"How is she?" Ebony asked the Life Queen.
"Not looking good." She didn't look like she was casting any healing magic. Muse remained unconscious.
"In what way? What happened?"
"She probably tried to remove the thing stuck on your soul but didn't expect a backlash."
"Can't you heal her?"
"She's my leading instructor on soul injuries. And, I am healing her as we speak." Yvette pushed him out of the room and they went to receive Navin who came back on time for dinner. Muse was going to be in that state for a few months at least. Quite concerning.
"Is she going to be alright?" Ebony was actually worried about the weird girl who was probably older than he imagined. It was obviously not his fault but she did do that with good intentions.
"She's probably having snacks in her own dreams right now. Don't worry, her soul is stronger than all of ours combined." Yvette said lightheartedly.
He nodded, glad that there was a powerful healer present.
The dinner table had a few cold dishes, he was familiar with them as he ate Roya's cooking. Ning Xin actually didn't even want dinner and it wasn't because she didn't want to eat at the table. He hasn't seen her yet but she was apparently very full and still busy drinking blood. Hopefully, her evolved mask can really purify the essence completely.
"Hahaha! You knocked into someone and just followed them into their prison." Koawe laughed.
"Is it normal to have an underground prison under one's house?" He had to ask.
"...We tried to centralise a prison but more than 95% of the nobles violently disagreed. They do not want the royal power to consolidate if we are the sole executors for Natural Potential. Solutions like rotations and contribution-based executions were also strongly rejected due to 'unfairness' if there was a big difference in the criminals' level. The argument that other city or town lords are still in charge of their own executions is a problem we haven't quite worked out yet." Navin was slightly ashamed.
'I thought no one would die…maybe they have to apply to Yvette to stop her healing or do executions have to be outside of Tidal. Ah, that's why the stench of blood is so strong down there, it's the perfect place for torture. They wouldn't die after all.' Ebony attempted to use logic.
"Can executions even occur in Tidal?" He might as well ask directly.
"They happen in the closest dungeon to the noble." Yvette almost had a sour look on her face. It was obvious even to him that she didn't like the topic.
"Work is being done. Sadly, that particular Count has his bases covered. He insists on the crimes those he caught have committed and we are not in a position to trust a 'criminal's' words over a noble. The good thing is the bad impression the locals have for him but the bad thing is that few dares to give us evidence on him." The king and queen weren't as almighty as the stories say but that was no surprise.
'Basically, he's strong and people are afraid. Might makes right huh…'
"Are those the Imperial army's knights?" He noted the difference in their armour. Having a personal knight squad was different from having an entire army and was allowed.
"All 'Knight' Classes receive the minimum training from the Imperial Army. The individual is usually sponsored by a noble family. The others are volunteers that work under the Empire's flag and the true Imperial Army."
Ebony heard that there was competition for the training as a true knight of the Imperial Army due to their tier 3 Conditioning skill that increased Strength, Endurance, Agility and Vitality. Together with weapon and armour mastery skills, a movement skill, body enhancement magic and perception training. The minimum requirement to graduate their knight training had a full set of tier 2 skills at level 250 before their Class hit 220. Those who don't graduate are still 'knight class' but have a 'warrior' position in the army. Most 'Warrior' Class in the army joined after they got a Class, it might take them another evolution before they could were Identified as 'Knight'.
Navin invited him to join his army. He would completely fail, his level already exceeded a few of his skill levels. Not that he was interested in their skillset.
"The person I bumped into, is he hurt?"
Ebony wondered why they laughed. He remembered the man who bumped into him was only level 152 and was an earth mage. A bump shouldn't really hurt but he was not aware how much mana he reflected.
"The Count's only son. He's pampered but he's still one of my General's son. How did a 'bump' break a wall?" The unnamed Count being a General somewhat explained why people fear him. Maybe. Ebony wasn't sure.
"I might not have been aware of myself when I was walking, I didn't actually see what happened but I'm pretty sure I bumped into him at least."
The conversation didn't develop from there, they must have thought he was trying to keep his skills a secret but it wasn't the case. Koawe diverted the conversation to his return to Arcta and he agreed to follow. Navin was too busy but he would make a stop to strengthen their barriers in a few weeks.
Yvette just looked at him silently throughout the meal. Just being near her was a pleasant feeling, she might be trying to heal him or it might just be her aura.
The royal couple made a formal apology to him for his bad experience in Tidal but he didn't really care for it. He thought it was a good wake up call. It wasn't the first but he hoped he doesn't push it away with Everlasting Tranquillity as he usually does.
❅❅❅
"Ow." Ebony rubbed his head that got 'bonked' on by Icicle first thing in the morning.
