He was given a brief summary of the situation.
The Empire and everyone present, are unaware of how apparently millions of Trolls arrived on Elva. Something that no one was able to comprehend or come up with a reason. Not even the few divination mages that they have.
From the sea, an all out attack was launched on every Tide from the first to the fifth. Fifth was the closest to their current position and was almost run over before the Archduke of Dwarves got there. The first was hit the hardest but Navin was there.
The fighting at the border cities was normal despite the unprecedented scale, it was the fact that a handful of towns were already destroyed around the same time the border city started fighting. All the cities were safe due to their size and population. As for why population mattered it was because Navin's barriers were also powered by everyone's overflowing mana.
There was no mention of any curse so Ning Xin was guessing that it was probably some kind of top secret to the public. As long as the barriers held, the city had enough defensive capabilities to survive, fight back and maybe obliterate the Trolls.
The biggest question on the table right now was where on Elva did enough Trolls come from to destroy towns at the same time that thousands of colossal ships and tens of thousands of some kind of sea creature that could carry a dozen Trolls across the sea popped up. They should've been able to see such a massive army coming long before they got so close but no, they didn't. They barely got prepared quick enough to defend themselves.
The Imperial Army delegates here were questioning if the Frost Elves came across the Trolls invading from Hoarfrost Glade but even they saw that as unlikely. Ning Xin didn't know why all of them were saying that it was unlikely so Ebony was equally confused.
Perhaps they were strays but a small number of 40 Trolls attacked Arcta 4 days ago. They were eaten by Milly and she let her presence be known after that and no further attack was made.
'Milly is Ancient rank, is there anyone that can fight her?' Ebony was going to have to ask someone who knew more about Trolls and their general strength. He would assume the Trolls were stronger for now. Although Ning Xin beat the Troll they encountered with relative ease it was true that the Troll exceeded the average lvl 270 warrior on Elva by more than just a little.
The Aqua Sword Grandmaster deeply apologised to the Frost Elves present that the Imperial Army was unable to support the village with any soldiers because it was unlikely they would be targeted. The villagers didn't mind, but Ning Xin told him that they didn't seem to know that Milly was a strong beast. Navin knew so perhaps he was assured that Arcta would be safe. The Imperial Army was already spread too thin and many were relocating to the Tides.
The 3 delegates took their leave as they needed to hurry to the Tides, they made a stop here as they were ordered to collect something. The fox lady was holding the simple wooden box, Ebony wasn't able to peek through the box with his senses.
"We encountered a lone Troll in Bubble Hill, very close to the village." He didn't know if it was crucial but it was better to inform them.
"Probably a stray that's split off to hunt for food. It happens quite often for them. It is almost traditional for them that the weakest members of a squad don't get enough food and have to hunt for themselves and use the chance to build confidence and individual skill." Korben the village guardian answered.
It seemed like the village chief's party were also unaware about Trolls' traits so everyone stayed when Korben and Koawe explained what they knew about Trolls. Certainly not a lot but both of them apparently fought alongside the Imperials during the previous invasion 80 to 90 years ago.
It was outdated knowledge but it shouldn't differ by too much. Less than a century would at best allow the Trolls to regain their numbers, if they were fast perhaps the overall strength of their army grew a little. They haven't gotten any news from the battle at the tides since callstones weren't working when there's a bombardment of essence everywhere. That might have been the reason their calls weren't connecting well.
It turned dark pretty quickly as they got lectured for a long time.
The village chief's party along with a few other higher-level Frost Elves were on scouting duties immediately so it was only Korben, Koawe and bears. Grandpa Lasil returned to chat with his family about the preparations they needed to make. Willow woke up for a while now and surprisingly started making her way to his legs and clinging onto him the moment she woke up.
"Why is it unlikely that Trolls came from the shores of Hoarfrost Glade?"
"It's more impossible than unlikely. You know we warn…forbid you from going too far up north where the sea lies right?"
"Mmm. I was told I would die immediately but I thought it was because I was still a Journeyman at that time. There was a time I went from Fifth Tide and was near the sea but I didn't sense anything out of place even though I headed straight for the Glades."
