Ebony's Fable

“How was it?” Master Jing asked as Ebony entered the house by bypassing her inscriptions.

“...Why are they so weak?” Ebony thought for a moment before asking.

Master Jing just laughed heartily.

“Were there any notable opponents at all?” She returned his question with another.

“One. A swordsman from the Singular Cut Style of the Domination Blade Academy.”

“Ah. Hmm…how do I explain this to a clueless little monster?”

“...” Ebony couldn’t say he liked getting called a monster but it was flattering coming from someone of Master Jing’s level.

“Let’s see. Excluding the Apprentice rank, the lowest rung of combat Classers are those whose parents are not fighters. They turn 15 then start training their skills up, maybe classing at 18 to 20. If they survive 20 to 30 years of safe hunting every day on something their level they hit level 100. What would their skill set look like?”

“...2 or 3 Fortifications for their Class, 3 for Sub-Class and 2 for Profession. Tier 2 Core Skill, 1 or 2 tier 2 Class skill. Same for their Sub-Class and Profession. Untiered and tier 1 generic skills.”

“That’s about right for Fortifications since Sub-Class and Profession doesn’t have to be rushed. You’re sorely mistaken about their skills though. All of these people teach themselves random skills that are mostly untiered. Majority would Class with untiered skills for their main Class and regret after a few years. Their Core skill would be tier 1 and most of their other skills would be untiered with 1 or 2 tier 1 skill.”

“...” Ebony didn’t believe what he was hearing but it made sense if they never learned anything until they turned 15.

“Next would be those whose parents already tread the path for them. Training them with their own experiences and skills when the kids are still young. These people form the majority of freelancers that stay alive on the field without dying within the week. Still, tier 1 Core Skill but the majority of their Class skills should at least be tier 1. They would definitely Class with tier 1 skills and not untiered skills either. By the way, most warriors would have at best 4 Class Skill after one of their skills is chosen as their Core Skill. Most would have 3 skills, mastery type, action-attack type and possibly one defensive or evasive skill.”

“Wouldn’t their parents at least have tier 2 skills by the time they have kids if they are Master Class.”

“Sure, likely their Core Skill at the very least but that doesn’t mean their child could learn it. Or the child would need to get to Master Class too to reach the same point unless they were actually talented and used their brain when they practise and train. Like you.”

“Isn’t movement skills pretty much a must to have?”

“Ha! Other than the generic skills like Running, how common do you think movement skills are? I know what you want to say next, perception skills. Those are so rare many academies don’t even teach them, why? Because they don’t have any perception skills either. Those are rarer than even gravity magic books. You think people can see all around them at all times like you?”

“...Pretty much. It’s merely sensing mana around you and how they move apart when someone or something moves that displaces the mana and focusing on them to know that person or object’s placement.”

“...I don’t even know what to say…okay, not everyone can sense mana as well as you. If not, everyone would be a mage already. Normal physical Classers can’t even properly use mana until at least Master Class. That’s when most academies even teach any skills that use mana. The even less talented with mana might not even be able to use mana even when they reach Master Class.”

‘Oh. I thought it was a natural thing to be able to feel and manipulate mana. No wonder mana was literally the currency here and mages are so highly looked upon.’ Ebony thought it was weird there were so few mages despite the ease of using magic and manipulating mana.

“So most of my opponents today are from this group and the swordsman is from another?”

“Yup. The next group would be the group who is rich enough to afford to send their child to academies from a young age together with those that Classed poorly but earned enough to send themselves to an academy and perfect their Sub-Class or Profession. If they followed exactly what the academy taught them, the lowest limit would be having at least the Core skill to be tier 2. That’s the lowest one would even bother opening an academy with. The good ones would have tier 3 skills and the best one’s would have a full set of skills together with a main one which made the founding person famous. The Tidal academy would be by far the most prestigious and not without reason.”

“The Domination Blade Academy?”

“I heard of them at least. The main branch is also in Tidal which says enough but they branched out quite a bit into other parts of the Empire. I don’t recall anyone notable who uses what you say? Singular Cut Style?”

“Mmm.”

