Ebony's mana consumption was astronomical if he fought at his current full power.
He wouldn't even have enough mana to last 3 minutes. Probably way less than 3 minutes actually.
He rarely ever dilutes the mana that was naturally compressed and left in his Reinforced Mana Chassis. More like never.
To him, his maximum mana was still 5300 points just that it was already highly compressed and much stronger.
"Ebony." Ful's voice which he hasn't heard for a long time sounded in his head.
"..." Ebony just drew Icicle out. The runes that looked a little similar to electrical circuit lines on Icicle's surface were a little brighter now, luminescent between dark blue and purple. Oddly, it was also noticeably heavier than it used to be but not by much.
"Forget it, one drop of my sap can only last so long. We'll talk after." Ful's senses could go really far or perhaps his spirit is actually here, in front of Ebony.
Ebony's entire body, coat, skin, hair and greatsword lit as cobalt blue flames covered his entire body as compared to the previous indigoish-navy blue.
He burst off far faster than before but still keeping his explosiveness down, the icy ground only cracked. Treading Stride hardly levelled in the time he had been undergoing this training.
The sound of grating and sawing echoed as Icicle was trying to saw through the thick twig harder than diamonds.
Sonic Overlay was hard at work with little results to show. Chaotic Repulsive Membrane pushing apart parts that already got sawed off.
Ebony had aimed for in between the v-shape twig with leaves on both sides and the ice turtle didn't attempt to dodge.
Magnified Gravity field condensed to the small area surrounding them. It didn't do much either.
The densest Battle Song he could bring up was supplying him with as much mana regeneration as it could.
The moment Icicle came in contact with the twig on the giant ice turtle, his flames burst out as Chaotic Repulsive Membrane actively helped to spread the flames that he let escape. Devouring the entire beast instantly.
His flames that came anywhere close to the burning leaves were extinguished before they even touched.
This challenge was clearly not about how well Ebony fought since that has been established too many times to count. Still, using all his other magic at the same time was already a habit that he felt was good to have.
He shouldn't go easy on any hostile, Identifying levels just doesn't tell him shit about one's strength.
The current Ebony could beat a thousand Ebonys before this training started without injuries. Maybe not all at the same time due to his previous durability and unending stamina but he could easily take his old self by the hundreds.
The main issue should be that he was no longer as sustainable in terms of mana due to the massive increase that frostblaze consumes. That was an exchange he was willing to make for the moment. His regeneration would skyrocket soon enough, this explosive power was what he needed now.
Ebony mentally flexed, directing every remaining drop of mana into Icicle.
His flames combat Ful's small white flame.
Unlike when his flames came into contact with normal fire like Scarlet's where it was like 2 gases meeting each other and mixing together. Ebony's flame was forcefully pushed away and they were fighting for territory as both flames pushed and pulled.
Ebony had the upper hand due to the constant input of mana he was dishing out but the white flame could override his like a larger hand was pushing his hand down. Both were enveloped in each other's flames and also used their own flames to protect themselves.
'Ting' 'Generic Skill Sheer Cold Resistance evolved into Immense Cold Resistance.'
The whole ice turtle was already frozen in another layer of ice, Ebony's flames slowly sticking onto the twig for good. It felt like a long time before the white flame flickered out but less than a minute had passed.
The beast was frozen for good, he gave it a kick that shattered the large block.
With that, the snow ring cloud dispersed. There was no earth, no rocks, no trees.
The floor was ice, the trees were made of ice too. Hardly a difference in colour between land and sky. It wasn't hard to find the maple forest not far from him. There was a blizzard so close to him yet not reaching him.
Funny spell. Was this called hiding in plain sight?
The ice beast he destroyed slowly reformed as it nudged him. He climbed onto its back and they made their way in without the blizzard harming them.
Brought down to the underground dome again. It had been so long, he just wasn't sure how long.
Gen was hiding inside his igloo. He must be as exhausted as, if not more exhausted than Ebony.
He understood that Gen had trouble supporting Ful already, with that additional snow cloud spell and constant creation of challengers for Ebony, his mana and mental consumption must have risen a lot.
Of course, the reason why they went deeper into Hoarfrost Glade was that ambient ice mana was higher and Ebony believed that most of the creations sent after him were using ambient mana.
"Gen, Ful. Thank you." Once again. It was a simple word of thanks and gratitude.
Ebony has got to say he underestimated the task of pulling Excalibur out greatly. The sheer power Gen displayed was enough to show Ebony how far he was from being able to help them.
Ful's leaves rustled loudly in response.
