Ebony's Fable

‘Ebony serial number 38,889.

Purpose: Follow metal mage spy girl.

Internal diary, day 32 (Woohoo, I must be the current record holder for the longest surviving Model with Will that hasn’t gotten reabsorbed and redistributed):

I did not expect to survive this long. I had plenty of mana to spare and dilute over the course of my lifespan but by week 2 the Will I have imbued in this body has begun to fade. Portions of the abilities and memories I was given started to disappear by the hour. Fascinating, I have to retain this data over my personal abilities for myself so that I know what abilities or memories fade away first and what retains as ‘remnant Will’. Rather than lose the ability to use a certain type of magic, Will fades proportionally. However, my experiments allowed me to figure out that it is possible for me to decide what abilities or memories to toss aside while keeping others. Obviously, as serial number 39,889 and my weak purpose, there is no reason for me to cling to my power so I tossed that aside to retain new memories, new data.

Tracking progress of rate of fading Will: The rate of loss has not been constant. Bad news, it’s fading away faster every day.

Hypothesis 1: Rate of loss of Will inside a vessel increases as time passes away from my main body. Confirm with updated data from newer versions of me.

Hypothesis 2: Rate of loss of Will is related to the initial concentration/intensity or amount of Will. Not enough data from other vessels to conclude.

Purpose summary: Spy girl remained at her job at the Western sector’s Quest Hall where we met and got our residence. Suspicious activity at night. Main body ignored me when we were near the farmlands with the spy girl’s suspicious activity. The main body was too busy playing catch. Spy girl yanked by hair and tossed into an underground prison. Typical.

Special notes (do not delete):

Remaining in the form of a ball is tough on the mental state. Solution: Get good. Results on day 22: Gotten good.

Day 27 - The spy girl’s mental stability on the low end. Too weak even though the captor’s torture methods are laughable.

Talkative captors - Part of Lure, 82% certain. (updated as of day 32.)

Connection with Tuffock and 2 other split personalities: no names, no relations confirmed. Inconclusive.

Spy girl is part of Lure, 22% certain (dropped by 45% since day 1. Redundant.) Spy girl is a spy in Lure for another organisation, hence captured after being found out - 98% certain(updated as of day 31).

Day 31 - my ability to sense vibrations and gravity is nearly gone, taking away my sight and ability to gather situational data.

Day 32 - Today, right now, my ability to stay invisible is dissipating. Spy girl is staring at me. Right now.’

“Ice?”

‘Spy girl is not sensitive to mana, I’m currently in the form of a ball. I can still hear, my pseudo-vision is limited to about 3 metres in radius and my perception is about 7% of my main body’s perception. Maybe she’s just muddle-headed from physical pain.’

“I-I recognise you…so you were following me after all.”

“...” Ebony serial number 38,889 remained silent, it would be a waste of his limited mana. However, he was finding it rather funny that he ended up fulfilling her ardent suspicions that he had been following her all this time. He had to reevaluate her mana perception because she seemed to know it was him. He never showed her ice magic and he should have his obfuscation jewel protecting him from Identify or Appraise. There was still the possibility that she was referring to someone else but not to brag to himself, his mana was rather unique.

“How long have you be- actually, that doesn’t matter. I-I didn’t say or expose anything. Is this…not good enough? We all work for valuable rocks, can you get me out? Divination protection can’t protect me forever, it’s only a matter of time before they get a mentalist or a mind mage, probably someone that’s both.”

‘Question, do I help her? My purpose is just to follow her but for what? Entertainment? Not completely. She did not get caught because of me, so I don’t owe her anything. Putting it simply, what happens to her is none of my business. However, the fact that I followed her already meant I was putting myself forward and stepping into her business. Spectator or not.

Emotionally, I think I want to help. It doesn’t feel good to watch her get physically tormented. Cute methods aside.

Logically, I stand to gain little.

No, I’m thinking too much. I followed her to stop her from doing anything silly, although this doesn’t have anything to do with her own choice, hence why I didn’t do anything till now but doesn’t it mean I didn’t want her to die for whatever reason?

