Ebony's Fable

Ebony let his status slip away from his mind but he checked his notebook and his latest revision with the refinements and evolutions written down. There wasn’t much light from where he was but the constant dim flashes from outside Dusk was enough for him to read.

Skill update revision 102:

Perpetual Tranquillity Spring - A never-ending source of energy has formed in your mental world and mana chassis, breaking your state of mind is nigh impossible regardless of consciousness increasing Mana and Stamina rate by 800% + 10.0% per level, Perception by 500% + 10.0% per level.

Base Increment: 100% (regen), 200% (perception), complete tier 4 - perception per level increased from 5.0% to 10%

He was not very satisfied but the refinement was not easy to come by. It was proof that he could still improve his meditation.

As time passed and his stats increased, Ebony realised that he might have been overthinking the Elves who had greater mana regeneration than him. It wasn’t impossible that they simply possessed tier 5 Meditation and had a high Wisdom stat. A single tier up doubled the percentage scaling per level and the base refinement could go up to heights he had not reached in his short life.

Conditioning comes into play first, pushing his Wisdom to 5051.6. His Physique doubles that of a human’s so 20% base maximum mana per hour is regenerated instead of 10%. Essentially, 10,103.2 mana per hour. Preservation Bubble’s maximum mana increase wasn’t taken into account.

Fortification increased base regeneration by 750%, equivalent to an 8.5 times multiplier, 85,877.2 mana per hour.

At level 827 and his current refinement, his Core Skill increased his mana and stamina regeneration rate by 9070% or a 91.7 times multiplier.

7,874,939.24 mana per hour was Ebony’s mana regeneration rate so he had almost 131,249 mana to spend per minute. It was highly insufficient for his new skills since he was overexcited by tossing more mana into skill creation to increase the power of a spell. It was not an efficient way, but it worked. The number of skills that got more mana efficient was dwarfed by the number of skills that increased in mana consumption.

However, this wasn’t all to his mana regeneration.

‘Back to update, oh right I need to change these values. That’ll be for revision 103.’ Ebony put aside his constant urge to find another form of mana regeneration to compound with his current multipliers.

Arsenal of Will Domain - Spread your personal domain into existence with consolidated Will. Turn your body into the central core of your domain or summon a separate arsenal. The central core of the Arsenal of Will’s magic is strengthened by 900% + 5.0% per level. Control over your elements and magic is a static 1100% more robust.

Consumes 305,000 MP/Min

Classification: Domain Magic - Ice, Gravity, Sound, Sealing & Lightning

Base Increment: 150% (strengthening), 100% (static robustness)

Efficiency: Gravity and Ice (consumption 355,000 MP/Min/5 metre radius → 305,000 MP/Min/5 metre radius.) Great! But still disgustingly impossible at max compression, only plausible for Dusk at the moment.

Woven Frostblaze Augmentation - Combusting intricately woven mana in your mana chassis that had been directly conjured into Ice mana increases your Constitution by 500% + 5.0% of Intelligence. Strength and Endurance increase by 350% + 5.0% of Intelligence. Agility is increased by 200% + 5.0% of Intelligence.

Consumes 8000 MP/Min.

Classification: Ice Magic - Body Enhancement Magic

Base Increment: 150% (constitution), 50% (strength & endurance), 100% (agility)

Efficiency: 8800 MP/Min → 8000MP/Min

Arctic Rivertide Greatsword Technique - The advent of your greatsword is the advent of an arctic tide, each one greater than the last. Fluidity, balance, stability and deftness increase by 300% + 5.0% per level. Strength and speed wielding a greatsword increase by 250% + 5.0% per level. Momentous tides power the next tide with 5% of the preceding strike’s Strength.

Evolution: Ignited Frozen River Greatsword Style → Arctic Rivertide Greatsword Technique (finally, hard work proved talent is not everything)

Base Increment: 300% (base balance, stability, etc.), 250% (strength and speed(not agility)).

Decrement: No direct flame buff. Hypothesis - Melding overrides the flame buff

Special note: 5% stackable ‘force’, Calculated Hunch says compound, not flat

Special note 2: current limit, 202 stacks before being unable to maintain form, risk of backlash to the body increases exponentially after 198 stacks. This is considering peak state, unable to maintain peak state for long thanks to compression. At ‘sustainable’ state, max stack 39 before self-inflicted damage.