Mama bear chuckled. "I would perish in minutes if I stood at the edge of the cliffs facing the sea."
"According to our legends, there's been a type of mana floating above the sea in the whole region for the past thousands of years that erases anything that it touches. There was one void mage in the past that went there but according to him it wasn't void mana. It doesn't touch the surface of the sea but it does reach into the Glades. It has been floating or rather, stuck in place for longer than any living Frost Elf can remember. " Korben stated.
"It's been there before I was born." Milly added.
"Have you heard anything about that?" Ebony asked the woman sitting beside him.
"I forgot, I never heard about this." Ning Xin replied.
"About the Trolls that suddenly appeared on the mainland, couldn't it be space magic or something similar?"
"They barely have magic casters, much less space mages. Even if they did have one or two, it is hard to believe they could bring thousands across such a vast distance. Even if they teleported from the coastline, the Trolls that popped up were all over the continent and not one specific town or city." Koawe explained.
"Flying mounts?" He tried again.
"Will be noticed pretty easily."
"Seers didn't see it coming?" Ning Xin asked.
"Nope." They shook their heads.
"They had a helper." She sounded certain.
"Yes, that is what Navin suspects too. Elcra is getting more and more valuable but we have weak or non-existent connections with any powers outside Elcra. He has been getting attention from outside Elcra. We just don't know who or what. The strong hold over the continent by the Empire is troublesome from some perspective." Koawe had a good source of information.
"Grandma didn't tell me anything…is this the big event?" She clicked her tongue in annoyance.
"You should go home, it's late and the Thoyas are worried." Koawe urged.
""Mmm."" They stood and excused themselves in tandem before looking at each other's synchronised moves in surprise.
They made sure to inform the Lasils that they were leaving as it would've been rude to walk out just like that.
"Home huh." Ning Xin voiced out softly.
"Mmm." He affirmed softly.
❅❅❅
"Huggy!" Kiva dived into Ning Xin's arms, pushing herself off of Halvis. She had some air time and thoroughly shocked her father who needed to be extra careful about his strength as do all of them. Hence, the fragile baby girl leapt through the air.
Speed was her calling but control of her strength wasn't.
Since caring for Kiva, it was the first time that she truly cared about controlling her strength. It was also since she had just evolved at that time.
The flying baby girl was caught between her arms and soft paddings, they finally had some use.
It seemed that Roya caught wind that they arrived at the village and were almost done preparing dinner. She made a decision, she would eat with them instead of hiding and eating alone. Since the Xengs didn't see her as one of them, she shouldn't have to be adamantly tied down by their traditions. Her mother hammered into her head that she should follow the tradition and she did to her best ability but she didn't see the need to hide from Roya and her family.
Ning Xin liked their surprised reactions when she sat at the table with them. They ordered a custom-made chair for Ebony since he was getting heavier and heavier. He said it wasn't necessary since he could easily reduce his own weight but they went ahead and got it made anyway.
For a village that supposedly didn't have many fighters, Ebony respected their abilities a lot. Till this day, he could have his ice magic ripped away from him by them. Halvis couldn't take over control of his conjured ice but with some difficulty, he could stop ice from reaching him.
Their racial affinity to the element was very strong, she wanted to duel with a fighter of their race but there was no one suitable in the village. The guardian was out of her league, after her levelling underground and getting Fervent Intuition her senses have improved a lot. The gathering at the Lasil house had been the perfect opportunity to feel out her new perception for danger.
Korben, she would disgrace herself if she asked for a duel. With Appraise at level 20 and her current level of 247, she could Appraise up to 447 but Korben was above that so she got question marks.
Koawe, the same feeling but stronger. Simply: Get away from him. Just like many people he either had an item to hide from identification or a skill.
She didn't sense danger from anyone in the village chief's party. She wouldn't lose against the chief and his wife but she didn't think she could beat either of them comfortably either. The other 3 seemed like she would need to use quite a bit of strength but definitely beatable. They were all only Masters with the chief and his wife at level 300 while the other 3 were about 270-290.
