Ebony's Fable

By accepting the newcomer benefit, Ebony would be signing himself up as a member of the Magus Consortium. Every member is supposed to join at least once every five years. The members present today were the ones that entered the dungeon earlier this year hence their presence at the party to receive their due payment.

“Sure.” He didn’t hesitate to join. He was already trying to find ways to enter Epic dungeons, it was great that they didn’t have to ask the Royals or go about it illegally.

The only obligations were to join the dungeon runs and to share the rewards with all members. The tea party was optional. The ‘test’ that he underwent was an internal hierarchy ranking and not some sport like he assumed. Even if he didn’t join the dungeon run yearly, he would still get a small portion of the rewards. What was not to like?

The death rates were about 2 to 5 people every year. Hence, the decreasing member count as there were no new members for 3 straight years.

The Arch Mage Damien who proposed to average the top 2 portions between the two of them was the leader of the group but there were no positions like that. It was just a gathering and the positions were only determined by strength. It was just convenient that a mage’s strength was heavily tied to their mana and usage of mana. They didn’t have to listen to anyone’s orders but they couldn’t leave the group without doing another dungeon run to recontribute back. A very lax group that was for every individual's benefit.

There were supposedly a total of 5 Arch Mages in the group. Two of them weren’t present but the rankings would barely change. As Damien would still sit at the top and the two Grandmaster Elves would be right behind him. The two Elves did not look interested in the party and neither did they listen or join any conversations. They seem to only acknowledge Damien, and now Ebony’s presence.

Ebony understood the reason but he didn’t understand their reaction or attitude. They probably didn’t think much of these ‘Arch’ Mages. ‘Don’t they know that being weak doesn’t mean they don’t have academic value?’

The moment the ranking was over, they moved over to the centre table. The members were grim as the topic of conversation was about preparing for the next dungeon entry three months later. Ebony didn’t know much about the Epic ranked dungeon so he just listened silently.

‘This sounds above my paygrade… they are all above level 400 aren’t they?’ Although Ebony can see a Grandmaster walking down the streets on any day at any given time, they were mostly low 300s. The ones that specialise in getting through the Ruins of Verdant Decay were in the mid to late 300s and there were plenty of Masters that took part as rear firepower too.

Like the dungeon name, Spectral Veil Stronghold, they were supposed to take over a stronghold held by the dungeon creatures that were mostly immune to physical attacks. All the close-range combatants that took up entry needed to be just as good at mana coating or using mana in general. The ‘tanks’ of the dungeon run took up the largest share of the treasury within the stronghold. All the mages had second priority and say over what they received.

The Magus Consortium swallowed up 20% of the entire clear’s rewards.

Spectral Veil Stronghold opens once every 3 to 8 weeks, not by the Empire’s choice but by the dungeon which spits people out the moment they try to enter when it isn’t ready. There was also a queue to enter but the duration of its closure directly relates to the strength and rewards of each dungeon entry. Instead of a time-based schedule, large groups simply go after one another.

It was rather common for the Magus Consortium to receive invitations to join an additional entry from some other groups that had people who ditched or weren’t able to join. The members would be individually informed and they were free to join should they wish to at their own risk. When the Magus Consortium enters officially, members tend to look out for each other.

Individual entries required members to negotiate for their share themselves and the Magus Consortium had no say or relation in regards to their individual business.

Unlike all the other dungeons around the Capital, the Spectral Veil Stronghold didn’t have millions rushing to clear or enter it. They lacked people to clear and if the Empire received a report about a high death count, the Nobles would be informed and were obligated to clear it before the dungeon strengthened itself beyond what they expected.

If there was a problem with groups disbanding or just passing on their turn to enter and no one else would enter, it usually wouldn’t take too long before some Noble family was tasked to clear the dungeon. Just because people didn’t enter the dungeon didn’t mean it had no method of growing or feeding.

Dungeons were sealed by the Worldcore after they parasite and absorbed the World’s essence. As they grow stronger, the seal’s effect would weaken and the dungeon would grow naturally regardless. Dungeons could die off naturally, but not in the area of the densest population and essence on the entire continent.

Actually, there were already multiple Nobles who introduced themselves as such in the Magus Consortium but were all descendants of Viscounts or Earls.

‘My spell power’s going to be exposed to be too weak if I enter with them now.’ Ebony knew that just because his mana was overwhelmingly dense and strong compared to theirs, it didn’t mean his spells were stronger. He was just a rich kid tossing more money at the problem. They had the Intelligence stat, the mental power required to power their spells. Something that Ebony was sorely lacking when compared to the traditional Imperial who preferred Intelligence over Wisdom by far.

It didn’t take away the advantages of his elements that were hard to quantify. Projectile speed or impact power didn’t matter much as long as he could land his flames and any spell in general.

“Jelly?” Ebony looked at the chest that was placed in front of them.

There were a bunch of shiny rocks, dull rocks, metal ores and ingots, a food item that looked like jelly, a few vials of potions and plenty of scrolls. At the corner of the chest was a small chest, he didn’t need to open it up to sense through the keyhole that it was filled with mana ores. Purples.

After the grim discussion that Ebony sat through, it was time for the rewards but he honestly felt bad that he was accepting something he didn’t work for. He fully intended to let them split what they gave out to him. Except for the Purples, he was truly lacking Purples.

‘Dungeons create mana ores? Did it spawn near a mana ore deposit?’ Ebony seemed to forget that people simply sold some items that had no use or were hard to split and shared the monetary equivalent.

“You can have this, split the rest too.” Ebony who sat at seat number two, after he insisted Damien had seat number one pushed the chest across the large table.

