"I see." Ebony was intrigued by the story. He learnt quite a bit about many interesting existences. The 4 creatures really reminded him of the 4 auspicious beasts but it might just be a coincidence.
Unclassed, Journeyman, Master, Grandmaster, King, Emperor and then Saint.
Apprentice wasn't even considered part of the growth path.
Ebony was still so far away from true nonchalance and the feeling of helplessness won't be going away anytime soon.
At the same time he also somewhat realised why they wanted to hide their location or magic. He felt that 12000 plus years was more than enough hiding. Would they even be alive? Or is the Spear Saint's wrath undying even after so much time has passed? If he really didn't care about the progenturtle's life and death did they really need to hide?
"Would the Spear Saint even continue looking for the Life Grafter after so long? Even if the Life Grafter is still alive."
"...I believe so. When he had been engaging with our sister, he had been grieving…we have concluded after thousands of years of pondering from his mumblings and screams that one of father's children had eaten the Spear Saint's child and wife."
"You are?"
"Remnant spirit. Ful, I am. No, I was one with Rue. He didn't want to stop his bleeding and our descendants couldn't stop him. They managed to stop me instead. Those little devils had to separate me from Rue. Thinking about it just makes me angry again." Ful explained.
Ebony could guess if there was anything here that was two in one with the progeniturtle it would be the tree itself. He hadn't come into contact with a spirit before but it was not as impressive sounding compared to the story of buying a mini sun, a phoenix egg, a dragon egg or splitting an entire continent in half and then poking gigantic lakes in them.
'Rue and Ful? Rueful? That's a sad name. The Life Grafter is probably a horrible namer.' He believed that names had meaning. Naming someone Rueful was just horrible. Or rather, naming the progeniturtle Rue was just awful.
"Ful, you're saying I can use Frostblaze as I like but there is a chance the Spear Saint might come after me if the Life Grafter is still alive and he somehow found out I use this particular magic. Isn't there any other race or person who uses it?"
"Yes. As far as we know Frostblaze is unique to the Frostblaze Amur Maple. You can use it, but it's not as simple as bursting ice mana apart. If not, our descendants or any other decent ice mage could replicate the effect. That's what I don't understand. Even Rue himself cannot use it without my help. Before I awoke when he reached Grandmaster, he had merely used it subconsciously. The only reason I can think of is your Physique, no one has gotten the Frostblaze Physique that you say you have." Ful answered.
'It's not as simple as combusting ice mana? It is though? I guess it should be my Physique. Even Gen can't use it and the Progeniturtle himself can't control it. The progeniturtle's daughter can use it too so it was likely some kind of bloodline ability. The trees can do it naturally, maybe it's a plant thing and animals or monsters can't use it. Or is it me being a race made of mana, I can sense the amur maples having a high density of mana. Maybe the trees are mana beings and it isn't just the ice mana they absorb that I sensed.' Ebony had some hypotheses of his own.
Then he thought about what Ful said. He wasn't against Ebony using flames of frost.
There was even only a minuscule chance that;
One, Life Grafter was alive.
Two, whether the Spear Saint was still looking for him actively or not.
Three, he cared and remembered about a creature he considered weak and even its unique magic.
Four, he had to find out one person in the midst of literal worlds unless he had been observing this world somehow and then bother to chase and look for him.
Five, would the Spear Saint link a person using the same type of magic to one of the weak monsters that hindered him?
Of course, the Spear Saint may be the cautious type. He may be crazy enough with revenge that he didn't care and wanted to annihilate the entire legacy of the Life Grafter.
Honestly, Ebony felt that the chances of all those reasons and more to coincide to be extremely slim. That was also likely why Ful sounded like it didn't really care if he used it. Unlike Gen who was more serious in wanting to preserve their lineage and hide their location according to his predecessors.
Ebony understood from Ful's tone that it had wanted to die with Rue. Though, after thousands of years, it probably gave up persuading Gen or maybe Gen's parents and grandparents to let it die.
Being one and the same as Rue the progeniturtle, it definitely had some kind of feelings or if spirits didn't have feelings then maybe duty or obligation to preserve and spread their race according to their creator's wishes.
"So? What is your decision? I can't say I'm not interested in finally conversing with another kind that can use the same magic as me. You can be considered my descendant and thereby Rue's descendant in a sense. Hmm…I guess you'll be my, Ful's lineage rather than Rue's. Haaa. hahahaahaha. Ha. I guess I can't share that with you anymore." Ful asked and then laughed and whispered.