"As expected of my descendant. You show much more potential than any others before you. You are ready, just get whatever natural potential you can, reach your limits again and quickly evolve." Ful had a feminine voice, she sounded proud.
'Were there any before me? Oh, he or she meant those that tried to get a physique.'
"Yes. I will be back. Stronger." Ebony replied. He was not very proud but he was confident.
"Come back when you reach 300. We need your help." Ful asked.
"With?" Ebony remembered they said the ice mage with the other Physique, Ice Crystal Physique failed to pull the sword out at that level range.
"Meditative. It is easy to tell you have very high mana regeneration. I need you to supply me with mana while Gen evolves. He's been delaying for far too long. With his evolution, I would no longer be in a state where I'm slowly dying. Even with the leaking of my essence. With his persistence and you showing up, I… feel that perhaps, I should stay and care for his and I guess my descendant too. That selfish jerk…leaving me like that."
"...Gen's over 12,000 years old, right? If you're so invincible in Hoarfrost Glade what happened to his parents and grandparents?" Ebony changed the subject before Ful's mood dropped any further. Listen to him, no, her talk was just painful. Especially with Ebony's current feelings and realisation of his loneliness.
He had been curious about what happened to the older turtles.
Their lifespan was obviously very long if Gen was a hatchling when they came here and was still alive.
The others had to be stronger and with each evolution, their lifespan would increase quite a bit. The storytelling portrayed them to be invincible and untouchable here so Ebony doubted they died in battle.
"They died of old age. We were the strongest in the past no doubt. Gen's grandmother was already pretty old when we arrived. His parents were much younger, not even past level 100.
More than 12,000 years. This world's growth is very fast, but it wasn't enough.
The strongest monsters here in the past were at most a little over 300. His grandmother's path was cut, growth for her was impossible back then. She passed away decades after Rue.
Those couple thousand years were enough for the world's essence to increase and monsters to be at a higher level but Gen's parents were even weaker than Gen, their path was similarly slowed with the weak monsters in the area. They also died of old age.
But the further generations apart from Rue, the weaker they are. Ton and Sei don't even have Classes now.
Gen himself was born with the ability to get a Class once he was of age. The growth of this world was too fast and all the other descendants of Gen's generation and above slowly died out as their strength was insufficient. Gen's sister and her partner left with Allumi deeper into the forest. We've not heard from them for many years..." Ful explained.
Ebony seemed to have messed up as Ful was clearly dejected as she explained.
So it was some kind of bloodline or Physique that was passed down and since their bloodline was never pure to begin with it only got thinner and thinner. With no appropriate prey, it was hard to get stronger.
By the time there was prey strong enough, the older generation already died out and then the younger ones were too weak in comparison.
Gen was also quickly surpassed by Hoarfrost Glade's monsters as he stagnated while keeping Ful alive.
"No problem." Mana was probably going to be the least of his problems. It would even help Ful and let Gen complete his evolution.
"Just rest. Gen's going to move back to where you found us when he wakes up." Ful said.
Ebony didn't even finish hearing her sentence before taking his bed out to sleep. Falling asleep before his body fully laid down.
❅❅❅
Ebony was certain he was unconscious for days and he only woke up from his growling stomach.
He was severely starved.
The plate of nuts he previously had was actually his only meal in days. He drank water till he felt bloated to curb the hunger for now.
The underground dome was dead silent with all of them in their igloos. He took the chance to give his status a look through.
