Ebony's Fable

“It’s so hot.” Ebony said. He was drenched in sweat from head to toe, lying face down under the covers of the wagon.

“Hahaha, you look like you’re about to die.” Rowent laughed at Ebony's expense. He was more than used to the heat.

“It’s hot but you’re exaggerating a little. How are you so weak to the heat, with that skin I would say you have never been exposed to the sun.” Chris remarked. Already having taken off their jackets and coats they weren’t even sweating. Ebony’s robe was his armour and not winter clothing so he still had it on, it was cooling to wear it anyway.

“Come on, you need me to give you some heat resistance training later?” Rowent suggested.

“...yes please.” Ebony didn’t think of that. Honestly being considerably close to Hoarfrost Glade there was still some cool wind from time to time but it wasn’t good enough for Ebony.

“Ah good timing, wasn’t there a tiny spring somewhere we previously stopped for a break?” Chris said.

“Muahahaha, then it's heat resi… then we can finally have a warm bath.” Rowent mischievously rubbed his hands together.

“Emm wait, I think that was somewhere else.” Chris tried to shift the conversation, regretting what he just mentioned.

“GUYS! Let’s stop by the spring again and have a quick bath!” Rowent ignored Chris’s attempts and shouted to the 2 wagons in front.

“Hahaha, sure I could do with a bath!” Andel surprisingly agreed.

They didn’t take long to reach the spring since the coachmen knew where it was, Ebony’s betting they have a similar skill to his Mental Mapping.

The ‘spring’ was about the size of a full swimming pool, it wasn’t that deep and would only reach Ebony’s waist standing up. The water was coming from above towards the hill to the side.

Wattel and Greg declined to join. Maybe Greg didn’t want to get his fur wet. Dina would go after the guys.

They all had a towel like cloth covering their lower half as their weapons weren’t far from them, Top was taking guard. It was like an onsen experience.

The cool water in the spring revived Ebony, he rarely sweated since adding stats to Constitution and Endurance so it wasn’t too uncomfortable without showering for a few days. The summer heat out of Hoarfrost Glade was killing him, with Icebody Enhancement on most of the time it was even worse.

“Oooh that’s chilly, can you give us a little warm up Ro.” Andel shivered as he asked.

“Oh? Hehe. That was exactly what I was planning to do, boss. Don’t worry, I have heated bath water for years, I am a bath heater expert.” Rowent chuckled at the coincidence.

“Heated hands go!” Rowent’s hand got bright red and he placed them in the spring.

The water slowly heated up to a comfortable temperature.

“Ahh, that hits the spot.” Fergus relaxed.

“Uhm, actually I think I’m done dipping.” Chris tried to escape.

“Bah you smell the worst out of all of us being sweaty from your hunts, spars and training.” Andel grabbed onto Chris’s wrist before he stepped out. Andel was muscular, and those muscles weren’t for show. He had the highest strength stat here being the highest level here too. His vice grip was not something Chris could escape from.

“Ro, don’t you think that’s enough?” Fergus called out soon. The temperature was getting hot and Ebony felt like he was about to take damage. He kept mum and meditated in silence but his weakness to heat was really troublesome.

“It's okay Ro, keep it going. These kids don’t know how good warming old bones feels.” Andel seemed like he was in cahoots with Rowent’s plan to train heat resistance as he edged him on.

It didn't take long for Fergus to catch on and cry out in complaints. “GAH, I know what you’re doing Ro. Stop it! My flawless skin is getting scalded.

“Didn’t you catch my hints earlier?” Chris asked, having resolved himself to fate.

“Bah, you both need more training if this is enough to burn you. Look! Learn from Ebony, he hasn’t even said a word of complaints and looks like he’s just taking a normal bath.” Andel had a surprising tolerance for heat but was also sweating. Steam has already started to rise from the spring. Ebony submerged himself with his eyes closed and holding a breath.

