Ebony's Fable

“Woo, your leaves grew out fully!” Ebony looked at his pet tree with more excitement than when he found out they could be someone who could kill people with music from a distance of entire cities.

Unlike the sharp three-bladed maple leaves that the Amur Maple tree had, his pet tree had slightly rounded, five-bladed leaves. It was a cross between maple and plum leaves.

‘It’s not so obvious this way.’ Ebony was glad it didn’t copy the maple tree leaf shapes even if Ful didn’t care.

His pet tree now had realistic bark, branches and leaves. Other than the fact that it was completely made of ice, it didn’t look any different from most trees.

The less realistic part of it was how its bark was gradually changing into scales and how it was beginning to hollow out a space next to where it hugged his dangerously expensive piano. Out of the 15 metres tall and 8 metres wide was a rounded top door-shaped hole that was 2.5 metres tall and 1 metre wide. It wasn’t very deep yet but Ebony could see and sense it getting bigger inside as time passed. The ‘floor’ was also a metre off the ground so it had defences from every side.

A great deal of his recently fed mana was being used to form his scales as its bark. He didn’t know what it was protecting but it succeeded in turning itself made entirely of finger-length thick scales stacked down to its centre. It was also staggered so making use of gaps was not an easy task. Not with how many layers there were.

‘Maybe this hole can close up and it can hide me or a few people?’ Ebony knocked on the hefty tree. It was so thick and dense, worth weeks of his mana. Surely a far better shield or cover than anything he can cast in battle.

‘If I fight mages, I have to remember they might have these types of spells hidden up their sleeves. Not just mages.’ Ebony reminded himself of the power of accumulation.

He couldn’t rule out that others had similar spells where they could accumulate mana outside their bodies over time. One’s weapons were not just the ones in their hands or mana capacity.

‘Wait a minute.’ Ebony tried to manually manipulate the tree for the first time after seeding it. ‘Hot damn…’

He couldn’t lift the tree with his mental strength, it was too heavy. Fully enhanced, he could physically pick it up but running around with it was going to be an issue.

“Can you walk?” Ebony asked his pet tree.

It couldn’t.

As usual, it doesn’t respond because it is just Ebony talking to himself.

All the tree was made of was his Will and mana. It wasn’t a living being, just another Glacial Model. Albeit a hyper-beefy version. It was no wonder the others thought he was messing around when the tree grabbed hold of the piano. It was almost certain that it was his subconscious Will and desire to have the piano placed under the tree.

“Let’s see…”

“Ebony, it’s time to go. They’re waiting for us.” Ning Xin called out to him. He was dull but even he noticed that she was avoiding him. Her mask barely even faced his direction since she returned from the dungeon.

Instead of staying home to study new recipes, she had gone and signed up for the largest Colosseum and was now officially a Rank 1 Duelist. Duels were being carried out every single day and there was a Capital-wide tournament every 3 years. It was only 8 months away from the next tournament.

A Duelist was just what they called the fighters of the Colosseum. It was an actual job and some professionals never fought a monster in their lives, only other people. He could probably Appraise people with the ‘Duelist’ Class if he went to the Colosseum. These Duelists had highly specialised skill sets for fighting people and tended to only be good at one-on-ones.

As a newbie at Rank 1, she wasn’t qualified to take part in the biggest duelling event of the entire continent. To climb up the ranks required her to win more battles. But as a Rank 1, she only had 1 or 2 battles lined up for her in a day. It was sad but she was put up against Journeymen. But as her win rates increase, she’ll probably go up the ranks fast once they realise it was a waste of time for everyone including the audience.

Ebony didn’t join in. It sounds interesting once they got higher in the ranks for new opponents but he was already busy enough figuring out Will, sound and gravity magic. Training his classmates was not a problem since his Models were sufficient. He’d rather dive into the books and perhaps do missions for the Mage Association to gain access to books.

It didn’t help that she told him the ranks went up all the way to 31 with the rank of 31 being held by 1 person, the champion. She didn’t learn how the point system worked and he knew she probably thought all she had to do was win to rise in ranks. He might take a look if she ever told him the duels were getting tough or interesting. With so many ranks, he had to assume the distinction was accurate to some degree but he ultimately didn’t care enough to check.