"One day. Just one day and you almost got yourself kidnapped again." Ning Xin found out from Yvette.
"I wasn't kidnapped."
"Imprisoned? I don't care which one! That's not important here." Ning Xin tried her best to ignore the deeper and hoarser tone of voice that she noticed he had right after he woke up.
"I got you takeaway…"
He took Icicle back before a second whack.
"You're not supposed to follow strangers back home." She was almost embarrassed by her own words but the reality was that he showed her that he had no common sense.
He wasn't about to argue that she would easily be baited to a stranger's house if good food was promised.
"I fell into a trance."
"I don't want to hear your excuses."
"Go out on a walk with me."
"..."
Ning Xin needed to digest and her scoldings weren't going anywhere. Koawe was going to be busy with Navin for some time and they weren't in a rush. She brought him to a restaurant that served something like pancakes with berries and tomatoes for breakfast.
There was a huge memory light store as well. He saw that people actually sold skills here, spells to a lesser extent. There were screens all over the walls inside the store that was the size of a shopping mall. They displayed the skills they have in stock that you have to get an employee to bring the memory light for you. There was no guarantee the 'video' recorded was enough to teach you but some of the popular ones have obvious results and even reviews from people who bought them.
The individual stores inside the mall had their own themes, there were too few spells being showcased. Those showcased were also simple water ball, or blast types spells which any water mage could make themselves. The only difference might be the insights and tips on how to make it more powerful, more mana efficient or even some practical usage when out in the field. Few claimed to be able to refine the skill if you followed their training methods for a certain period of time at the correct intensity. They weren't completely useless and he could see them being useful for those who had no proper tutoring or wanted a new skill.
He found the person called Torrox again and he had an entire line of memory lights sold on him explaining how to take down many different types of monsters effectively. He decided to buy them all except common monster he had already fought.
"He even has dungeon-clearing guides?" Ebony reached the section on dungeons.
Torrox had more than 30 complete dungeon guides where the memory lights supposedly record his entire run through the dungeons with his experience and what dangers to note or even where rare materials tend to form. Although they were only Common and a few Uncommon ranked dungeons it was the highlight of the whole store. It must be a massive help for beginners.
They didn't get any of them since they already cleared a few of those dungeons but Ebony was a little curious about the level 300 Master. There were memory lights of Grandmasters that were placed beside or under his spotlight and didn't even get much attention. In Tidal alone, there were 8 or 9 dungeons. 5 of these were Rare dungeons while the Uncommon ones were heavily controlled so only lower-level people could enter without overcrowding.
The 2 Epic dungeons were extremely heavily guarded but according to the Quest Hall's assessment, they have a low risk of having a dungeon break since they have a steady flow of people entering to cull the dungeons' excess essence.
What the two of them bought the most of was entertainment. Movies. He just grabbed a copy of all production from the past few decades.
They continued their walk till they came upon a huge public square that was having some kind event. It was a game where one had to run past blunted arrows, wind, water, earth and even fire spells with a ball above their head without it popping. A race with battle royale like rules. They had to run to the end of the track to pick one of the prizes they placed while other participants could join in on popping the ball above each other's head. They just had to be the first to touch the prize. The colour of the ball above one's head was picked based on the prize they wanted so anyone with the same colour was going after the same prize.
No magic of any type was allowed and there was a runic circle he recognised to sense mana and act as an alarm around the game area. The mages around should easily sense when mana was being used anyway.
'Looks fun.' Ebony honestly thought it seemed fun.
None of the prizes were attractive to him but he noticed the life sized chubby white tiger soft toy that Ning Xin had her eyes on. She did appear to want to pet stray cats that walked past them but animals usually ran away from them so she never had much of a chance. Hopefully, she wasn't looking at them with a gaze of hunger.
"I'll play." Ebony thought he might as well just get it. Without body enhancement of any type and the considerable lack of physical stats when compared to his level he might have a tough time in the level 200 to 250 range of participants. He didn't expect so many people to be gunning for the same prize with the white balls above their head when they were waiting for the event to continue gathering participants. All of them were men. There was a suspicious amount of women standing outside the race track surrounded by archers and mages of similar levels.
Even with how dull he was, all the men present knew they had the same objective.
The Warriors had a very clear advantage but he saw multiple mages banding together and before he knew it, he was alone. Well, Ning Xin was beside him with a black coloured ball tied to her head.
'Did I misunderstand…' Ebony looked at the corresponding prize for the black ball, a green box. The mystery prize that most people went for.
He couldn't band with the mages since he was identified as a swordsman but he might have lower or equal physical stat compared with the mages. Then again, there was no point in banding together other than using each other to dissuade others from popping their balls. Since no weapon, projectile or magic could be used one could only go close and personal to pop the ball with their hands but charging into a group is a risk since the other could pop the attacker's ball as well.