‘Ting’ ‘Generic Skill Heat Resistance gained’

Heat Resistance (Passive) - Extended periods of exposure to the heat allowed your body to develop a general resistance to the heat. 1.0% more resistant to heat per level.

HP: 218/250. 210/250. 204/250. 198/250. 193/250.

The water boiled, the only ones remaining was Ebony and Rowent at this point. Rowent also stopped turning up the heat. Ebony had long been scalded. Having a high Constitution helped a little but it wasn’t enough.

He had long turned Icebody Enhancement off, he didn’t need a decrease in resistance to heat and his mana was burning along with his body anyway.

The levels of the skill quickly raised to level 8, he was still taking damage just lower amounts and slower. The physical torment was great at pushing his Core Skill too, seeing how the burn was strong enough to knock him in and out of meditation. Yet, pain and discomfort couldn’t be seen on his face. He was just so damn good at acting tough.

He quickly dragged himself out before getting dangerously low and cooking himself alive. Rowent raised the temperature even more after that.

“Hey! Are you alright? You’re scalded all over, why go so far?” Chris was shocked by Ebony's peeled skin and how red he was all over with blisters. He originally thought that since he dived in and didn’t see Ebony in any pain he was able to handle it but he was obviously wrong.

“Yeah resistance training is done slowly over years to get them to reasonable levels, harming your body like that may give you permanent injuries that even healers may not be able to heal if not treated quickly.”

“...There is a saying, ‘what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.’ but my mother taught me that the truth is that only what kills you can make you stronger.” Ebony said.

‘Well she actually said something like, ‘when you try to kill yourself hard enough others’ attempt at trying to do so by the same way will only seem laughable.’ but that’s close enough I guess. It's like she knows about resistances man.’

The escort party probably also has cold resistance yet they still wear warm clothing. That’s something Ebony doesn’t understand when it’s possible to gain resistance against it. Sure, at some point it’ll slow down at getting levels like Ebony did before but getting themselves warm would only slow it further or completely stop won’t it?

The truth was at a certain point, you would feel cold or hot without taking damage and your resistance would hardly level. Always putting one in an uncomfortable range where it was cold/hot yet not enough to harm them.

Taking damage and having your body recover from it is the fastest known way to level resistance skill. He had an advantage of a strong regeneration and the ability for even his bones to heal and stick back together is beyond normal humans or even some beastmen.

To evolve resistances is to withstand a degree higher than what your body is supposed to be tolerant against. Which was to say it was hard to survive from that level of damage.

“Don’t worry, I have a habit of bringing burn ointment after burning myself so many times experimenting.” Rowent said, walking out steaming. He didn’t have bad burns like Ebony, his heat resistance was evident.

“Thank you. Could you help me train my heat resistance again?” Ebony couldn’t help but ask, it was a bother when they had much more limited mana than Ebony.

“Sure! Tonight, but not for too long I need to save mana just in case.” Rowent seemed to have some sadistic intent towards burning people but Ebony benefitted from it so alls well.

Ebony politely refused the ointment saying it was more beneficial to heal naturally and that the burns weren’t as bad as they looked. Top and Dina took turns, neither complaining about the hot water.

The long stretch of rolling hills from afar was quite the sight but only when they started travelling through it did he not appreciate it. Their journey continued and it started to get more…hilly. Uneven was an understatement and they bumped and jerked from left to right.

“Ughh. If only we could pass through the flatter sections.” Fergus complained.

“This is the safest route we know.” Top said as a matter of course.

“The only thing we need to look out for should be the Mud Marmots and Cysaru. Outside of bandits.” Top added.

Mud Marmots, supposedly pack monsters that use entire hills as their den or burrows. They often move underground and pop up for surprise attacks. If there were enough of them they could collapse the whole wagon together with the rams into a deep pool of mud. Fully grown they ranged from level 30 - 60.

Cysaru, they described it like a raptor on 2 thick legs and long scythe-like arms. This was a solo hunter and much more dangerous. The good point was that it was a fully physical beast with no magical means known. Ranging above level 65 at least, they were the most dangerous monsters in their current route.