And, I don’t think I’m that heartless am I?

Okay, Calculated Hunch resource check. No gravity magic. Sound magic is limited to hearing within very short range, not worth spending in battle. Mental Map, all geographical data is still stored in a perfect state. Data on their patrol route and timing is all present for my escape. Stealth capabilities, freshly deleted. Combat capabilities include ice magic and complete martial capacity.

Mana pool which is also my health pool since I don’t exactly have a body, more than my main body in terms of numerical maximum but no regeneration and I have to depend on diluting my mana to sustain myself. I do not have any mana chassis to regenerate mana with.

Chance of escape by myself: 82%

Chance of escaping with spy girl without stealth: 14%

Priority 1: Make it back to myself with all valuable data.

Priority 2: Keep spy girl alive (easy peasy, she’s constantly healed by Tidal and won’t die. This makes it extremely easy for all forms of torture.)

Priority 3: Get spy girl out (Reason: doesn’t matter, just feel like it. Instinct…yes, instinct tells me I stand to gain something. I don’t know what, but something. Enough to justify putting my current data about Will and loss of Model ability at risk.

Hypothesis 1: Money (Don’t care)

Hypothesis 2: Connections with her organisations (might be useful)

Hypothesis 3: Even more data concerning my abilities

Hypothesis 4: I feel like my Will is making me want to get her out. Is this the life experience that the Frost Elves were talking about? Will my Will grow because of this? That’s what my ‘gut’ feeling is telling me even though I don’t have a gut.

Secondary goal: Prison break experience. I’ve already been imprisoned twice. It wouldn’t hurt to get more prison break experience when I’m such a good target for being imprisoned and farmed for my mana.’

“Can you talk…can you reply in any way possible?”

Ebony documented his diary and made himself lock them in as tightly as possible. To 38,889, combat ability was not important; it was what he could bring back to himself.

“Please.”

Ebony rolled his spherical body across the floor underneath the spy girl who had both arms staked and hanging off the ceiling. Writing on the dirt floor with a tiny bit of ice, “we move in 13 minutes and 16 seconds. Success rate 14%, okay?”

‘My existing lifespan is less than a day. I’m lucky the patrol gap is coming so soon.’

Failure meant more torture for the spy girl or maybe even death. It would not be hard to transport her to a dungeon and kill her in her current condition.

“14? I’ll take it. Do you have a plan? I-I don’t have the energy to run or mana to spare. Are you out there?” The spy girl’s practically naked body was only caked up in blood but her physical injuries were mostly healed from the last session. Minus the one steel stake in her right eye that doesn’t allow her to heal. It was likely permanent blinding by now. If she had a normal human physique. After so long, even Grandmaster warriors would be permanently injured.

They fed her with pills for sustenance or her flesh wouldn’t regenerate even if she had the healing.

Ebony did not reply, if he was personally here the escape would be as easy as walking out unless there were variables that were unaccounted for, including stronger members that do not patrol.

He rolled, wiping out the ice and rewrote a few sentences. “Freeze chains. Freeze door. Kick both down. Run.”

“Haha..ha. These chains absorb mana and stamina. Including elemental spellwork. Maybe I should forget it. That’s just asking for more pain when we fail.” Her laboured breath didn’t stop her from articulating herself. Her exhaustion resistance must have evolved during the ordeal.

Ebony 38,889 waited till 3 minutes were left before the appointed time before he morphed into a human shape. His body shape but without any facial features, leaving just a smooth oval on his face. He didn’t form his robe design either.

He extended his legs and grabbed the metal chains before freezing them. It took 10% of all his mana left to leave enough damage for him to kick and shatter them. Honestly, that was a lot more than he expected.

Fortunately, he was still capable of silencing the vibrations within a small radius and made no commotion.

‘I see, being exposed to my mana speeds up her regeneration. So I don’t need chassis to increase someone else’s regeneration…this information is not important, I bet I already know this. This can be parked to delete.’