“The lower nobles are actually not too different from the better academies' teachings. The next group would be the duke’s and archduke’s lineage. You know about Physiques? Well even without that their lineage is not too shabby, fighting, crafting or supportive, they are pretty much why they are the true nobles and backbone of the Empire. The king and queen used to be roughly equal to the other archdukes but the current king and queen’s royal family surpasses them noticeably enough. It is said that having any of the royal family’s descendants in your party makes your survival rate either 100%, 80% or 0%.”

“...Assuming it’s a party of 5 they either all survive, the royal family member dies or everyone dies.”

“Yup! The Lord's family lineage. The greatest barrier mages and healers throughout the Empire’s and Elcra’s history. Practically all their children are able to use either one or even both barriers of different elements or healing of some kind. They have as much pride as their power. You would only die on their party after they did or so the rumours spread.”

“The Elves? Xeng? Dryadic Humans?”

“Majority of the older, adult Elves would be around the levels of the duke and archduke lineage level. The real genius amongst them would beat the royal descendant's backside till they go home crying to their parents but you won't be seeing any of them. Well, most Elves just stay here for long enough before leaving Elcra for their homeworld where something they call ********** resides. They call it the origin or supporter of all nature’s life or something. Well, it’s just described as an impossibly huge tree. I might be wrong since I don’t know much about that.”

‘Hot damn. That’s gotta be Yggdrasil the world tree. I bet it is.’

The Elves, even those born here, didn't really treat it as their real home.

“As for us? We are second to none in terms of whatever we do, except maybe healing. It’s too bad the royal family are mostly supportive Classes except for the King himself. Weellll, I was never told much about Dryadic Humans. All I know is that they are not native to Elcra and our elders called them the most perfect race. Bah, this space mage never saw a single trace of them.”

“So the tournament tomorrow would have similar standards?”

“Pretty much. The only ones worth taking seriously would be those that introduced themselves and their academy. They would likely have evolved with mostly level 125 skills for the 50% buff for 2 of their Fortification and maybe level 150 for 100% buff for their Core Skill. Once again, only for this tournament. The hired hands or employees of the companies that want the new metal wouldn't be able to hire better Masters. Of course, the scale of tomorrow's tournament is more than 10 times larger and it will last for days. Most Imperials are Master Classed after all and many people want a freshly discovered metal so the standard of people tomorrow should be somewhat higher.”

That was pretty disappointing but at least getting what Master Jing wanted shouldn’t be too difficult. The later battles would be too hard for him due to the sheer level difference but winning 4 battles should be achievable.

Unsure of how Master Jing knew but she even gave a general gauge other’s stat distribution. I guess with enough life experience it isn’t that hard to gauge. Or perhaps, a study was done on it before. Just based on the 1600 stat points of a triple level 100 and not a person’s base stat since that was dependent on the race and individual.

Strength: 400 - 500

Vitality: 250 - 350

Constitution: 150 - 250

Endurance: 150 - 200

Agility: 200 - 300

Intelligence: 50 - 80

Wisdom: 10 - 20

Perception: 50 - 100

The physical fighters would have a stat distribution of something similar. Warriors would have closer to 500 Strength and about half the speed. Rogues may flip the two stats around. Archers may balance it. Warriors would place more focus on Vitality than archers or rogues as well. Basically, everyone only added enough Constitution so that they wouldn’t injure themself from their own speed and power. Not many had problems like the strong whose skills surpass their body’s ability.

Endurance is usually only enough for a person to fight for 2 to 3 hours with most of their power before tiring out and weakening. Intelligence was only added because people started finding out that they needed their brains to be able to keep up with increasing combat speeds. The mental processing necessary for a life endangering battle at high intensity requires at least some stats here.

Those without any sense of magic and mana only added Wisdom so that they could recharge Blacks or Greys for daily life use. They would only really distribute more to Wisdom after they evolve. Those that found the use of the most basic enhancement magic would regret not having enough mana to reliably use it. Archers might have a much higher Perception, taking some out from Endurance or Strength.

It really depended on the individual’s skill set too. Not to mention their mindset. Everyone thinks differently after all, sacrificing one stat for another. Mages might have less than 100 of every physical stat and almost 1000 Intelligence or balanced between Intelligence and Wisdom. There was no sure way to find out unless one had a really, really high tier Identify.