Name: Ebony Rime
Core Skill: Everlasting Tranquillity Lvl 212
Class: Meditative Swordsman of Frostblaze - Lvl 100
Class Skills:
Treading Stride Lvl 152
Ice Mana Control Lvl 188
Frostblaze Augmentation Lvl 155
Flowing Greatsword Mastery Lvl 151
Frostblaze Cladding Lvl 146
Ice Sword Lvl 146
Ceaseless Onslaught Lvl 147
Layered Ice Carapace Lvl 157
Frost Mist Perception Sphere Lvl 160
Calm Swordsman of Frost Conditioning Lvl 38
Empty Skill Slot
Empty Skill Slot
Empty Skill Slot
Empty Skill Slot
Empty Skill Slot
Sub-Class: Orchestral Gravity Conductor Lvl 100
Sub-Class Skills:
Battle Song Lvl 146
Mana Vibration Lvl 154
Gravity Mana Manipulation Lvl 159
Magnified Gravity Field Lvl 155
Chaotic Repulsive Membrane Lvl 152
Vibrational Gravity Awareness Lvl 159
Sonic Overlay - Lvl 142
Empty Skill Slot
Empty Skill Slot
Empty Skill Slot
Profession: Mana Meister - Lvl 100
Profession Skills:
Mana Moulding Lvl 165
Sheer Mana Compression Lvl 156
Mana Perception Lvl 162
Reinforced Mana Chassis Lvl 147
Empty Skill Slot
Health: 500/500
Stamina: 500/500
Mana: 5300/5300
Unallocated stat points: 0
Strength: 50
Vitality: 50
Constitution: 250 [802]
Endurance: 50
Agility: 250
Intelligence: 376
Wisdom: 530
Perception: 100 [312]
Generic Skills:
Camouflage Lvl 36
Identify Lvl 15
Immense Cold Resistance Lvl 61
Running Lvl 35
Mental Mapping Lvl 25
Kicking Mastery Lvl 51
English Lvl 8
Elcrian Lvl 10
Mental Arithmetic Lvl 22
Dish Washing Lvl 29
Sustained Optimum Condition Lvl 58
Tracking Lvl 14
Game Processing Lvl 27
Heat Resistance Lvl 46
Sheer Divination Resistance Lvl 12
Gardening Lvl 42
Cooking Lvl 24
Integrated Trance Speed Reading Lvl 53
Korun Lvl 9
Inscription Lvl 58
Slumber Survival Instinct Lvl 13
Immense Hunger Resistance Lvl 41
Sheer Exhaustion Resistance Lvl 22
His stats didn't change one bit excluding the Constitution he gets from a 147% compressed mana pool and the little bit of Perception buff from his Core Skill but his overall strength had increased greatly.
Treading Step that evolved into Treading Stride didn't level much after the teachings from the Transient Roaming Kappa. Limits be damned.
Ice Mana Control had massive gains in this period of time with Gen and Ful. There was hope of getting it to 200 with a little more natural potential.
Icebody Enhancement mutated and evolved into Frostblaze Augmentation.
A little odd that he was given the choice again whether he wanted to override Icebody Enhancement with the evolved skill.
He couldn't run both at the same time due to the nature of the skills so he didn't see a reason to keep Icebody Enhancement. Other than the crazy mana consumption.
Frostblaze Augmentation - Combusting mana in your mana chassis that had been directly conjured into Ice mana increases your Constitution by (125% + 2.5%) of Intelligence, Strength and Endurance by (100% + 2.5%) of Intelligence. Agility is increased by (20% + 2.5%) of Intelligence. Damage from heat based attacks are increased by 20%.
Consumes 4500 MP/Min.
Classification: Ice Magic - Body Enhancement Magic
He didn't have to circulate the ice mana anymore. Just directly conjuring or converting the mana in mana chassis which was all over his body into ice mana.
Unlike the reinforcement from circulating ice mana, every single cell of his was directly drawing power from within themselves through the mana chassis.
As for why doing so strengthens his body, his closest guess was that elemental body enhancement was not so different from imbuing one's body with one's mana. Borrowing the inherent properties of mana or in this case ice mana, to strengthen one's body.
The high base percentage buff was likely due to the unreasonable high mana cost that sustaining a constantly drying up pool of ice mana requires.
Ebony thought it was worth it.
The 4500 mana per minute was actually just 1125 mana per minute for him. Fortifications aren't taken into account when the skill description pops up for reasons that probably no one could answer.
From what he understood, the skill could be further refined like how he refined his Chaotic Repulsive Membrane so many times. He just currently didn't know how or didn't have any ideas to make it better.
Gen did mention that his Layered Ice Carapace was a really good tier 1 skill or a really bad tier 2 one.
Throughout the whole training montage he had, he had no idea how to further improve the shield.
Ebony was going to see if he could check out their shell's internal make up if possible.
Of course, the best part of the new skill, Frostblaze Augmentation was that it actually buffs his Agility.
His muscles, bones, tendons and more would no longer stiffen up which does wonders for him.
With a little Ice Mana Control at work, the flames on his body could act as a booster too, it was a little unrealistic with his output for now. Though the base 20% was low compared to the other physical enhancement it was nothing to complain about. In the end, all these buffs were dependent on his Intelligence stat.
The damage increase from heat was also reduced from 30% to 20%.
Ebony's skin and muscles would no longer turn transparent or take an icy look.
He would just have flames all over him and be put under intense chill through his body, bones and all. It actually does damage to himself until his recent evolution of cold resistance.
The damage he would take wasn't high and damage from cold was healed from much faster than actual physical injuries possibly due to the nature of his physique but it was concerning anyway.
It didn't matter previously since with 5300 mana he could only cast it for about 4 minutes, a little longer with his regeneration accounted for. He still had all his other magic and spells that require mana too though.
