Ebony's Fable

“Honey, I told you he was not normal.”

“And I told you not to talk about Ebony like that.”

“If he isn’t a half frost elf half human then he’s definitely some other race from another world. He has those weird clothes and pack. He has an unnaturally high cold resistance for a human. He even has more mana than Clovis! You didn’t see how he fought that hoarfrost boar, he is not JUST a highly trained warrior. He puts those deranged Imperial recruits we saw back in the days to shame.”

“...Don’t you think you're going a little too far there? You must be exaggerating. Cold resistance is not too hard to gain and we both know he has a meditation skill. What more all your points just means we have to treat him even better, not shun him away or be rude.

Besides, you yourself know over the past weeks that he really isn’t faking memory loss. How could someone who has the ability to cross worlds not know of such… common sense. Maybe he is some noble or comes from a rich family, another world or not. He really is ignorant about everything, probably losing his memories after coming over.”

“I didn’t mean to do that…I just want you to be more wary. The fact that someone so young has a meditation skill is even weirder. But no, I wasn’t exaggerating in the slightest. He fought without fear, when he noticed the boar coming he immediately moved to face it. There was no hesitation, no pauses when he was against it, a natural. His ever expressionless face was no facade, he took a direct hit from the boar and didn’t even flinch. Other than the blood coughing.”

“HE WHAT!? And you didn’t stop it?! What if he died? I know he has an ice type body enhancement skill but there’s no guarantee he would be able to take a hit from a lvl 10.”

“That’s the thing, I was about to intervene when he looked at me as if to stop me. He saw the attack coming. I’m telling you, he just couldn’t dodge in time but he wanted to take the hit. Or he just didn’t want me to intervene, I am sure of it. He wasn’t just dancing with the boar he was dancing with death. And it was lvl 15.”

“...”

“I’m not telling you this because I want to kick him out before he brings us trouble, I’m just saying you were right and we should treat him better. No harm earning his favour right?

The village chief should be returning from his dungeon clearings these few days right? I was thinking of asking him to let Ebony have one of the weapons in the village warehouse, there should be some that he could use. He did lose that precious blade of his, though I don’t know where he got that from it shouldn’t have been possible for him to succeed the rite so easily if not for that blade.

At the same time we can ask what the village chief thinks of him, whether or not he is a danger to us or the village.”

“You’re finally making some sense. Okay let’s do that. How’s your yield this time?”

“Well, it actually wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be from the summer heat so we do have some leeway.”

“Good. Now explain in detail how he fought to me.”

“...Roya. You’re planning to make him a robe? He’s a warrior though. Never mind. He did say the leather armour we borrowed was restrictive. It was not fitted to his size but If leather armour was considered restrictive to him I doubt he would wear any other armour anyway. Besides, if there’s one thing I like about Ebony is that he has good taste in clothing.”

“Sweet talking me won’t work, you changed your tune about him so quickly.”

“That’s not true, I have always properly treated him as a guest. Even more so after we found that he really was lacking common sense.”

“Fineeee, fine. Just tell me how he fought.”

❅❅❅

It's been 3 days since the stimulation rite and Ebony’s daily routine didn’t change except the fact that his skills were levelling at a visible pace again.

Mental Mapping gained a level when he returned from the rite.

Running and Ice Mana Manipulation gained a level each as well.

Treading Step levelled twice, Humming and Mana Weaving 3 times and Icebody Enhancement and Kicking Mastery levelled 4 times.

Finally, Single-Handed Greatsword Mastery gained a whopping 7 levels. Deep Persistent Meditation surprisingly didn’t level at all.

Also gaining a new skill, Dish Washing and having it level to level 2.

He probably only got it after so long because Roya always stopped him part way through. That or he was talentless at washing dishes but that shouldn’t be, he had been washing dishes for himself for a long time now.

There was also a Cleaning skill which is known to merge with Dish Washing and some other skills like Laundry to become Housekeeping. Which at lvl 25 gives the Housekeeper Profession.

Dish Washing - Ability to clean and remove stains from dishes, utensils and kitchenware increases by 1.0% per level. Slightly increases dishwashing speed and efficiency every level.

When Icebody Enhancement reached level 25 he got the related class pop ups again. Enhancement Mage, Ice Enhancement Mage etc. Many had the same Class name but the class requirements just showed level 25 instead of level 10. He got the non apprentice version of Warrior and Martial Artist when Kicking Mastery reached level 25.