The Aqua Sword Grandmaster was hard to get a good sense of. He felt strong for an Imperial compared to the many Grandmasters underground but Korben and Koawe overshadowed him by so much it was hard to say.
She didn't put the knight or fox woman in her radar, even her fishing elder from the Lasil family felt far stronger. They felt weaker than the Troll she just fought earlier in the day. It had been a real surprise to her as she never thought the herbal family's leader to be strong, before this, she only saw him as a harmless man. This village was hiding some impressive figures and she might not even know if her generic skill hadn't evolved.
At this table, she was most surprised that Roya and Halvis were definitely not your average tailor or gardener. Although not a danger to her, she can roughly gauge that these two could duke it out with the village chief's 3 younger members for a short while. Very impressive with their level of 218 and 220 and their non-combat main Class.
It made her a little curious as to what Roya and Halvis were teaching their son.
'I wonder if Ebony knew about their strength, probably not.'
She heard that the village has a few older Frost Elves over to care for their child or grandchild that cannot withstand the environment in their other village. If those people were this strong as well, her worries about the village would abate quite a bit. She knew some of them as her fishing buddies but all her Instincts told her previously was that there was no need to worry.
It was not news to her that Elves in general focused on skill level and refinements far more than Class level. It was the right choice for their race. If she had to make a guess based on the fact that Ebony's ice magic could be disrupted, Halvis might have Ice Mana Control at level 400 or Ice Mana Command at a lower level. If he had tier 2 or 3 skills at that level it was no wonder she could sense a tiny bit of danger from them. Of course, it might also be that their affinity with ice was far higher than she imagined but that was unlikely in her mind. Ebony already had an unnaturally high affinity for it. It was unlikely that a race could have such immense affinity with any one element.
There was one thing she noted since she first arrived in this village, she couldn't appraise any adult Frost Elves' Sub-Class. They might have passed down a skill that hides it to everyone of the same race.
Oddly enough, she trusted her Intuition very heavily.
There was a great flaw in the skill and that was mostly letting her sense danger but only to herself. Sense of danger was different from strength. It might mean that a weaker person might feel more dangerous to her compared to a stronger one. Possibly due to a mismatch up of skills or something like that.
As for the emotion part of the skill, it was far from perfect. It worked best on Ebony and then the Thoyas. On strangers, it didn't appear too different from her previous tier skill. Familiarity should be the factor here.
'The Troll invasion is the big thing that grandma said will happen?' Ning Xin was perplexed.
The situation was definitely an event big enough that she would definitely know was considered 'big' but her Intuition wasn't clicking.
She was incredibly bothered by Intuition now.
❅❅❅
"Do babies have 300 stat points in endurance?" Ning Xin looked exhausted as she gently cradled Kiva who just fell asleep.
"Hmm…she's only this hyperactive when you're here." Roya put index finger on her chin from time to time.
"Is..is it my essence?" Ebony saw her gulp as she spoke. She had been very worried about her presence and effect on the Frost Elves.
"Don't worry, it's really nice to see her being active rather than quiet and despondent. She also falls asleep faster this way and she hasn't been having crying spells in the middle of the night recently." Roya had told her how happy she was to see an active baby more than once.
It seemed like Ebony didn't have to worry.
"I'll take a walk outside." He informed the women as he put on his boots at the front porch.
"What is it that you're really planning on doing?" Ning Xin passed Kiva over and chased after him.
"Ask Orren if there's anything we can do."
"Orren is the village chief, right? I'll go with you."
They tend to walk fully garbed in their equipment and even more so today when there was the current situation with the Trolls. Clovis was ploughing not soil or snow but rock-hard ice outside with Halvis supervising him. He was ploughing with a conjured rake. The crunching sound was a big improvement compared to the sound of his conjured tools snapping.
They didn't disturb the young boy and left for Orren's house. Hopefully, he was home.
Unfortunately, he must not have gotten back from the scouting they left to do last night.
So they changed their destination to the Lasil family because Ebony didn't know where Korben stayed and he didn't want to look for Koawe. He was going to meet Milly and Willow instead of any of the Lasils.
He was uninvited so he made sure to leave his greetings instead of going to their open backyard without permission.