The door was far more physically durable compared to the metal chains but they did not absorb mana. It was likely meant to stop warriors while the chains were enough to stop mages. This helped him save a lot of mana.

He stretched his woven ice muscle tissues and double-checked that he could move properly while waiting for the last few seconds to pass by.

Ebony lifted the spy girl into his arms after covering her up with a random coat he weaved up with ice. She could deal with the cold. He didn’t spare that much thought for her comfort.

‘I can only Flicker at 13% maximum output without my legs exploding. I diluted my mana too much over the month. I can’t use ice magic if we need to fight, I’ll die faster from the loss of a body compared to the loss of Will. So mainly physical and the bare minimum amount of augmentation. Damn…kicking the door down took mana because the physical damage to my body means a loss of mana. Stalwart will be the most cost-effective.’

Ebony determined that having a weapon to take off the impact from the damage to his ice body would be for the best if they encountered a patrol. It was quite likely, that his stealth capabilities were extremely weak at the moment since it depended on his perception of sight to determine light angle.

It was easy in the prison, just hide at the ceiling corner. He only came down to the ground and rolled out of the prison when he examined the area. Spy girl saw him on his way back into her cell and he didn’t notice his invisibility going away. After all, he only saw through vibrations and gravity. Neither of which gave him sight. Gauging the direction that a person was looking at was the best he could do blind. His internal clock and understanding of the geography allowed him to guess which direction light was coming from.

Based on his rough calculations, it was midnoon. There was nowhere to hide in an open, deserted farmland. Not the best time to escape but he had no choice, he needed to find his main body before he fully dissipated.

Sadly for him, during the first few days after his loss of Will started occurring the first redundant information that was lost was where his new house was. It was a fresh memory because it was only then did he get his new residence’s location from a spy girl who worked at the Quest Hall. He learnt the hard way that the newest memories were the first to get deleted or discarded.

However, he didn’t bank on it. There was no confirmation that Ebony would be at home anyway. He planned to get to the closest Quest Hall. These people did not like trouble or the public. Just getting out of this farmland was enough for them to stop the chase but he similarly didn’t bank on that happening. If he is lucky, he can find himself amid the escape. He couldn’t sense or see past 3 metres right now but he should be able to sense him.

“He-hey!”

“Quiet, my ability to silence sounds is going to disappear.” Ebony wasted the precious mana to speak in a random man’s voice.

They were in a single cell under some sort of abandoned barn. The farmlands were massive, getting out with 13% strength Flicker would take more than 6 hours and that was considering uninterrupted movement and if his condition didn’t deteriorate.

Ebony kicked down the next flimsy gate after running up the stairs. It flung open without a sound and he Flickered out of sight between the changing patrols and doorguards.

Except, he was blind further than 3 metres from his body and others were not.

“What the-!”

“What’s that thing?!”

“Shut up and stop them!”

‘Okay, poor execution. But that was the best I could do blind.’ Ebony heard the shouts before their bodies zipped forward and crashed into a thin wall. The wooden wall didn’t stand a chance.

“Be my eyes, give me situational information,” Ebony demanded.

“You just--flew us out of a barn. No one’s chasing, I can’t see far back..” Spy girl was mostly protected from the wind pressure but he couldn’t spare all his energy to protect her fully.

“Look forward, I can’t see where I’m going,” Ebony stated his needs before flipping her onto his back for a piggyback ride so she could see in front. He added a turtle shell on their back just in case. He would have the hands to fight if it boils down to it.

“Wha-then where are you bringing us?” She was numbed from torture and couldn’t raise the spirit to complain about the rough handling.

“I know the direction, but I can’t see obstacles so we might crash into a wall. I’ll be fine, you might not.”

Ebony Flickered without a pause.

“Big problem!”

“Just say it, don’t waste my limited energy to reply.”

“I can’t see as far as you can move in one burst! And my neck hurts.” Spy girl fought against the air pressure and plucked out the metal stake in her eye, arming herself with it.