One thing to note was that he was actually weaker with Frostblaze Augmentation than with a fully compressed Icebody Enhancement.
When his mana pool filled up enough to overflow and his mana was compressed till the limit, then Frostblaze Augmentation would be far stronger.
The problem was his tiny mana pool that doesn't allow him to hold mana that's compressed anymore than 147% currently.
Unlike Icebody Enhancement where he had time to compress and then circulate, Frostblaze Augmentation directly used the compressed mana in his mana chassis.
So his sustainability of power has dropped drastically but his maximum output is higher. He didn't think it was a big issue as it was only temporary.
Once he evolved, this problem would be solved and he would get the best of both worlds in terms of sustainability and power output.
He was truly not very talented with the sword if after 5 times his natural potential was increased and he only barely reached level 151 for Flowing Greatsword Mastery.
He could easily see why there were so many weak Master Warriors and all the other Classes. He bet most would evolve with 125 and get a 50% Fortification.
If not then, it was no wonder Master Classers for humans tend to look middle aged already. They must have spent decades pushing their limits.
Elves really have a cheat here just by having a longer lifespan. No wonder only older Elves were considered strong.
In that sense, Elves as a race weren't all that different from others. They just had the time to grow stronger before they were forced to make a decision whether to evolve or not because their lifespan was running out. Ebony clearly doesn't have his head on right when he thought that was the reason.
Their power, as with noble lineages, was in their skill refinements, knowledge and higher base natural mana density.
Frost Injection also mutated and evolved.
Frozeblaze Cladding - Clad objects in freezing flames giving it its elemental property. Deals 150% + 2.5% of Intelligence when the target comes into contact with flames.
Consumes MP
Classification: Ice Magic
The mana cost was roughly 8 or more times that of Frost Injection if he used it for the same period of time and tried to freeze an object of the same size.
It was really hard to gauge how much more mana it consumed since the power output was different. All these high base percentages were likely due to the high consumption of mana.
Tier 2 or not, the base percentage buff was not usually as high as 150% or so he had learned.
Ebony was training more on his control over flames to make it colder and dig deeper and also Frostblaze Augmentation.
He believes he should be able to tip Frostblaze Cladding level over to 150 if he spends more time and mana on training the skill. Unlike skills like Treading Stride which he could somehow feel that it really reached its limits.
It was a weird feeling, apparently, the feeling gets more obvious after evolving. A subconscious knowledge of knowing when one's skill reached its limits.
He was not very good with Ice Sword even after refining it in his time with Sister Jing. It wasn't an ultra useful skill in battle anyway.
Ebony still aimed to at least get all his Class, Sub-Class and Profession skills to level 150. With his new Conditioning skill as an exception.
His other Class Skills Ceaseless Onslaught, Layered Ice Carapace and Frost Mist Perception Sphere didn't look like they have hope of reaching level 200.
His previous Generic Physical and Magical Conditioning also merged into his Class Skill, Calm Swordsman of Frost Conditioning. It felt like a stupid name.
Calm Swordsman of Frost Conditioning (Passive) - Developing your body and mind through combat as a Calm Swordsman of Frost increasing Constitution, Endurance, Agility, Intelligence and Wisdom by 0.01% per level.
The magical part changed from increasing multicast and casting speed to Intelligence and Wisdom, he had no complaints.
The increase was too minuscule to really affect him anyway.
Ebony only learnt from Scarlet that he should find out how to make it a Class Skill. He could understand the logic that it would be an asset in the long run.
Generic Skills were very limited compared to Class Skills.
For his Sub-Class, Ebony had always been better with gravity magic than sound magic.
He was much better at utilising all his Sub-Class skills in combat.
Especially Magnified Gravity Field and Sonic Overlay, he felt like he could control, strengthen, weaken and even direct them very smoothly. Like compressing down increased gravity to a small area or even focusing on a single limb or part of his target to make them off balance even if it was only by a little.
Magnified Gravity Field should change and improve soon, he was no longer just using the natural gravitation wave's pulling strength to slow his target. His Intelligence was likely finally working in attempts to strengthen the pull strength.
Sonic Overlay wasn't just increasing the frequency of vibration anymore. He used Mana Vibration, manipulation in a sense to move them in a sawing motion. Sort of organising the movement of vibration to move in one direction as an increased cutting edge.
Ebony only used Battle Song for relaxing jazz, piano pieces or other relaxing meditation music. There was nothing he hadn't heard that he couldn't replicate with compressed mana just working on himself, seeping out and in of his body.
Vibrational Gravity Awareness (Passive) - Perceive the movement of mana and gravitational waves in your surroundings. Has the effect of 80% + 2.5% Perception and 130% of Mana Perception.