Obviously, with no greatsword he couldn’t train his greatsword skill. He used a full mana pool and then some, to recreate the leafblade, same dimensions and all. His version was much lighter as one would expect but worse of all he couldn’t feel his mastery skill trigger.

It was kinda of an intuitive feeling and as Ebony read, skills came naturally to one and he could feel that the skill was not triggering.

He got Halvis to make him one as well and giving it a couple swings he could feel his Greatsword Mastery in effect again. Asking Halvis only for him to say that Roya would tell him more as she could explain about craft better than him. It's been 3 days since and there was no follow up but Ebony was in no rush, he had skill levels to raise.

There was no numerical value for Natural Potential as far as they know so it is hard to tell how much one has gained from the rite. The skills used more would gain more.

Crafting class can gain Natural Potential by crafting something better than their skill level suggests. The easiest way for them would be to craft using better base materials or ingredients.

Who decided whether the crafted item was better or not? Ebony had no idea. His blade of ice obviously wasn’t considered a greatsword despite looking the same.

Since Ebony could stably convert his mana to ice mana he has been testing making all sorts of stuff with it. Repetition was not the only condition for something to consider as a skill.

It was unclear exactly how and why certain actions start to be considered generic skills. Repetition is the most reliable way of trying to cause a certain action to turn into a skill.

Getting a Class or a Class Evolution has a chance of turning these unseen efforts into a skill. All other generic skills one has would also receive some benefit. There was a small chance that the skill would undergo skill evolution to a higher tier.

This is also the reason some try to gain as many generic skills as possible before getting a Class or Class Evolution. Although some also theorise that the more skills one has the less chance each skill has to evolve since there should be some sort of limit as the energy or potential gained during Class Evolutions have to be split amongst more skills.

On the way back from the playground to have breakfast, Ebony saw that Roya and Halvis were joining them. They usually ate earlier than them while they were at the playground as they had work to do so this was a first.

“Father! Mother! What’s the occasion?” Clovis called out as he ran towards them.

“Sit down, we’ll talk over breakfast.” Roya replied.

Breakfast was salad with some kind of nuts, bread, boar bacon, sausages and frost plums. They didn’t have any eggs here but Ebony welcomed having a bacon equivalent.

Ebony was concerned about eating monster meat after Gen told him not to take in ambient essence which was what monsters took in. Fortunately he remembered to ask Gen about it too and the answer makes more sense to him after knowing essence was a combination of health, stamina and mana.

Killing a monster would mean their health has zeroed out and stamina and mana would quickly dissipate from their body. As long as he doesn’t eat a monster live there should not be any issues with eating monster meat.

“It isn't any occasion, the village chief returned last night and we were asking him if Ebony here could take one of the swords left in the village warehouse.” Roya explained as they started on breakfast after saying their thanks for the food.

“Can I go too, pleaseee!” Clovis pleaded, staring at Roya with his wide eyed puppy look as he stabbed a slice of bacon with his 3 pronged wooden fork.

“No, you’re staying home with me. I need you to watch the phos as it sun charges while dad will go with Ebony. Is that okay with you Ebony?” Roya asked.

“Yes.” Ebony answered, despite having some questions like why there were swords if none of them used them. He could ask later anyway. When in Rome, do as the Romans do. Ebony had no qualms following their customs or culture so he didn’t forget his thanks either.

Roya smiled while piling more food for Ebony, Ebony ate a lot despite even though he thought he needed less food. Probably due to the excessive physical training he did, even if his stamina recovers very fast his body still gets sore and it needs to rest and recover.

He hardly bulked up though, his muscles were even a little denser than they were before. He was sure he was slightly stronger but sadly no there was no stat increase to prove if it were true.

A stream of grumbles, whines and complaints came out of Clovis’s mouth but he was firmly shot down in his attempts to go out with a ‘grounded from the study’ threat.

Finishing breakfast and helping with the dishes with a level gained in Dish Washing later, Halvis and Ebony promptly left. Dressed in another set of long sleeved shirt and pants, his leather boots with thick comfy socks and embarrassingly enough new underwear that Roya made.

Ebony didn’t know when or how she got the chance to look at his own triangular briefs but she copied the design and thank goodness for his normal dead facial expressions cause he didn’t know how to react when he caught Roya placing a few sets of briefs on his table.

She was discreet and didn't say anything about it either so Ebony was grateful for it of course, it fit almost too well like any other shirt she made for him and was too damn comfortable.