The city’s healing immediately got to work to stop the flow of blood and repair whatever it could.

“Open skies?”

“Open but we’ll be exposed even more obviously.”

“Look out for my mana signature, I don’t know where I am.” Ebony decided to stay on the ground, they couldn’t afford to get into a fight so far away from denser population areas.

“What do you mean look for you? Your real body? Is this a spell or a golemic creature? How can you not know? You know what, I don’t want to know.” Spy girl reacted with exasperation before realising that knowing too much wasn’t good for her.

“They have diviners and they are already alarmed, it won’t take long for them to get to us…was what I was thinking but with your speed they need to get their higher-ups. That’ll give us time.”

Just like the spy girl said, it wasn’t till almost 3 hours later did she spot their first pursuers. She regained enough mana to manipulate the metal stake into a helmet and the thick frozen chains into a chest plate for her heart. It was just a thin piece of metal but was reinforced with mana. She was still stark naked under her chest and head. He slowed down once or twice for her to get abandoned farming equipment like hoes and shovels but it was only enough for some armour around her neck.

Ebony couldn’t see what she did to the enchantment and his mana sense wasn’t in tip-top condition. He also didn’t test the strength or durability of her spell-manipulated armour. It was too bad she couldn’t conjure metal. There was no such thing as metal mana ores either. That would simply be a raw ore.

“Reapers! Looks like they’re not bothering to keep me alive anymore.”

“Numbers, location, general abilities if you can’t see their class.”

“A whole ass squad. 3 close-ranged, 2 sword users, 1 great axe. 3 archers, 2 long burstbows, 1 normal longbow. 2 mages, 1 earth and 1…ice. Total of 8. Freak, they managed to find an ice mage to deal with your golem so quickly!”

“They are catching up?” He decided to estimate their pursuers' strength from their speed.

“In a few minutes, surrounded. Warrior ahead, go up!” Spy girl yanked on his neck to face up.

Ebony ignored the call to jump or take flight. That would simply put them into the archers' sight. From what he understood, long burstbows were simply sniper rifles.

“Exact time.”

“Two minutes give or take, they’re speeding up!”

Ebony slid to a stop. ‘I can’t see, no point running and wasting my energy if they are faster than me. Priority is to escape and retain enough energy and important information. So suppression with as little effort as possible and continuing the run would be the plan. Warrior first since they would run up to me.

“Dodge! Mana blade!”

He stood still till the wind pressure entered his range of sensation and leaned to the right. It had been a long time since he faced someone using a mana blade that shot ranged attacks. This was clearly stronger than what he faced as the ploughed earth beneath them tore asunder.

‘Too bad, so they are planning to keep their distance till their ranged support is here. Can’t save too much energy.’ Ebony Flicker forward and focused on his small range of sight.

The moment the vibrations separated in the shape of a human, his right knee flew up and rammed into the unknown face.

Blocked by metal, Ebony wasn’t phased by the great axe user’s taunt. Now that they were close together, he didn’t need the spy girl’s prompts. His knee straightened and the arm holding the axe was kicked up into the air, opening the warrior’s face. Spy girl was surprisingly fast to react and shot a needle into the man’s mouth but the Reaper scoffed and bit the needle in half before eating Ebony’s backthrust right in the face sending him toppling back.

Ebony spun for the back thrust just in time to crossguard the sword that came out of nowhere, aiming for the spy girl’s head. He sent a pulse of freezing through his arm and weapon. Pulling the frozen sword and hands forward and down to the ground, he Tremor Stomped the man’s chest into the ground with a smidgen of Frostweave Vital Constriction.

Disengaging the sword and taking it for himself, he lamented the loss of 3% of his mana on impact from the swordstrike and another 2% casting the spells.

The fallen man didn’t so much as scream but Ebony had no time to deal with him any further. Without the ability to see, 2 arrows planted themselves in his knees and another 2 explosions blasted his shoulders.