Woven Frostblaze Melding - Meld threads of freezing flames into an object, giving it its elemental property. Melded objects retain woven threads of flames for 100% + 10.0% longer without any intervention and are essentially inseparable. Has the effect of 650% + 10.0% of Intelligence when the target comes into contact with flames.

Consumes MP

Classification: Ice Magic

Evolution: Woven Frostblaze Cladding → Woven Frostblaze Melding

Base Increment: 150% (intelligence scaling)

Efficiency: Requires roughly 2.81 times the amount of mana cladding required.

Special note: Melding completely changes/destroys the original material or body. Not even I can remove the changes. Permanently imbues an object with woven threads of my ice. E.g. Iron becomes a form of cold iron. Need more data on how long this lasts and if the material will ever go back to normal.

Special note 2: Icicle has completely melded with my mana and this skill.

Special note 3: Robe has completely melded with my mana and this skill.

Special note 4: Please limit experimentation in case other equipment and materials turn obsolete or break after a certain amount of time (too late)

Special note 5: Self-experimentation. Success? Possibility of this being a physique refinement method: high.

Special note 6: Physique refined. Minor success.

Ebony was particularly impressed and pleasantly surprised that he finally refined his physique once, the normal way. Every part of his Physique remained the same except the addition of frost flames damage to his own body was reduced by 25%, allowing him to use greater compression degrees without killing himself as fast. Though no description of it, his natural body temperature was also decreased by a notch. Not freezing, but cold.

Perennial Frost Armament - All known armaments conjured with ice are strengthened by 600% + 10.0% Intelligence. Defensive conjurations in the form of a heavy shield or spherical orb, have the effect of 750% + 10.0% Intelligence. Further change in structure reduces said effect. Perennial Frost Armaments are 300% more resistant to change and external stimuli.

Consumes MP

Classification: Ice Magic

Evolution: Imperishable Frost Armament → Perennial Frost Armament

Base Increment: 350% (strengthening), 300% (defensive strengthening), 300% static (resistance)

Efficiency: Requires roughly 8.42 times the amount of mana an Imperishable Frost Armament of the same volume requires.

Special note: Resistance to change and external stimuli requires more data, so far, harder to melt, corrosive acid less effective.)

Ebony was particularly satisfied with this. By his standards, his conjured weapons were more durable than the average Empire's army Grandmaster blacksmith’s craft using Rare-quality materials. With his runes and magic, the special abilities of certain weapons weren't as powerful or diverse as his abilities.

Although the mana cost was rather ridiculous, he didn’t have to conjure these in the middle of battle and it suited Dusk very well with its even more ridiculous mana capacity.

Dusk was not considered an Armament but it received a portion of this skill’s buff on top of its Domain buff. Ebony estimated 30 to 35% of the effect was stacked onto Arsenal of Will’s core, Dusk’s main body. But the conjuration of Dusk received the full effect.

Ethereal Fluid Blitz - Maximise exertion of the physical body. Every attack is a precursor for the next using momentum. Ethereal flow and momentum seemingly come from no movement yet come from every wobble. Speed and power of ethereal blitz rises with movement. Ability to build up momentum increases by 500% + 10.0% per level. Ability to raise power and speed of flurry up to an additional 5% + 0.1% of Strength stat per level.

Evolution: Fluid Blitz → Ethereal Fluid Blitz

Base Increment: 250% (Build-up momentum), 4% (base static limit of power and speed increment from blitz)

Efficiency: No noticeable change in stamina consumption

Special note: Works best with Ethereal Form Arts, like an active skill for the art. Works with greatsword technique to 90% of the skill’s stated efficiency.

Special note 2: Completely incorporate it into sword technique before any further evolution or refinement.

This currently raises his effective Strength stat by 62.2%. He could hit top momentum in an average of 3.4 seconds but it greatly depended on who his opponent was. The stronger the opponent, the faster he could use their close-range clashes to build momentum. Maintaining that momentum was easy, especially with his greatsword technique thanks to its mass.

It was harder to stop. He hadn’t escaped the clutches of inertia but manipulation of gravity helped.

Frostweave Vital Bolster - A combination of arcane and ice, a seal of vitality is woven. Frostwoven targets have all activity slowed down by a static 70% + 0.05%. Will is consumed and imbued to guide the target's life force to condense towards regions leaking vitality. The inherent vitality of ice mana assists in bolstering the immobilisation of Vitality and prevents it from escaping with the effect of 400% + 5.0% Intelligence and mana with 200% + 5.0% Intelligence. The spell is 300% + 5.0% of Intelligence more physically robust from internal force and 350% + 5.0% of Intelligence more physically robust from external force.