A couple of pot holes appeared from time to time but no marmots showed up, as if testing their reactions. They only made the caravan members more uptight from the bumpy ride.

Ebony found another more useful way to spend his mana and train his other skills. Using his casting glove he cast the maximum number of Layered Ice Carapace under the wagon as they moved. Keeping his control over them as they moved proved to be good mental training.

Since he could recover mana any time, whenever he regenerated enough mana he added a layer on to one of them keeping at least more than half his mana pool in the event of any attacks. Now there were 4, 3 layered shields under their wagon, whenever no one was looking he would move the shield around as swiftly and accurately as he could. To the sides or back of the wagon, getting ready for any event of projectiles.

There was something like a soft cap on how fast one can cast or move their spell, probably partly due to stats like Intelligence and Wisdom and partly due to class fortification if any. Practice and training can help approach that soft cap. The conditioning type skill should be what raises the cap or lets one push past the cap.

Right now, Ebony still has not reached the limits of his own ability since he could still increase his speed of forming Ice Spikes. It takes just under 2 seconds for him to form 1 and he usually only uses 2 that cycles, another to control a shield. The last was back up, a surprise element so to say, besides using more only splits his focus and undermines his control and accuracy. Training was another thing altogether, he was on the verge of holding a fifth point of focus.

With the rate he was pushing his casting glove each single layer shield takes about 4 seconds to cast. Adding a layer on was almost twice as fast. The journey continued uneventfully till night fell again.

They got more variety of vegetables this time and made the soup and souper bread taste more flavourful. There was less game though, luckily Ebony wasn’t too hungry with only training in the night. He had 2 shields floating behind him as they ate.

“I know you want to train up your skill but you should rest up and recover your mana in the event of any raids. We need you to be at your best during your watch at least.” was what Top said when he held 3 shields. They didn’t know Ebony was recovering mana at the same time and Ebony wasn’t planning on telling them either. Casting magic also eats up mental stamina in a sense but Ebony didn’t feel any sort of mental exhaustion as of yet. Deep Persistent Meditation for the win.

With both shields at 5 layers, they were a bit larger with more curvature and a whole lot thicker. It was possible to add more layers but the effects should be small enough to not be worth the mana. Ebony was now compressing the shield as much as he could.

Their toughness was enough to surprise everyone during their spars. Ebony took a defensive approach with 2 tough shields. Training with Chris and Top was great for sword fighting experience. Dina gave him great reaction training, how agile she was also showed the many weak spots his swordsmanship had. Rowent and Fergus were both flexible with their magic, it helped Ebony learn fighting patterns of a mage and archer.

Ebony also trained his Heat Resistance, shirtless so that he doesn’t damage his coat of course. It was a great relief for his shoulders that were aching badly. Not running Icebody Enhancement, his strength lowered and the robe was too heavy for him through the spars. It held him down by a fair margin.

When Ebony calculated that each of his shields contained about 3000 MP, it started feeling…heavy. It didn’t stop him from jamming as much mana as he could into them. Seeing Rowent’s cool ass spear of fire also made him change his Ice Spikes shape into a sword. 15 mana was too little so he just formed swords of ice, copying his current weapons’ dimensions.

It took quite some effort to make it sharp, the end product was light and its length made it considerably brittle. Still he wanted to copy Gen’s. With Frost Injection perhaps he could make his projectiles stab into his enemies and move into their bodies, freezing their internals.

For now it was copying and pasting as many swords as easily as he could to evolve or mutate the Ice Spike skill.

‘I can use Deep Persistent Meditation asleep, using other skills or spells should be possible too.’ Ebony thought.

Letting go control of his shield wouldn’t cause them to disappear but they’ll definitely melt over time. His previous copies on the ground were already melting a little. His concern was recovering so much mana he scares the escort party accidentally.