He melded the arrows out of his ice body. The sniper shots of explosive bullets didn’t hurt him, taking away less mana than the swordman’s strike, not even a single % loss actually. He mentally took away the snipers from consideration, their bullets and guns were too weak. However, he didn’t forget the first shot might not be their best. The mana infused in their bullets was extremely thin.

As for the arrows, all they did was put a hole in him. He couldn’t react in time to dodge or form a hole in advance for the arrows to pass through but they were still not as much of a threat to him compared to the warriors. On the other hand, they were a massive threat to the spy girl. He would need to harden his ice around her and take the arrow’s impact if he wanted to protect her and that would take a lot more mana than letting the arrow pass through his body.

The spy girl was hurt by the explosion but he didn’t ask about her injury and she didn’t care to complain. She was being healed anyway. Her metal armour seemed to be relatively unharmed, only the rust was covered in soot.

The slight vibrations in the ground made Ebony Flicker and maintain stable flight, he was more sensitive to change in mana concentrations than physical movements in his current state.

‘The swordsman stood up, so I can’t suppress him with so little mana.’

“How many of these squads do they have?”

“There shouldn’t be many that are so free and so close by. This should be the only group here but I’m not sure if they called for backup from other hidden bases.”

‘The Empire’s divination mages need to work better.’ Ebony had Calculated Hunch do the math.

He judged that it was still better to knock them down and run than to take hits while running.

“Earth mage hiding in the ground. Ice mage is getting into range…he started raising his staff! Should I get off you? Your body’s not going to turn into spikes and needle me to death is it?”

“...That’s a possibility but are you sure you want me to let you go now?”

“I rather not drown in mud and suffocate to death. No healings going to help me there but spiked and having wounds frozen shut doesn’t sound good either.”

“Lead me to ice mage, he’s the top priority.”

“About 4.2 gors to our right, he slowing down so I supposed we’re in his range.” Spy girl raised her arm and pointed.

“Spy girl, that’s 21km learn the metric system. Range-focused mages are such a bother.” Ebony Flickered to where she pointed and rammed into the ground right in front of the ice mage. He felt mana rubbing his entire body disgustingly but the mage wasn’t able to override his control immediately.

The moment of panic at his sheer speed and sudden appearance was enough for him to grab the staff and reappropriate the ice mana within. “Lucky me, his ice affinity is even lower than a small portion of my 31-day-old fading Will.”

Ebony commented out loud for both the spy girl and ice mage to hear. He grabbed the ice mage’s long beard with his other hand and planted his knee into the presumably old man’s face with it. The neck snap was loud and clear but the city’s healing didn’t only help them, it also helped their pursuers. Ebony had to expend the ice mana he just received to seal the man’s entire body before sending it flying back to where he came from. He didn’t want the earth mage to get hold of the ice mage.

He felt a sudden intrusion into his mana sense but not before his arm slid off his shoulders.

Ebony had the sliced arm burst a small layer of mist and Flicker out after sticking the ice arm back.

“What in the world is that creature?”

“More like why is it here?”

“Are ya dumb?! It’s here to break her out. I just didn’t think the Jaded Parasites cared about her so much. This creature must be alchemic! It has vitality but no metal or even organic parts.”

“Is it a spirit creature or an ice elemental under a tamer’s control?”

“Who can control an elemental? It must be a golem, spirit creatures won’t have such a solid physical form. At least, not one that’s so weak.”

“Can’t be a golem. It has no core.”

“A human found an elemental and managed to tame and teach it human techniques? Impossible. There aren’t even any elementals walking around.”

“Then explain what that thing is. It slapped old Chuck into tomorrow and I didn’t even see its ice form shake. What else but an elemental has that high of an affinity to be unaffected?”

“...looks like an elemental with a humanoid shape. Damn, the fighting technique is human.”

Ebony mentally praised the Reapers for being so calm but minus points for them for talking out loud. ‘So spy girl is part this Jaded Parasites? Maybe. I’ll file the name. They aren’t that incompetent. I’m already surrounded in the time I threw the ice mage away.’