The leaves on the majestic trees that were slacking down shook and 'stood up' before falling back down, a few leaves dropped down with a soft thud in the distance. Every one of those leaves weighed kilograms.
Ouch. Listening to Ful's sorrow was just painful in a way he didn't know how to comfort. He was never very good with feelings anyway. Too few friends to bother counting.
Gen and the other turtles hissed softly. Placating Ful perhaps.
"I don't see a reason not to learn." Ebony replied. It wasn't like he wouldn't be able to use ice, gravity and sound magic normally after learning. He could also limit his usage to if he needed to. He just thought the explosive power he needed could be provided with frostblaze. Just the massive increase in physical power from the weight of his blades and the doubling of his maximum momentum from his increase in movement speed wasn't enough.
If he travelled alone and only used it when few eyes were around he didn't see the harm in it. The low chances that over 12000 years with only a single sighting of the Saint and no more follow-up was also enough to persuade him.
"Good! Let's see your flame again." Ful sounded excited. It was excited, this was the very first time another creature other than itself, Rue and his daughter, was using their magic.
Ebony did as asked and he started another flame atop his palms. Silence fell as he watched the majestic tree burn white in comparison to his practically dark blue flame. Gen was also silently watching.
"...What in abomination is that?" Ful's leaves rustled once more. Ton came over and made a snow clone after a short while.
"Toss it over," Ful said.
Ebony knew Ful was asking him to 'throw' his flame onto the snow clone so he just did it. Still, he just underhand tossed the thing like a ball instead of shooting it out like a fast projectile. He doubted Ful wanted to know how much mental force he can throw a flaming bundle of ice mana.
The fireball landed on the clone, sticking on and burning for half a second before going out as all the mana he used was combusted or burned out.
Ful's leaves rustled again and this time Gen opened his mouth and spit at his Layered Ice Carapace. Completely destroying it into crumbs with his spit alone.
"What have you been doing with your mana? Ice mana. You made it hard and tough. Sure it can do that but that is not what the ice element does. What do you think the ice element is supposed to do?" Ful questioned.
"...Freeze." Ebony's usage of freezing was only with Frost Injection and Frost Mist Perception Sphere. His greater focus had always been on the defensive Layered Ice Carapace.
"Exactly. Other than durability and something a little weird about your ice mana, it doesn't do what ice does best. Your ice mana is lukewarm." He was guessing what Ful was referring to was how he made his ice mana to be more resistant to heat.
"How do you make it colder?" If you don't know, ask.
"Dumb question, my foolish descendant. How did you make it harder or whatever else you did with it?" Ful didn't answer anything. It seems like all things magic was really better for one to figure out themselves.
"..."
"Gen will move us deeper and isolate a space for you. He'll send clones that have orders to kill you. If you're going down this path then I won't pamper you like how Rue pampered his descendants. Watch closely, Gen doesn't have much mana to spare for me to show you." Ful said.
'Orders?'
Ebony walked atop Rue's shell and was under Ful. It was only a few steps away. Once again, without anyone's protection he was exposed to the intense chill digging into his body. He sat down where he could see a grip sticking out of Ful's trunk high up, his eyesight improved a lot.
He could see a drop of sap in the ice bowl under the tree. How long did it take to accumulate the amount he used up?
One of the fallen leaves near him lit up in white flames. He didn't just observe with his eyes, he used his mana perception more. The flames danced as Ful probably controlled it to form different shapes after the fallen leaf just turned to dust. It was just completely frozen before breaking apart from its own weight.
The flame shot to Ton's clone, Ebony watched as the flame spread all over the clone in under less than a second. He followed so that the flames were still in his mana perception range. The snow crumbled apart in a thick layer of ice but the flame didn't die out. It spread onto the snowy ground and was about to continue spreading to where he was before it rose off the ground and condensed back to a small flame flickering out of existence.
Then the snow under Ebony rose and locked his feet down. He flew all the way up into the ceiling and smashed right into it. He didn't stop and continued to be sent above ground.
The moment he saw dim light again he also sensed a Gen-sized turtle by the side who whipped him with snow onto its back before dashing off. It was made of ice, although Gen was a Glacial Snow Crystal Turtle he could use ice magic as well. The ice clone ran all the way to the blizzard barrier and charged right into it. The blizzard parted for them and Ebony was unharmed other than the strong cold winds he was facing. He already took quite a lot of damage from the cold but there was no sign of his resistance levelling.
