope to the next floor. Ebony was seeing a slow rise in skill levels. Magnified Gravity Field was getting pretty useful.

A 49% increase in gravitational strength was enough to affect others' movement by quite a bit, the gravitational pull in Ordina being higher helped a great deal. Ebony estimated it to currently be 3 times stronger than when he was outside, 49% of that made it almost 4.5 times stronger than what he was used to.

The spell wouldn’t even affect him if he doesn’t allow it too. Ebony’s Chaotic Repulsive Membrane passively made it harder for the pull to latch on to him. A little thanks to observing Scarlet’s antigravity items. Besides, even without that, a little manipulation was all that was required so that the spell didn’t work on him.

It was not strong enough to add any significant weight to monsters and people with superhuman stats, power, and speed. But the sudden change in gravitational strength can play a large part to surprise and when used well, help to evade or make the target miss some attacks.

The trick was that Ebony always put his own party members under the spell effect whenever he could. He wasn’t good enough to let all of them be unaffected by the spell so why not just let them get used to fighting under even stronger gravitational pull? Of course, they weren't dumb and tried to stay a distance away from him whenever they were fighting. If not, they took it as training.

“So yesterday’s or today’s is better?” Scarlet had been acting a little weird but Ebony was starting to get used to her constantly changing moods and attitude. She started asking him to compare her food, whether he liked one over the other, if it’s too salty, sweet, spicy, bitter or sour.

She made sweet and sour pork once more when he told her it was one of his favourite dishes. Then she ran out of pork and or boar meat.

One of the nights, Ebony woke up to sense her right outside his tent. He thought she was just about to open the flap to peek at him but then she dashed off right after he woke up. He wondered if she knew he woke up or if she knew that he knew that she was outside.

Another time, he saw her pour out a pail of water out of her tent.

Other than that, she was mostly back to normal. As if whatever happened didn’t happen. Less the fact that she still looked away when he looked at her, unless they were sparring and hunting. They were serious as always when and where it mattered. Maybe she did stare at his every move harder than usual but that may be due to his advice of taking in every little action of their opponent to predict movements and attacks.

Ebony didn’t think she would be able to copy him so easily though. He never put much thought, if any at all, about every single micro action of his opponent. It was more reflexive and just knowing what they’ll do or what to do, where to move how to place himself in the most advantageous spot in the instant his opponent had a twitch of a muscle, change in their line of sight, rotating their wrists, ankle or other joints by an almost unnoticeable amount and more.

Ebony didn’t stop her from trying, everyone needed to start from somewhere.

“Oh hey! Journeymen party!” someone called out. It was one of Panic Attack’s members but they didn’t recognise who was who with their similar equipment and body build. All were covered from head to toe after all. Panic Attack came by a little later in the night when they were training their own skills.

The 5 Master Warriors were dragging along a desert wolf or scorpion, each with huge bags on their backs. Seeing that made Ebony appreciate Scarlet and Hector, who had spatially expanded bags.

“Mind if we made camp over here?” The supposed leader and level 138 Master Warrior asked. They didn’t stick that close, with about a hundred metres between the two camps. No longer screaming their lungs out.

It might have been dangerous with a stronger party so close to them but they seemed pretty nice so far and dangerous also meant safer if there were any monster attacks. Once again mentally appreciating Scarlet, when they saw them set a fire with firewood they actually brought along themselves. They roasted scorpions over the fire and made a bloody wolf soup.

It didn’t even smell appetising. Scarlet was obviously frowning under that thick mask of hers but didn’t say anything as they minded their own business. She didn’t let any of them eat monster meat here in Ordina if it wasn't necessary. It was only natural for other parties, not everyone could bring so much food with them to last a long expedition.

They had set 2 tents up, bigger than Ebony’s or any of their own. Each could fit 2 people of their size. It was probably better to reduce the load they had to carry. They had their own version of training, everyone just attacked everyone else. Sometimes teaming up to attack one guy then sneak attack the ones they worked with. It was just a battle royale where anything goes. It really suited them.

Their sparring sessions were much shorter before they took turns stripping their equipment off to maintain them. Ebony had learnt a thing or two about that from Hector but didn’t need to since he didn’t wear armour. Cleaning and polishing were the general things if there was no damage on them.

While their party had 2 people up for watch, Panic Attack only had one guy doing the job. He was even napping on his watch. How relaxed they were was proof that they didn’t really feel any danger here.

When Ebony was woken up for his duty and he was doing his magic training, with Hector doing his movement exercise, the guy from Panic Attack taking watch was their leader. Without the helmet he had a thin scar on the lower right of his jaw, the others on his party had spotted beards but he didn’t. They didn’t look middle-aged but were not far from looking around that age. He was warming his hands over the fire they were keeping up in turns. The cold nights were not kind to all but Ebony.

Ebony didn’t notice the looks the man was giving toward their party.