It had refined once to 20% base Perception and 110% Mana Perception before another round of refinement to reach 30% and 120%. Finally, it recently evolved to Vibrational Gravity Awareness. Within his mental range, he had way better senses than just sight or hearing.
Mana Moulding was pushed to that level from his time with Sister Jing and didn't budge much.
Ebony tried and tried but he could not compress mana any further and Sheer Mana Compression had been stagnant as well.
As for Mana Perception, he felt like all the perception training for all 3 of his perception skills were helping out a lot. He also thought he was somewhat talented in this area just not as ridiculous as his Core skill meditation.
Reinforced Mana Chassis was easily his favourite Profession skill.
The good thing was that he felt that he could still push the skill for levels. And not few.
He didn't have much chance to train the skill since he constantly used his mana up before they had the chance to fully compress to the limit. So he had no chance to use the mana bloating method to strengthen his mana chassis.
Another problem was the originally slow levelling speed for the skill but that's not a very big issue. Even so, he doubted he would get the skill to 200. It didn't even feel possible.
Profession couldn't withstand a 250% Fortification anyway.
Camouflage got to its current level from his time of hiding to get here.
Identify was already known to be hard to level. Ebony wasn't even very good with it. Though there were many other things he could Identify now.
Ebony always thought back to the first time he Identified the Frostblaze Amur Maple Trees.
Why could he glance so much information about it?
He didn't know anything about it beforehand. Another thing was that somehow he felt like Ful's story was something he heard before. But then, he read a lot in his pastime and fiction like that was not rare.
It was natural his Cold Resistance, Mental Mapping and Sustained Optimum Conditioning levelled so much. Game Processing as well but there weren't always bodies of frozen dead monsters for him to eat.
It was kinda weird Inscription was the one levelling instead of Mana Moulding. Ebony 'moulded' runes on after all.
Slumber Survival Instinct - The subconscious ability of fight or flight is deeply ingrained into every fibre of your body. Your body is 30% + 2.5% better at sensing hostility and danger levels and reacting accordingly for self-preservation without any input from your mind.
Ebony was not sure how exactly this skill came about.
The moment he found out about this skill was when he was busy eating. He had 'suddenly' realised that he was eating. Then he realised he had this skill.
He was guessing he was fighting whilst asleep. Since he never needed much mental input unless he was casting magic, perhaps he subconsciously fought or ran when he was asleep instead of waking up to fight since he was just too tired.
It was a damn good skill to have that he was afraid of having.
He didn't want to subconsciously depend on the skill and feel at ease sleeping anywhere. That was dangerous. Ebony made it a note not to feel at ease during his training, lest it bites him in the ass. He wouldn't want to wake up missing an arm or leg. Or worse, both.
Hunger Resistance was what kept him going for so long with no food supplies left.
Immense Hunger Resistance(Passive) - Extended periods of pushing your body through very heavy exertion in a state of hunger allowed your body to develop a very strong resistance to hunger. 5.0% more resistant to stamina regeneration exhaustion when the body is deprived of sustenance.
It both reduces the feeling of the pangs of hunger and also makes it such that the stamina regeneration reduction he was under was much lower when he no longer had any energy or food in him.
Ebony was already a lot skinnier now. He was heavier though. Mana had mass, with it being compressed in his Reinforced Mana Chassis he would be heavier so his weight tends to be in a wide range.
Sheer Exhaustion Resistance - Extended periods of sheer exhaustion allowed your body to develop a strong resistance to exhaustion and its effects. 2.5% more resistant to exhaustion per level.
Ebony didn't expect he would be able to gain this. Needless to say, it was a fantastic resistance.
Similar to Hunger Resistance but more useful in general. The exhaustion debuff when active after stamina hits 0 is reduced accordingly. The best part was that it works for both physical and mental exhaustion.
All in all, he was satisfied with his current skills.
Seeing Gen still resting, Ebony meditated to forget his hunger and actively squeezed his overflowing mana into his mana chassis to reinforce it and make it more accustomed to higher compression of mana. Together with all his other magic training routines all at the same time. Including mental range expansion, number of casts, mana compression and all his Perception skills.
It was so hard to meditate and keep his mind calm.
'Troublesome indeed. I'm affected when she's around. I'm affected when she's not around. Dad was right. Should've run while I still could.'
Ebony thought as Everlasting Tranquillity was broken, fixed, broken.
It was good training for him but this time, he didn't want to train his mental state like that.
His heart couldn't calm down. He had thought his father had been exaggerating but he clearly wasn't. Ebony severely underestimated the symptoms of lovesickness.