Gen was actually outside when Ebony and the clone sped out of the blizzard barrier. They were already in a place he didn't recognise. The first sight he saw was Gen shooting a thick beam of white up into the sky. Then it was the clouds the beam was forming. In about 5 minutes, the clouds were thick and covered a space not too dissimilar to the underground dome's size. Then it snowed. The snow was light and slow.
Ebony was watching the area where the snow fell. It was quiet as usual in Hoarfrost Glade but not for much longer. Creatures under the snow burst out with loud roars, shrieking birds and all those that slept on trees were roused the moment snow landed on them.
Then he watched as the monsters, from birds to apes and monkeys to deers, to snow crawlers and toads to arctic bears he hadn't seen before spasm exaggeratedly. Those on trees flew down, those on the ground didn't get up and even those that usually hid underground surfaced and couldn't even dig back down.
They even dug with their physical body instead of using manipulation but Ebony could see that the surface of the snowy ground hardened and they couldn't dig back down whether magically or physically. They were probably forced onto the surface by Gen too.
Gen's control over snow was so far above these monsters?
Practically all the monsters here were higher level than Ebony could Identify. Like how he used to be unable and probably still unable to rip control of ice mana away from Gen, Ton and Sei, Gen was doing the same thing to the monsters here.
When the monsters realised they couldn't escape, they turned their digging efforts to scraping their own flesh off.
It was a chilling sight in every manner of the word.
Ebony wouldn't have said he was not new to the sight of blood but there wasn't even much blood spilled. They were just frozen chunks of flesh.
It didn't even take a minute before it quietened down again. All the monsters already stopped moving. They were dead. The clouds opened up a hole like a donut in the sky and Ebony was brought inside. Luckily no snow touched him. He didn't even want to test touching the snow.
"Ebony. One of my ice clones contains 500 points of my mana. Each one would be slightly stronger and faster than you. They cannot think. I have given them commands to kill, that will be all they can and will do until they are destroyed or run out of mana.
More and more will be coming after you. Depending on her mood, they'll likely get stronger and maybe have more mana as time passes.
From time to time my spell will move, you'll move along with it as our forest will be moving. Don't touch my snow, I won't be able to save you.
You are not ready to evolve until your ice skills convert to frostblaze. I will keep my clones coming until you are able to completely freeze and stop them from moving while it still has the mana and power to resist. Good luck." Gen said before turning around. He was about to sink back into the snow but not before Ful's voice suddenly whispered into Ebony's mind.
"I can tell your senses are pretty good. So one less should not be an issue. What luck. You're partially mana, you can heal from most physical wounds."
Unsure where it came from but something smashed into his face and he flew back like a rag doll, somersaulting threw the air a few rounds with the very first "Ah." of pain that he had voiced out in many years. His reaction wasn't to defend against another attack but to claw at his eyes.
Whatever landed across his eyes was stuck there for good and all of Ebony's attempts to get rid of it both physical and magical failed. It was pain that he had never experienced. Cold but not numbingly so. It was piercingly cold.
Ebony felt the cold stabbing and piercing into his skin, flesh and skull. Obviously, his eyes were blinded and they hurt the most.
If he could see his face he would realise that the 'piercing' part of the snow across his eyes was not figurative. Like water starting to frost over, white marks were digging into his flesh and tearing it apart. They were exactly what happened to his shell when he entered the blizzard.
"My apologies. That's the weakest and gentlest I could make my snow, natural snow wouldn't really blind you." Gen's voice floated over instead of Ful.
Gen's snow mana had the properties to seep into and pierce anything it touches. It was his Fortification and he could only make it so weak. Gen was a little amazed that all he got was a "Ah." that had little strength in it. Even creatures of ice and snow screamed and roared like little babies when even grazed by his conjured snow.
Since Gen and Full intended to blind him and he couldn't do anything about it, he chillaxed. The piercing pain was subsiding fast and his mind was slowly unable to recognise or perceive pain to his body already.
There were quite a few things to digest after they threw him out here so suddenly but he would have to take care of the giant ice turtle that immediately turned to him and attacked the moment Gen left.
There was nothing new. The creature moved very naturally unlike the ones Ton and Sei controlled to fight Ebony in the past but their movements were exactly like Ton's. It only used ice magic for now but the slight advantage it had in speed and power was nothing much to him. Well, Ton definitely learned how to fight from Gen.
Ebony was already familiar with their fighting style and the magical spells and techniques they used. The battle went pretty much the same way it went with Ton.
Although, he had to say that this clone was stronger. It could use more tendrils or tentacles, it was more flexible not just with magic but also physically. Shifting the snow under its feet to move such that its thick shell took his attack.