“Ebony,” Damien's single word stopped everyone from speaking out or even reacting to Ebony’s action.

“That’s the main reward of the dungeon. Epic quality Spectral Life Gel.”

“I don’t eat or absorb dungeon essence.”

“It can refine your physique into this, ” Damien pulls his oversized sleeves back to show a forearm with a curved, swallow scar. His arm turned transparent after a gentle stream of mana flowed through it and his gloves slipped out of his hand. Rather than slip out, it just fell onto the table.

Damien gently placed his hands on the table but it went through the table instead. He turned his arm back to normal and put his gloves back on.

“Cool,” Ebony replied without a change in expression as usual.

“Yes, you’ll be able to turn a part of your body into a spirit body for a short time making yourself immune to fully physical attacks. Your mana would be able to substitute life force temporarily while you’re on death's door and you can delay death for as long as your mana lasts.” Damien didn’t have to add that by further refining their physique, it would be possible to increase this ability to a full-body one, increase the duration of the effect or make the ability more efficient.

“My words still stand, thank you.” Ebony rejected without batting his eyes. He could see the allure of being immune to physical attacks even for just a moment, especially for these mages. However, it didn’t mean much for him.

Ebony was rather surprised at Damien’s willingness to share such information. The man must have plenty of confidence in himself.

'I don't know my schedule, I better not accept this in case I can't join. This way I'm not obligated to do anything. As for the purples, I can pay them back easily.'

These people should know that dungeon essence could turn them into fiends or demons if they absorbed too much, possibly losing their Profession or even Sub-Class. Although natural ambient essence could do the same, plenty of plants, animals and monsters could remove the harmful side effects and even purify it for themselves. Ning Xin did the same when she overconsumed weird spiders.

Dungeons don’t have such user-friendly options, they were a parasitic creature from the get-go.

Who's to say that materials brought out were no longer connected to the dungeon in some fashion? It might just be a hypothesis or guess on the Xeng’s part but wouldn’t it be possible for the dungeon to turn these people into its thralls or something if they consumed enough of their essence? It was possible that the Xengs already knew what happened to people who consumed too much without ‘cleaning’ the essence but Ning Xin and Kong Jing weren’t well informed.

“Hm, then I’ll take it off your hands.” Damien ripped the chest towards him with his mana.

There were no complaints. After the talk about what preparations each member was in charge of, the party was generally over. People only remained to continue any previous discussions that were bearing fruit.

Madam Wilcox dragged the Lightning Arch Mage, Ragnar over to him.

“Ebony, this is Piercing Tempest Academy’s previous headmaster. Headmistress Laika’s grandfather and an old friend of mine.”

Ebony nodded and exchanged tets, a personal greeting. He accidentally raised the hands of a junior as a reflexive action since they were all his seniors in age and respecting the old was only natural for him. Ragnar visibly took it as an offence but didn’t say anything and waited for Ebony to change hands. He hoped the man wouldn’t bear a grudge over something so small.

“I hear you’re a student of my academy.” Ragnar started the conversation after the awkward greeting.

“Mmm.”

“...What do you want?” His hair sparked with lightning despite his mana staying still. The ambient lightning mana simply reacted to a Lightning Arch Mage’s tense feelings.

“I’m simply expanding my knowledge base.” Ebony knew that saying he had no ulterior motives was going to sound suspicious.

“I truly hope that’s all. It was nice meeting you.” Ragnar glared into his eyes and swallowed nothing. After uttering those words, he zapped out of sight.

“Haha, forgive him. He’s a prideful one but he’s just worried about his academy and family.”

“Understandable. Thank you for inviting me here today Madam Wilcox. I was surprised to find out that you were inviting me to this group and it wasn’t some academic meet.”

“haha…I didn’t mean to offend or put you in a tough spot but the Magus Consortium doesn’t care whether you’re in another affiliation or not hence my invitation.”

“I see. It was a valuable tea party. Please invite me again. Other than that, I didn’t think you were active on the field.”

“Heheh, only the bare minimum. I only join once every five years so I’ve been getting rusty. I envy Ragnar but at level 468, I’ve all but lost the hopes of becoming an Arch Mage before I die of old age.” Madam Wilcox giggled.

“Age doesn’t matter, it’s all about your will to continue growing or stay in place. As long as you’re not dead, your chance is still there.” Ebony didn’t like the defeatist mindset.

Madam Wilcox’s eyelids drooped down, “maybe you’re right.”

“It’s getting late, I’ll walk you back.” Ebony noticed that streetlights were present outside the property of the Mystic Morsels Pavilion.

“You’re getting so much to go?”

“Xin likes to eat. I want to see if she likes these.” Ebony passed the bags of desert and club sandwiches to the Glacial Model that phased into sight like a bunch of mirrors rotating to reflect light.

“...you didn’t lie about being young.” Wilcox’s eyes lit up in surprise as if she had discovered something new.

“Mmm. Let’s get you home, I don’t want to be late for dinner.”

“Haha, this old lady is alright. Not many can harm me in the neighbourhood.”

“I suppose so, but that’s not a reason to let a lady walk the streets alone at night.”

The lady’s smile widened, “then let’s get going, maybe I can make a pie for my grandson before he sleeps.”

Ebony chased after the zapping lightning with surprisingly light footsteps as she zapped from rooftop to rooftop. She didn’t even leave a burn mark on the rooftop tiles. She had far finer control and gentler footwork compared to the footwork taught at Piercing Tempest Academy. The visual effects both of them had were extremely similar as they disappeared and reappeared across the Capital.

She lived fifteen minutes away from the Pavillion and was rather far when you considered their mode and speed of travel. Thankfully, it was very close to her workplace so he could get home within seconds.