“Ebony do you know what overflowing essence is?” Halvis started the conversation as he has more often been doing so.

“Yes, Clovis has explained it to me and I read up on it as well.” Ebony replied.

“Good, the village chief is a high level mage. Though he should have fully recovered his mana from his trip I believe he might still be in meditation. Even with an unclassed's low Perception stat you should be able to feel the effects of overflowing Wisdom from him so just a heads up. Don’t panic…nevermind, you should be fine.”

“Mmm. Why are there swords in the village? None of the Frost Elves pick up swordsmanship right?” Ebony asked flatly.

“Ah, well we Frost Elves aren’t the only ones that delve into Hoarfrost Glade after all. It is uncommon but there are other races’ that travel here. For rare monster parts, crafting materials or ingredients for all sorts of crafts whether weapons, armours, potions or more. Mostly for Ice, snow or other elemental materials that could easily be found here.” Halvis explained.

“I see. The swords are left by other races’ warriors or swordsmen who died in the forest and were picked up when found by the villagers.” Ebony concluded. It wasn’t hard to guess, Arcta had zero blacksmiths or anyone who could or would work with metal.

All their weapons, bows, arrows, daggers and knives were made of wood or other monster parts. Made by wood mages, woodsmiths or wood workers, many wood mages pick up woodsmith as a Sub-Class or Profession or vice versa with woodsmiths picking wood mage as a Sub-Class.

Ebony doubted they would make wooden swords to sell either.

“How astute, if Clovis was half as sharp he would do much better as a scholar. Yes, from the forest or in dungeons they would be brought back and sold to the merchant company that comes round every so often.” Halvis praised.

“So the swords in the village were either recently found or not worth the merchants’ effort of buying and reselling.” Ebony said.

“Very sharp, unfortunately it isn’t like they pop out of nowhere and neither do prepared fighters die all the time. There weren't any new blades found this time round so what’s left are the accumulated unsold blades. That isn’t to say that they are all useless or broken, they are all common rank and as you said not worth transporting the distance to sell. But perfect for a beginner warrior or swordsman.” Halvis continued.

“...Thank you, Halvis. Your family has done a great deal for me, I will definitely repay you in any way I can in future.” Ebony said sincerely. At least that's what he tried sounding but his voice came out as flatly as always.

“Enough with that nonsense, you saved my son’s life. That’s worth more than anything we have done or can offer to do for you. The Thoya family will always be indebted to you. Okay we’re reaching soon. You remember how we greet people right?” Halvis brushed off before asking.

“...I remember. Tet.” Ebony replied while showing his hand to Halvis. The handshake equivalent of this world was kinda cute to Ebony. Teting with an acquaintance, stranger or people one is not very familiar with is basically touching all five finger tips together, good friends touch fingers and palms, essentially high fiving. Family members, lovers high five and clasp hands, interlocking fingers. Cute.

Only lizardmen had 3 fingers and a thumb but the greeting was the same.

Ebony realised that they weren’t walking towards the centre of the village like he assumed where the village chief would be. Rather, they were going towards the outskirts of the village, not too far from the village walls. Stopping in front of a cabin not too different from any other. All the houses in Arcta were spaced pretty far apart from one another giving them a large yard though the Thoya family cabin was on a different scale due to Halvis’s croft as he calls it.

As they got closer to the cabin, a familiar feeling of something boring down in his head was present in the air. Knowing what this pressure was now and with Halvis’s earlier warning, Ebony wasn’t surprised.

There was no comparison with Gen’s, if Gen’s was like a building weighing down on him then the village chief’s was only about a barbell weighing down on his mind. Uncomfortable but the effect on him was weak.

Overflowing essence was generally split into 3 different types, Vitality, Wisdom and Endurance.

Overflowing Vitality or health puts forth a phantom physical pressure causing others with a lower vitality or more accurately health regen to feel like their bodies are heavier and make it harder for them to move if they are not used to it.

Mostly felt from warriors and the like, pretty uncommon to face this from people due to the nature of health’s low regeneration rate. Monsters tend to have high vitality and health regeneration rate but effect is usually weak unless there’s a big level difference and therefore stat difference.

Overflowing Wisdom or mana puts forth a phantom mental pressure that causes others with a lower wisdom or more accurately mana regen to feel like their minds are in mud making them think or process slower causing them to feel as if one is moving or talking really fast when they are in fact lagging.

Mostly felt from mages and perhaps crafters like Roya who work heavily with mana. Not that rare to face this effect due the nature of mana’s regeneration rate and mana dissipates into the surroundings the slowest out of the three resources.