Using its head as both a hammer and just taking his attack if it 'felt' like it was just a glancing blow or slash.
Ebony didn't have too much trouble even without sight. It used to be harder to sense stationary bodies since everything was overshadowed by the planet's gravitational waves but his sensitivity to weaker waves improved a lot. The easier way to notice is usually from movement, the displacement of mana in the air. Furthermore, the clone was made of ice. It was clear as day to Ebony wherever it was.
One issue would be that he would have to stay close to his enemies. 31 metres was not a lot nowadays. The good thing was that it didn't really matter since he fought close range but he would have far less time to react to long-ranged attacks outside this range.
Ebony didn't feel like he won because the clone just got smaller and smaller as it used magic. It just disappeared when it ran out of mana. Still, he was surprised it took around half an hour before that happened. He was only able to put a deep crack in its shell and almost completely shatter one of its legs before it didn't attack him so aggressively anymore.
With time to think about the quick happenings, he conjured another chair and table to draw some more joint warmers while he still had the chance. The paper burned up in his hands as he drew blind. He wasn't discouraged.
It was ridiculous if Gen wasn't lying and a single one of his clones only contained 500 points of mana. The ice clone was huge, Ebony's shield alone took thousands of mana and it wasn't nearly as large as the clone. The ice also likely wasn't compressed from what he sensed.
Meaning Gen's ice mana was just naturally that strong and tough and he was hyper efficient with ice mana compared to Ebony if 500 points of his mana could last so long.
The stronger and faster than him part, he could easily understand. With their level difference comes a huge stat difference. It just emphasised Gen's control even further.
The part where the ice clones were not actively controlled or manipulated?
That was pretty damn awesome.
Gen said he gave his clones commands, but the clones couldn't think or do anything other than what was commanded.
That still puts Gen at what the mages call third order mages, likely higher. Because if all he said was 'kill Ebony' and the clone could actually fight, attack, defend and evade then Gen was a very impressive mage. It gave a set amount of conjured ice mana enough artificial intelligence to fight as well as any other creature.
As for how the clones coming for him will get stronger and stronger, they probably will because Ebony hasn't felt pushed yet. He hasn't started burning up and mutating or converting his skills. He also needed to make his ice mana colder to be able to freeze ice itself. Nonsensical.
Ful demonstrated once. His or her ice wasn't just immensely cold. It had properties of fire too. It spreads really easily.
Ebony drew more and more heated paper as he failed just as many times while he prepared himself to start changing his tactics. He would have to start combusting ice mana more freely. Perhaps he could directly conjure frost fires.
He leisurely packed up his things and reformed his seat and table into Ice Swords as a towering bear made of ice was dashing on all fours and knocking trees down without slowing down. He might not have sight but the lumbering bear was so noisy. Ebony only assumed it was a bear from its shape that his perception of ice told him once he got close enough.
'It isn't just turtles he can make?' Gen could probably make an army with his skills. He didn't even need to actively control them.
The 2 floating Ice Swords sprung alive and shot toward the bear. The bear clearly saw it coming and was more than fast enough to react. It swiped its sharp claws at the incoming projectiles. Ebony covered the distance with 2 Treading Strides and combusted his swords at the moment of contact. Letting the bursting flames move naturally instead of directly manipulating them first.
He wasn't even very familiar with its natural state and properties, how can he change it without fully knowing what it can do?
Cladding himself with ice mana before completely bursting off and meeting the 6 to 7m tall bear in battle. His greatsword, Icicle tried to absorb his ice mana but it didn't absorb ice mana very fast. His ice mana also fragmented as it combust the instant he clad Icicle with it so there was still a thin layer of dark blue flames over Icicle.
Ebony tried to drive his blade deeper. The bear-shaped one wasn't as thick or tough as the Gen shaped one for some reason. Kicking an incoming paw aside, a spinning slash and a stab flowed like water. Although the only reason his body decided to do that was that the bear was slightly more stiff with its movements. Completely stabbing the bear through its chest, Ebony forced even more mana in as Icicle exploded in flames, trying to freeze the bear.
Clearly unsuccessful as the moving ice statue ignored the extra layer of armour it was slowly gaining.
He quickly gave a pushing kick to both create distance and pluck Icicle out.
As long as he uses considerably compressed mana to conjure ice mana to combust, his flames will stay lit for some time. They don't spread much, staying wherever they touch or land.
He continued testing and attempted to burn the whole bear and observe its effects until it shrunk and broke into bits of crushed ice.