"Someone told me I'm only about as strong as the 70th percentile of all Journeymen."

"Is that so? I wouldn't know, I'm not a damn combatant. Regardless, no need to think about that. From the damage you did to my armour dolls, it is indeed true that your skill doesn't pack enough punch. Your spell power is especially weak, must have less than 400 Intelligence. Their toughness and durability is true sheer mana density but don't help to hit harder. No way you compress your mana that much without having a class heavily dependent on mana. Sheer Mana Compression or something."

"...That's right." She was spot on about his general skills.

"I wouldn't say you're at the 70th percentile since I don't know many Journeymen to compare you with. But I can say your potential for strength is definitely near the peak of any human although your current skills don't match that. I mean, with enhancement magic you can compress and even use it for practically as long as you like I can't see how even Masters can match your power unless they have something similar. Relax, those who evolve at the absolute limit of any rank would instantly be far above those their rank." She shrugged, she didn't care much for combative skills or even learning too much about it so her words are not credible or so she admitted.

"Could you elaborate?" He asked

"How dumb are you? Imagine a journeyman who has a 100% fortification that evolved, let's take the average to be the 1.25 times requirement, to become a master with a 150% fortification. Let's say this person has some luck and got to level 300 and is capable of getting the same 1.25 or 50% fortification. That grandmaster would have their first fortifications buffing him at 200% while a talented Master who evolved with a 1.5 times requirement would have the same. Not to mention those at the real peak that most Imperials aren't at with 250%. Once you really evolve as a strong Journeyman, you would instantly be far beyond most Imperial Masters, even some weak Grandmasters maybe. Although, the stat difference would be staggering." She hit his hard skull with her harder fist.

Ebony didn’t do anything special after his common sense levelled up. He continued his daily reading, learning, training and chores.

“Give me all your ores before you go.” Master Jing stopped him.

“Hang on.” Ebony went back to his guest room to get all his Blues and Greens without hesitation. It was just money, no, it was just mana. He could charge more with time. He actually didn’t charge many up since he let his excess mana be absorbed by Master Jing’s machine. So it was only 60 filled Blues and a couple of dozen Greens as change.

Ebony left for the coliseum extra early, 2 hours earlier but the crowd was already wild enough, more than a quarter of the coliseum was already filled up.

Ebony and the 2 other Journeymen in the crowd of Masters were split up into different groups. The levels of contestants ranged from 100 to 250 from what he was told. They shouldn't be too stupid to let a level 100 fight a level 250 but he didn’t know how they planned the tourney.

It would not even be interesting to watch which the conducting body probably won’t like as it served them no purpose if their spectators were uninterested. They took bets and collected seat fees after all. Skewed bets wouldn't really work out well, no one would bet that a level hundred would beat a level 250. They wouldn’t believe the result even if the level 250 really lost.

The waiting time was much longer and not just because he came earlier. The people working there were very busy doing all the necessary paperwork and accounting. The MC was the same guy who was trying to keep spectators interested by introducing the contestants again. He began with the top 3 Journeymen who people knew were just here to make things a little more interesting.

Each of them would be fighting at most 5 other people today. There was no time to finish the whole tournament of more than 35,000 participants. Of course, those that lost even once were out immediately and he was not interested in finding out how they would go about sorting through so many people’s profiles.

Apparently, their opponents would not be more than 5 levels higher or lower than themselves. At least for today, unless no one fits the bill. For the 3 Journeymen that meant unlucky since no one was lower levelled than them. Not many bothered signing up at the low 100s either. The rule didn’t really apply to them.

The tiv of Rare rarity metal they gave the Journeyman's only champion was only a drop in the bucket. Though the terms for the Master Class to even get anything at all were different. They needed to win at least 5 battles, which was all of them for the first day before they got even a single gram of the stuff. The fifth battle won today would get them 10 tiv or 50kg of Rare rarity metal. Much more than what Ebony got. It was not like the higher level ones would get everything since they would group people around the same level to fight each other.