He phased the sword he stole out of his body and gripped it. It was a twohanded longsword. He could morph into Ning Xin’s shape to wield it but that wasn’t ideal without two swords. ‘It’s okay, my body should be proficient with it. It better take off the impacts, I can’t afford to lose more mana. We’re barely halfway to populated areas and there's no confirmation that these people won’t continue their aggression.

Ebony detached both of his feet that got wrapped up in the earth and punched the axe wielder in the face. He couldn’t do anything about the earth mage hiding underground. He couldn’t use spells to aim at archers he couldn’t see or sense until they shot at him and he could follow their mana trail. The warriors were the only ones he could do anything to and only two of them remained close. There was one more he hadn’t clashed with yet.

The sword wielder that he stole from took out another weapon from nowhere, he must have spatial storage on him. The two warriors decided to meet him in combat and he obliged.

Leaning away from their swings and countering with his fists, he turned his hands into a pillar of ice and planted them into the ground but they broke free easily. Resistance.

The sword he stole shattered when he imbued his mana to strengthen it. A real shame, he miscalculated the quality of the weapon. Dozens of sucker punches and kicks later, they realised they couldn’t even touch him but he was sweating mentally, he was taking mana loss from attacking them.

‘An arrow! Great.” Ebony noticed the arrow this time around, he let it go through his head and freeze it halfway there to follow the trail of mana. Leaping towards the archer within 2 Flickers, he hugged the archer and forced the archer to draw his bow and take aim. He guided the archer’s arm with his own and got ready.

Turning himself into an ice attachment, he stuck to the arrow as he was released from the bow.

‘I can’t use any gravity. We’re too heavy to go far.’ Ebony latched onto the spy girl’s metal collar as they were shot away from the farmlands. He didn’t blame the spy girl for the metal, he was a few times heavier than her and her metal, even as a splotch of ice.

When the arrow started to loose velocity, he reformed his body, caught the arrow and Flicker away.

“Right in front!” Spy girl grabbed his head and swerved him to the left. “AAAH!”

Ebony’s body was cut into two along with the trail of the spy girl’s right arm from shoulder down.

“Creature. You cannot get her away. But I don’t care what happens to you. Leave if you know what’s good for you.”

‘New voice. He’s the swordsman that hasn’t made a move.’ Ebony stuck his body back together, lamenting the 18% mana loss that he couldn’t reclaim as his ice body was blown to bits. The amount of ice mana in the ice mage’s staff was pitiful, it was already all gone. He got his mana to extend and reached for the spy girl’s arm which was surprisingly in one piece. It sustained a clean cut which made it easy for healing.

‘Calculated Hunch…no chance. Haha, I don’t really want to die. How many Models did I reabsorb that were on the verge of death?’

Out of all his predecessors, most were destroyed in battle or training. Ebony did not reabsorb many back and did not receive the sensation of death.

‘My goodness, can’t I send myself to training and reabsorb my experiences to combine them? Now’s not the time to think about this. Do I abandon spy girl? But that’s pathetic of me, what if it’s Xin? If I can’t even place a portion of me at risk then wouldn’t I abandon Xin if our lives are on the line? If I go back and reabsorbed myself, I would regret it. It’ll be a shameful memory. Bah, what use is the information I got, I can get it again but I can’t revive spy girl. Change of priority, struggle and bring back this experience to myself.’

Ebony sealed spy girl in a separate container except for her wound and head. It looked like he was purposefully exposing her wound but that was simply how his healing worked. He cared not for the wasteful mana for keeping her afloat with mana.

He stretched his muscles of ice once again. The threat of death was real, Ebony could feel it. He feared it. And he was so happy he could get this feeling again. A Model could fear death?

Turning his smooth oval head in the swordsman’s direction, he formed a comically large smile on his face to show the man how wonderful the experience he was receiving from the man and bowed to show how thankful he was for the realisation that Ebony 38,889 was not just any Model.

He had to bring this back.

He was no mere Model.