It was the day they were supposed to meet Mallory and Hector who just returned to Tidal earlier in the morning. Mallory called Ning Xin and scheduled the meeting at a cafe called the Aroma Alcove. It was now mid-afternoon so the Prince and Princess probably took time to rest and wash up from their trip.

It was a school day’s off and he let his classmates off. Children needed more rest and he could tell their muscles weren’t in the best condition.

Kong Jing gave their swords a maintenance check-up before she left in the middle of the night again. She was still somewhere in Tidal, either finding a person or joining in on some auctions throughout the Capital for rare materials and ingredients.

He did ask for some Emberdium metal for his gift idea so there was a chance she went to look for some.

The Aroma Alcove was rather far from Navin and Yvette’s house. It was nearer to the forest in the middle of the Capital which the Elven Nobles called home.

He just didn’t expect it to be inside the forest, right by a brook where an unnatural waterfall wasn’t far away.

The aroma of hata, or coffee was wafting through the air.

‘Seems like she started to like coffee and found a nice coffee place.’ Ebony remembered drinking coffee with Mallory at Fifth Tide.

It was quaint and quiet, Ebony found himself liking the environment. He might come here to read when he feels like it. They had plus points when he recommended teas that he’d never tried.

It was a rather interesting sight that the staff were all Elven ladies. Their auras felt like Masters so they were probably rather young.

“You’re here!” Hector called out when both of them were guided to the Princess’s seat. They were indoors but with a wide window that exposed them to nature.

“You’re wearing a shirt,” Ebony replied.

Hector looked offended but he didn’t have a comeback until they got seated. “You too. First time I see you without a weapon.”

“You sure.” Ebony forgot to put on his socialising communication ability.

Mallory had just been eyeing them extremely hard since they arrived.

They listened to Hector complain about his time at Tova and how much Mallory bullied him while Ebony sipped on his tea and Ning Xin poked her dessert in surprise. It was some kind of berry crumble and was good enough to keep her stunned for a good minute and enjoy it slowly.

“Are you really Ebony and Scarlet?”

The two of them cocked their heads at the same time at Mallory’s first words after their greetings. The Princess shook her head and came to her own conclusions.

‘I guess she has great perception and could tell our physiques are different. She can tell our bodies are even less human.’ Ebony tried to steal a bite from Ning Xin but only a limited amount of desserts were made everyday and she already failed to order a third serving. It meant that she fought very hard to keep his two-prong fork away.

Ebony delegated the talking to her after she was finished with dessert. He couldn’t be bothered to share what they’ve been going through. However, he still added on to Ning Xin’s abridged summary occasionally.

“So how on elcra are both of you so fast!? Even my highest is only at 580 and it’s starting to take over a week of constant use to level them up.” Now that they caught up with each other, Hector got onto the topic he’d been itching to ask.

‘580, so he’s also rather close. If I take the number of skills I have as a gauge, he still needs over a year at his current pace. That’s not so bad. Raika’s over a century old and is considered pretty okay to have reached level 300 master. Hector is a few years older than us if I’m not wrong so he’s still far ahead of his fellow Imperials.’

“I fought large monkeys. They pack a bigger punch than you.”

“Bats for me, then a bunch of other wild animals.”

“What did you say!?”

“That sounds better than what we've been dealing with day in and out.” Mallory almost let out a sigh but settled with a louder exhale. Hector couldn’t keep it in and slumped onto the table mumbling about creepy legs and eyes.

“Pest control I hear? Some bug-type monsters?” Ning Xin had to focus on the conversation now that all that was left was a single fruit tart on her plate. It was the only thing keeping her from thinking that there was no more food for her so she was saving it.

“You can say that.”

“We’re already here, tell us what you want to say,” Ebony cut them to the chase.

“We’re in deep sh-” Hector was silenced with a sharp glare from his Royal cousin.

“How much do you two know about our world’s connection to the ***?”

“The what?” Ebony didn’t know the word Mallory spoke.

“The world around us, outside our own.”