Probably a plot to somewhat equally distribute the unknown metal to people of different social class or levels to slowly push into the market. It sure did its job most of the time. It appeased people of different level groups and gave low level people a chance to touch the latest discovery.

5kg of that stuff was only the size of a marble. If they could give so many people so much of the stuff the mine deposit they found must be pretty large and deep. They would probably keep the bulk of it including the best parts.

The 3 Journeymen would be getting 3 and 5 tivs or the same stuff he got respectively for the first 2 wins. Half a tiv of Epic rarity for the 3rd win, 1 tiv for the 4th victory, 2 tiv for the second. Their rewards were higher due to the difficulty of actually winning.

After the long, noisy wait which he didn’t silence so he could listen out for important information the tournament started. As if to kick the 3 of them out first, all of the top 3 were the firsts to battle.

The axe guardian had spare equipment. He was the luckiest of the 3 with his level 107 opponent being too gleeful at an easy win and messed up as the Dwarf was patient and resilient. Winning his battle without too much injury.

Zach was the unluckiest as his opponent was level 115. He announced his one attack deal again and stuck with it. He won as well.

Ebony got the level 111 opponent as there was no one lower than the level 107 guy other than them. He wasn’t all that excited for a good opponent after Master Jing told him about the general strength of most people.

He also needed to get what Master Jing wanted and wasn’t in the clear yet so he made sure to take care of it as fast as possible. He would never know if his opponent actually had some special skill or Fortification or not. He had to always assume he was weaker, that way he would never let his guard down.

Every level for a Master Class, Sub-Class and Profession gave them 15, 10 and 3 stat points respectively. 11 levels above him was plenty but using compressed Icebody Enhancement for almost 2000 Strength was really overkill.

To make things as quick as possible but not deadly for them, he pushed off Treading Steps to the max and had the sole of his feet smashing into the level 111 Master Rogue. His opponent called ‘Blind Side’ managed to see it coming but didn’t manage to avoid it.

Blind Side flew back and his head cracked against the hard barrier a distance behind him.

“YET ANOTHER INSTANT KNOCKOUT FROM CONTESTANT RIMESTONE! Are we going to see a repeat of yesterday!?” The MC and a large number of people were watching their matches as the only 3 Journeymen. They were watching when both Ebony and Zach took their opponent down with a single attack. A smaller portion of the spectators were booing the axe guardian’s opponent rather than cheering him on.

He looked around the seats as he returned to his waiting area after the barrier was deactivated. The coliseum seats were fully occupied but he somehow didn’t take too long to spot Master Jing nearer to the front.

It might have been because she was right above where his waiting area entrance/exit was.

It might be because the seats around her were empty.

It might be because he was used to her presence and aura with his senses.

It might be because of her standing out with that mask of hers.

Whatever the case, Ebony felt his heart warm a little to see her cheering for him. That hasn't happened for a pretty long time. Comforting.

Her mask covered her mouth this time, she still wears it fully in public. There was no seams or visible line or division that indicated that the lower portion of the mask was a separate part.

He meditated as he siphoned out the loud reverberating cheers. Jeers for the participants who they betted on and lost. Cheers for those who won them some Greens.

The first wait would be the longest just like yesterday. Today the top 35,000 needed to dwindle to the top 17,500 for the first round alone. But that was just a blink of an eye for him in meditation. The Dwarven axe guardian was called out first of the 3 of them. He really struggled, his first win had gotten him a more fortuitous reward than the champion of yesterday and he was going to snatch up even more. Needing to replace his shield and helmet was what pushed him further. He had won the second match but was too grievously wounded to continue.

Unsure if it was lucky or unlucky but Zach got another tough opponent. A [Master Shield Warrior Lvl 119].

Ebony’s paranoia was telling him some strings were pulled to either see how far Zach’s one slash can go or someone wanted to stop his advance. Zach had a light smile on his face. What it meant, he didn’t know but Zach didn’t seem angry so maybe he was glad about the challenge.