This should have been what he felt from Gen but it seemed like Gen could control it to some extent.

Overflowing Endurance or stamina puts forth a phantom exhaustive force that causes others with a lower Endurance or more accurately stamina regen, hearts’ to race, getting breathless and feeling tired.

Overflowing Endurance is said to be so rare some don’t believe it to be a thing. Whether warrior or mage or support classes, one would usually only put so many stats into Endurance.

With limited stat points they needed to split their stat points wisely. But, the main reason is the nature of stamina. Stamina dissipates into the surroundings so fast one wouldn’t be able to feel it before it reaches them.

Ebony remembered the feeling when he just entered the underground dome guessing it was due to this but his senses as an unclassed were too weak. Unclassed tend to not be able to feel any of this shtick unless it's extremely obvious.

Ebony understood all this nonsense as aura, after getting a Class one would apparently be able to feel these resources in their body a little more instinctually. When Perception stat gets high enough anyone can roughly gauge the strength of a person or monster based on this aura.

Halvis gave a look at Ebony before knocking on the door, uncaring if he was disturbing the chief’s meditation.

The door opened after a short while, a lady Frost Elf answered the door. Half a head taller than even Halvis, she dwarfed Ebony at least in terms of height and she was slender as with any elf he’d seen. She had a more mature look, like that of a middle-aged woman but that was probably due to the long lifespans and she was obviously much older than she looked.

Inwardly, Halvis was kinda shocked he didn’t see any changes to Ebony’s gait or expression. Well, not so much expression as he already gave up trying to find the thing called facial expression from Ebony.

He pushed the thought aside thinking that perhaps Ebony’s Perception stat was even lower than he thought. He himself took some time to get used to the feeling and it gradually weakened as he levelled and had his Wisdom increase. Madam Ophelia was wearing her Myriad Bracelet so she wasn’t leaking mana but the village chief doesn’t have the habit of wearing his during meditation.

[Great Wood Archer Lvl ???]

‘Below lvl 300, or exactly 300 but haven’t undergone Class Evolution yet.’ Ebony thought after Identifying her and noticing the green colour.

Ebony had already learnt that the colour of Identification doesn’t only tell an item or object's rarity it also tells whether a person or monster had completed their evolution. Which was to say Gen was even above that, a benchmark for before Ebony would try helping them.

“Halvis. You didn’t have to come all the way over, we would have brought our robes to you for our robes’ patch up. This time round went smoothly and they didn’t receive too much damage. Except Enya’s right sleeve getting torn off.” the tall Elf lady said as she and Halvis greeted each other by touching their fingertips together. Halvis used his right hand while she used her left.

“Madam Ophelia, it is but a short trip and we’ll come over to collect any robes needing maintenance any time you need but that is not the purpose of my visit today. I am looking for the chief to ask if I could let this young man here pick a sword from the village warehouse.” Halvis explained after a little brown nosing, gesturing towards Ebony.

“Greetings Madam Ophelia.” Ebony curtsied with a light bow before teting the same way as Halvis. The weaker, lower levelled, lower in status, junior etc. would use their right hand while the other uses their left or would otherwise be considered as rude or as if you were looking down on the other party if you offered the left hand while being weaker, younger, etc.

“Oh. And what is a young human doing here? Wait, it might be summer but aren’t you cold wearing so little? Halvis, you should know better that unclassed humans can’t handle the cold well. Come on in first, I’ll get my husband before we continue.” Ophelia hurried them in.

The interior was basically the same as the Thoyas, they sat at the table and were served glorious frost plum juice after they made it clear that Ebony had high enough cold resistance before Ophelia went to get the village chief.

‘Are all Frost Elves so nice?’ Ebony thought, feeling the genuine concern she had. Perhaps it was their small community and they weren’t hostile to visitors of another race. Everyone he had interacted with had been welcoming of his presence. Other than Qane, who mostly ignores or gives Ebony stares didn’t do much against him if you didn’t count the daily challenges.

The pressure in the air lifted and Ebony could hear another set of footsteps walking towards them. The village chief had a stern looking face, looking middle-aged as well and standing as tall as Ophelia. His name was Orren Wit but everyone just calls him chief or so Halvis told him.

[Great Ice Mage Lvl ???]

He got similar results from Identify, everyone in this room could probably kill him with less effort than squashing a bug. Greetings were exchanged and they got down to talking.