‘I’m just going to assume she means universe or something along those lines.’ Ebony didn’t like how unreliable the dictionaries he’d memorised were.

“Can’t say I know anything.”

“What about Gods?”

“I’m pretty sure the Empire doesn’t have any faith or religion other than the heroes of the past and present,” Ebony replied. He hasn’t gone into the Sovereign Temple of Heroes but he had seen the architectural majesty from afar. There were normal Temple of Heroes in every district but the main one was in the Central District.

He would like to add on that if there was faith, it was faith in the Life Queen. With his perception, he could hear people praising the Life Queen with every few sentences spoken. On a casual shopping trip, he could hear a prayer every second. It was surprisingly deeply rooted in a lot of Imperial citizens.

He didn’t know any fanatics who put the title of the Life Queen in every sentence that escaped their mouths and he hoped it stayed that way. It was a little weird since the Life Queen he knew just seemed like a gentle, neighbourhood lady or mother.

On the other hand, the Barrier King himself had less public praise. Instead of soldiers and fighters, the crafters and non-combatants more often praised the Barrier King instead of the Life Queen. It was thanks to him that cities weren’t under constant threat. He also made it such that living beside dungeons was plausible. Now, dungeon clearing was a job and not a threat to be wary of. Excluding a few select dungeons.

“It’s…new to us too. Do you want a short version or a lengthy one?”

“Short, I’d rather not get wrapped up in anything that concerns religion. Just the context necessary for what you want to tell us.” For once, Ebony wasn’t about to let his curiosity cut in. He was already…annoyed that he had some misty folks and a possible Emperor who may or may not remember that they caged Ning Xin up had them in their sights.

Mallory took a sip of her coffee, organising information in her head.

“There are numerous worlds in the universe. From what I hear, some natural, some artificial. There is some form of law that advanced worlds are bound by or follow. That is, natural worlds like Elcra are not to be tampered with until something called the Worldcore has grown into Ancient ranked. Which Elcra is currently sitting at.”

Ebony already knew about Worldcores and its ranks that correlate to the inhabitant monster's strength so the information wasn’t completely new. He held his tongue about who enforces this law.

“We were supposedly relatively far from other worlds in physical distance so we were undetected other than the presence of World Dungeons that connect us and a few other forms of travel. Hence, it was rather peaceful until a few hundred years ago when we received a greater number of visitors.”

Ning Xin shifted closer to him and looked around the cafe. He noticed a few fewer pairs of eyes on him after the small gesture. He was beginning to wonder why the Elven waitresses kept looking at their table. He specifically, so it was nice that they stopped staring at him.

“We’re told a certain Goddess began to eye Elcra for its resources.”

“I don’t believe it. If that was the case the planet would’ve been gone or emptied by now.” Ning Xin chipped in.

“I’m getting there. The Goddess in question is the Goddess of War, it’s not her who found us personally but her kin.”

“War? One’s enough, I don’t think I’ll be joining another.” Ebony didn’t care about how the Empire hadn't died off yet, he was certain he didn’t want any part of a war anymore. Despite the levels, it was the most pointless battle he had taken part in. Outside of the discovery of a great opponent called Gao’Larg.

Mallory took the interruptions with grace and continued, “The Goddess of War evolved from a different race of creatures that is common throughout worlds such as us-humans or the other races on Elcra.”

The Elven waitress blushed as she combed her hair behind her ears after pouring him a refill of his tea.

Ebony took a whiff and blew on it even though getting burnt from tea was impossible.

“The Goddess of War ascended to Godhood from a race of ants.”

Tea that entered his lips flowed back into his cup and Ning Xin dropped her fork.

‘Ants…they’re always the problem in a lot of the novels I read and you’re telling me that there’s a God of ants. Also, ascend and evolve to Godhood. How far away is that? Do I want to become something like that?.’ Ebony had faced a few ant-type monsters when they were dungeon hopping. He also remembered reading a ton of fiction that had ant type monsters as a huge problem. Hector called them pests so the pieces fell in place. They were fighting ants somewhere.

“Why is it always the creepy crawlies with more than four legs!” Ning Xin complained out loud.