None of them seem to have heard of any skill that let’s one cast spells sleeping but neither did they deny the possibility since ‘anything is possible’ held a different meaning with skills and stats. Now Ebony slept outside the wagon with his shield right above him. Every time he falls asleep and loses the mental grip of his shield it would drop right on him, smashing him awake with their current weight and density.

They moved out in the morning, eating rations on the move with the party trying to hold back their laughter over his broken nose and still reddish skin.

They didn’t check but Ebony attached 5 layered shields that he fully compressed to his limit to the bottom of the wagon. When he fully compresses one he’ll switch them out to the somewhat melted ones and bring them back to their original state. He didn’t realise that he was creating disposable shields and that he can just swap out mid battle if he broke one in the middle of a fight.

There was one stuck under every wagon, while Ebony was still holding onto 4 more incomplete ones. He added handles to them in the event the others could use them too.

The thing he hated more than the heat was how many insects there were and all the creepy noises they made. Hoarfrost Glade was almost always quiet even when there were monsters fighting nearby but the Bubbles hills felt so teaming with insect wildlife. The closest thing to an insect in Hoarfrost Glade he saw was the snow crawlers and they were more like snakes. Ebony wanted to turn back already.

A weird scream echoed from the front as the wagon pulled to the side, sending Ebony and Rowent tumbling. Chris knocked twice from the front seat, a signal for danger. Monsters.

“Crap. Watch yourself and defend Andel and the others, that’s gonna take all of us.” Rowent said after spotting the threat.

It was too far to Identify for Ebony but he saw what resembles a raptor, smaller than the huge boars in Hoarfrost Glade but longer. Its thick legs suggest great jumping power and those… arms were like a grim reaper's scythe. No one mentioned anything about a club-like tail to him but it should be the Cysaru they described.

The party of 5 quickly gathered but it seems like even Top was undecided in whether to fight or flight. It clearly wasn’t one of the dumb ones Ebony had hunted. It was watching them unmoving like they were doing so too.

“Aberrant.” Fergus whispered.

“Boss Andel. Start running or you won’t get a chance anymore. Fergus, level?” Top ordered.

“Nascent Cysaru, level…73. That’s not all, we’re being watched. 3 archers, high 40s. 2 rogues, low 40s. 1 warrior, 55. All human. They are blocking the path behind us.” Fergus reported.

They were currently between a few hills and it was a one way track. The non-combatants were all distressed but stayed silent except Wattel who was still calm but grabbing the reins tight waiting for the right opportunity. It was not his first time being ambushed by both monsters and bandits.

“...they’re mocking us. They led it here somehow, once we’re dead they could just take the cargo after it’s done eating us. Can’t even bother hiding from us anymore impatient, arrogant bastards.” indignation filled Dina’s low grumble.

“It’s been watching for too long, is it under their control?” Chris asked, the staring got to him and he was actually shaking a little.

“Impossible, aberrant monsters have but killing, eating, shiting and breaking past their limits in mind. But it's weird, Cysaru’s known limit should be a 90s to a hundred; it's only 73 yet already an aberrant. Whatever it is, it's not normal. Your orders, leader.” Rowent voiced his doubts as he got his staff warmed up.

“Chris and Dina follow Ebony and open a path from the back. Fergus and Ro…make it out alive.”

“I’m staying too!” Dina exclaimed.

“Chris and Ebony don't have enough ranged prowess, 2 of them alone might not be enough to open a path. Furthermore, Ebony is not obliged to fight, protect or do our jobs as Z&Z’s escort party. Ebony, I am sorry for pushing this onto you.” Top apologised.

Dina wasn't happy with the decision, Chris and Dina were the youngest and most inexperienced in their party so she knew that she was just a burden to the 3 of them staying.

“No problem, they probably wouldn’t let me go anyway. Don’t worry, I’ll at least make sure none of them bothers you.” Ebony said in his usual monotonous tone, as if he expected this to happen. Deep down he was truly as calm as he appeared to be anyway.

Top smiled at the not completely unfounded confidence.

“MOVE!” as if a starter pistol sounded the still picture changed at his bellow.