Ebony didn't want to join the drama when the mages reached the prize and they had to pop each other's ball.
Ning Xin wasn't the only masked participant so she didn't catch much attention. Her overflowing Vitality was quite attention-grabbing but no one here was surprised or even bothered by it.
In about 15 minutes, the game was about to start.
A fire mage started the event with a bang.
He wasn't surprised to see many people bursting with movement skills and Ning Xin was the most eager and the first to reach the halfway mark almost instantly. Together with another person not too far from her.
She was fast enough to come to a complete stop before smashing into an earthen wall that appeared but not the second guy. He smashed so hard into the wall the shock through his body popped the ball above him. The broken wall was Ning Xin's chance to carry on but most archers and mages began aiming at her and she had no choice but to take care not to break the ball.
The others were beginning to catch up. Some people immediately attacked each other near the start line but most managed to start the game without losing at the start line. The mage group didn't even require the warriors to attack as they had trouble dodging the flattened arrowheads. They could dodge spells well though, most likely sensing the mass of mana going after them or even aiming at them.
The attacking mages were sneaky, using ball-type projectiles that break and shatter into hundreds of pieces when the warriors try to knock the spells with their fists. The shards or even splatter of water popped the unsuspecting warriors' prize balls.
Ebony weaved through projectiles and attacks from the participant who wore the same coloured ball on their head with his disappearing act. The halfway mark had three times as many obstacles and projectiles and those that rushed ahead were always sniped down quickly.
He joined the 4 people who were trying their best to protect the prize as they covered the distance step by step. Ning Xin had the thickest volley of attacks on her.
The water and earth projectiles were easy to dodge while there were few fire attacks. Wind was the hardest to guard against. Ning Xin could sense them, he could with his vibration sense, someone in their area was a wind mage and the other two warriors were dodging through sheer speed and instinct maybe.
The wind mage slipped onto the water and earth that mixed into mud on the ground and had the ball above his head popped by a perfectly timed and aimed earth shard.
More and more people reached the halfway mark which slackened the volley of attacks at them. Ebony would have been the first due to the elusiveness of his footwork but the other two warriors just had to be aiming for the same prize as him and were working together to slow him down.
The influx of participants reaching the halfway point gave him the chance to break free from the two guys. Although he was obviously slower in terms of pure speed, it didn't really matter when everyone was basically jogging at a normal human's pace due to the unrealistic volley of attacks trying to disqualify them.
The whole group of about 70 people remaining pushed towards the 3-quarter mark where the path was narrowed causing them to push each other more. The number quickly diminished to about 15 none of which were pure mages.
Ebony attempted to stay in the midst of the group with different coloured balls so that he wasn't targeted which worked pretty well but the numbers dwindled too much for it to be effective.
He broke out of the remaining group for the last spurt. Rejoining the two other competitors for the chubby white tiger that was still in the game. Ning Xin was still first and her competitors for the black prize were lagging behind.
He didn't understand why his two competitors were ganging on him when they were more of a threat to each other.
Ebony managed to deftly kick away an arrow towards one of them. The man was caught off guard by the arrow from a different direction but still managed to defend his ball by using his hand to catch it. Ebony was hoping to make him dodge since he would get hit by other spells if he dodged but tough luck, the man was skilled.
He used the arrow redirection on both of them but the arrows coming for him stopped completely. The archers noticed what he was doing and didn't support him.
'It's hard to suppress the reflection of vibration.' Ebony had to make sure he didn't accidentally reflect the physical vibration touching him with mana so that he wasn't disqualified.
They were near the end but all three of them were still in the game. Ning Xin was already standing by the green box with her hand on it. The other participants who were gunning for that prize were disappointed since they could see that they already lost.
Ebony couldn't directly exchange blows with them, his punches or kicks were dozens of times slower and weaker than theirs. He got hit a lot but no punch or kick reached the ball on his head. Even without any body-enhancement his body could take their attacks without injury.
He changed his focus to making them slip on their feet so that the projectiles hit them. With positioning, he put both of them into the bulk of the attacks and splashed mud on the floor around. Finally, one of them slipped and the other took the chance to step on the man's back.
Ebony didn't bother going on the offence. He took the chance to reach the white tiger. The man who went to step on the falling warrior yelled in frustration when he remembered the real objective. He had an ugly showing where he pushed everyone who came near him even when they weren't going for the same prize.
Ebony carried the smooth furred chubby plushy into Ning Xin's arms.
"For you."
She showed him the mystery prize, it was a tea set made of clear green jade.
"Let's go back." She hugged the white tiger before stuffing it away.