"Hello again, are you here to play with my baby?" Milly's voice travelled to his head.
"Mmm. I wanted to talk to you too." Ebony sat on the snow and picked Willow up into an embrace.
"Show me your flames." Milly had remained the same curled up position the entire time.
"...Why?" Ebony knew that people with tier 2 Identify could read his Class but there were few of those and none who asked.
"Well, never mind. I hunted with Gen a long time ago."
"You know Gen?"
"You are related to him, I know. I just wanted a confirmation but that doesn't matter. Is he well?"
"...Not in the best state but he's alive." He didn't think being forced to stay and feed a tree mana to be the best state.
"I see."
"The two of you are similar in age?" He asked curiously.
"I'm not sure."
'Gen is a Grandmaster that's ready for his evolution, far from Milly… Is it because he's trapped underground most of his life. Probably.' Ebony contemplated the vast difference in their levels.
"You never looked for him?"
"I have encountered his forest a few times but he doesn't let me in. Perhaps he forgot about me."
"Surely you can enter." Willow's growth seemed slow, her paws were incredibly soft and no claws like Milly's were growing except the soft white protrusion where the claws were supposed to be at.
"...He doesn't let me through, I would presume he doesn't want to see me."
"I see." Ebony didn't prod too deep.
"You wanted to ask something?"
Willow struggled to push herself off of him. Korben arrived with a large deer that he meant to offer to Milly and Willow. The baby bear wasn't able to eat meat yet but started to eat fruits. The two humans greeted the middle-aged Frost Elf.
"Is there anything we can do for the village?"
"It is dangerous," Korben warned.
"So is remaining passive." Ning Xin countered.
"Indeed, there is in fact work to do." Milly helped guide Willow to eat. Korben argued respectfully but the two humans added that they would fight regardless.
The fire swordswoman was a little rushed from his perspective but he knew it was apparently because of the comment her grandmother left which was to get stronger as fast as possible to reap some benefits. This situation appeared to be what she was referring to.
"We are confined to protect the village and only those youngins are out there, they could use some help." Milly cut Korben off.
It seemed like Milly was aware of all the Trolls present or just the sense of the direction where they are. The village chief's party along with some of the few older fighters they had were all outside the village, dispatched to check and remove the threat if possible. They didn't have enough manpower to cover all the places Milly wanted to check. She, together with Korben and the rest of the few fighters was confined to the village to protect it so they couldn't leave.
There was a worrisome number of them down south which was the direct opposite direction where Tova and the Trolls were supposed to come from. It was pretty far and around Bubble Hills since they don't like the cold. The Trolls are aware of the Frost Elves due to their involvement in the previous wars.
According to them, they were recognised as great threats but there were very few of them. Since a couple of centuries ago, the Trolls appeared to have gained some resistance to cold. A portion of those currently sneaking around was wearing clothes.
That was another point that differed from what they knew of Trolls.
For weapons, Trolls usually fashioned high-quality rock or tree into heavy weapons such as axes, greatswords and clubs. None of them knew how the Trolls enhanced the weapons to a degree that they aren't any less durable than a blacksmith's craft. The best bet was that they were much better at utilising life force since they aren't really able to use mana.
As for armour or clothing, Trolls don't use them. They don't have any of such classes because they hate covering their muscles. But now, they saw enchanted clothing on some of them.
The location of the village was compromised but they appeared certain that the Trolls presence was only to prevent any more Frost Elves from joining the defence at the Tides. They couldn't contact the other village since callstones' link cannot cross many parts of Hoarfrost Glades. Now that they don't dare leave, no one was capable of reaching the other village to ask for support.
This made Ebony guess that the Trolls are either much stronger than he imagined or that Milly was much weaker than her level suggests. As rude as it sounded, he was leaning towards the fact that Milly was weaker.
"Alright, we'll scour Bubble Hills. Call us if anything happens, we'll come as soon as possible."
They were lucky summer just ended and autumn was kicking in but these seniors were a bit uncomfortable at letting the inexperienced village chief and his party from fighting outside a familiar environment where they had overwhelming advantage.
They didn't rush and returned to their home in Arcta.