Zach sliced through the Shield Warrior’s thick shield that glowed with power. Either a skill that used mana, the shield’s ability or both. The shield warrior didn’t just stand there to take the hit though, he had charged forward and clearly shifted his body aside. Zach’s attack still managed to land exactly in the centre of his shield, cutting into his reinforced leather bracers and shifting past and up to cut into the eye. It was another deep injury for Zach’s opponent who quickly admitted defeat.

This time he saw that the wound wasn’t as simple as a normal cut. He was pretty sure the wound continued to tear open even after Zach was done with his attack already. He looked at his robe’s sleeves but there was not even a mark of any attack.

Ebony was more and more sure someone was fooling around when he heard his opponent’s stage name. ‘Kicking Lion’

[Master Martial Artist Lvl 113]

He was going to guess Zach’s name and the prestige that he built up was what got him higher level opponents.

❅❅❅

Kicking Lion tiptoed a few times as a warm-up.

He had been one of the contestants watching Ebony’s duel. He had never seen such a beautifully executed kick. He predicted that Ebony was the type that just moved the instant the battle started so he was getting ready to get the headstart on the young boy. He was pretty heavily focused on speed and believed he could easily match the young Journeyman. It wasn’t lost on him that Ebony’s burst start was extremely fast but his kick wasn’t nearly as sharp in terms of acceleration.

“Rimestone? I saw your previous match. That was an amazing kick but you won’t catch me off guard with your burst of speed.” Kicking Lion said before the guy in charge of refereeing started the match.

“Okay.” Kicking Lion was a little annoyed by Ebony’s tone of indifference.

Kicking Lion had pretty shiny greaves, leggings and boots. He was on the lean side but not skinny.

Ebony wanted to go full speed from what he said but if he was so confident of his speed Ebony was afraid of kicking his head off if he used Chaotic Repulsive Membrane to burst off. To take things more seriously because the man was an evolution ahead of him after all, he compressed his Icebody Enhancement. Using only his excess mana and not the already condensed stock he had in his chassis.

“Begin!” The referee called after activating the barrier.

He still acted first even though Kicking Lion was so confident.

In no time at all, his sole was about to arrive at Kicking Lion’s face.

Kicking Lion’s right leg came up to counter Ebony's feet before his mind could think whether to evade or counter. His body must have decided that there was no harm or contest pushing the Journeyman’s leg away with his 150% leg Strength and Agility Fortifications.

All his power was from his legs and he was proud of it. Not to mention his 600 Agility which was definitely beyond a Journeyman like Rimestone. He dialled down on Strength of 420 but his kicks would have the Strength of 1050. His tier 1 Core Skill, Snapping Feet gave him an additional 139% kicking Strength and Agility.

“A direct exchange of kicking with me is impossible!” Kicking Lion somehow found the time to shout a lengthy line as his instep connected with Ebony’s ankles.

“AARRHH!” Kicking Lion screamed in pain. His lower armour held but the collision of forces was much stronger than he thought. He had managed to barely push Ebony’s incoming feet to his face but he had never kicked anything as hard before.

The impact sent numbing shocks through his feet, his ankle was probably dislocated and swelling as he hopped on one foot and fell due to his initial shock. Laying on his side with his feet brought up for him to hold as a reflexive action.

Ebony didn’t attack any further, he was not completely unharmed. He was pretty impressed that Kicking Lion could actually push his kick away with a kick of his own. He was probably only down because Ebony had an even greater buff in Constitution that backed him up while Kicking Lion didn’t appear to have. The dull numbness in his ankle was already fading though.

He was right, he shouldn’t go easy on any opponent. That might have gone differently if he continued to use uncompressed Icebody Enhancement.

He extended a hand to Kicking Lion to pull him up but Kicking Lion didn’t take it. He only took a few breaths to calm himself down and directed an ‘I admit defeat.’ to the referee before hopping away once the barrier was deactivated.

Unabashed, he returned to the waiting area as if what happened earlier didn’t happen. ‘Where’s the sportsmanship?’ Ebony had a redundant thought.

For some reason, he thought Master Jing was cheering a little too excitedly. He even thought she was about to cry from the vibrations he picked up when he walked past under her. He must be imagining things.

He hasn’t spent a single drop of mana from his mana pool but he meditated to get or to keep his mental and physical state in tip top shape.