Consumes Mana

Classification: Sealing Magic - Ice Magic

Evolution: Frostweave Vital Constriction → Frostweave Vital Bolster

Base Increment: 150% (sealing vitality), 100% (sealing mana), 100% (robust - internal), 100% (robust - external), used to be semi-tier 2 - fully tier 3

Efficiency: Requires roughly 4.53 times the amount of mana for Constriction of the same volume.

Special note: Static activity slowed; did not change after evolution. Current level unable to find out if it can reach 100% or what would happen after 100%.

Battle Hymn - Produce hymns of battle with mana vibrations, musical melodies producing effects of increased stat of 5.0% + 0.025% of Intelligence depending on melody per level.

Consumes 150 MP/Min

Classification: Sound Magic

Evolution: Battle Song → Battle Hymn

Base Increment: 5% (Intelligence scaling)

Efficiency: 30 → 150 MP/Min/per target

Special note: After compression - not mana friendly for a large number of targets

Special note 2: Use about 0.06% of maximum compression for the average Grandmaster freelancer - any more, and they risk dying from my mana poisoning. Triple that compression for the average knight. Xin doesn’t feel any pain until 42.22% of maximum compression, and can withstand up to 58.94% of maximum compression in base state. She can withstand my full buff in offence mode without any lasting damage, her vitality washes everything out and I currently cannot force my mana into her if she pushes it out with her vitality.

Special note 3: Awesome, currently I can stack 3 stats on myself. Wisdom, Intelligence and Endurance are the usual combinations I use. Xin can only use 1.4, anymore and she gets mana poisoning from me.

Special note 4: Battle Song used to be partially ineffective on myself when it came to Wisdom stat, to a lesser degree now. 40% effective for Wisdom, 100% for others. Extremely crucial part of my skill set. Focus on improving Battle Hymn.

Tempestuous Lull Pelt - Adeptly remove all gravity mana out of matter and envelope around the target as pelt of gravity. The ebbing flow of gravity is reversed and reacts with dilatant-like properties. Has the effect of 500% + 10.0% Intelligence. Order in disorder, tame the entropic nature of gravity mana to your bidding by 350% + 10.0% Intelligence.

Consumes 10,800 MP/Min

Classification: Gravity Magic

Evolution: Tempestuous Repulsive Membrane → Tempestuous Lull Pelt

Base Increment: 150% (repulsion strength), 200% (better control)

Efficiency: 2200 → 10,800 MP/Min

Special note: Acts similar to cornstarch, strong against strong, weak against weak but all at my discretion unless I’m unconscious and it acts that way by default. Easier to use in day to day, no longer pushes things away and possible to eat and hold items normally without conscious manipulation.

Special note 2: A lot thicker than membrane, starts to act from almost a finger-length away from my body.

Special note 3: Uses not just the pathetic amount of gravity mana from body and pure mana’s mass, but the gravity from surroundings. Maximum strength depends on the environment and my mental reach. Deeper underground, more dense gravity but the total amount I can compress stays constant. Implications - high in the sky, might have delayed spell cast since I need to draw gravity mana from a larger distance.

Special note 4: By utilising gravity mana in the area, the surroundings including any opponent or other entities are in zero-gravity condition or suction towards my spell should I choose to do so. Same for most if not all current gravity spells unless I specifically cordon off a region of magnified gravity, a bit more mentally intensive to do so. Very effective for various situations, most warriors become helpless.

Sonic Reverberation - Unleash a potent wave of vibrations upon an entity. Frequency increases by 5.0% per level. Sustained reverberations persist with 400 + 5.0% Intelligence per level, resonance disrupts mana formation until dissipation or expulsion.

Consumes MP

Classification: Sound Magic

Evolution: Sonic Intrusion → Sonic Reverberation

Base Increment: 400% (Intelligence scaling) - doesn’t not equal direct damage, just how long it continues hammering the target from within.

Efficiency: Requires roughly 4.31 times the amount of mana for Intrusion of the same volume.

This unassuming skill was actually one of the most useful for direct damage. It was even potent enough to cause mana disruption. Not useful against the non-magic Tetramyths but he could see it deadly for mages.

Torrent Path - Generate a stream of gravity mana between two points in space to propel or repel matter at 600% + 5.0% Intelligence.

Consumes 7,500MP/Min

Classification: Gravity Magic

Evolution: Firm Path → Torrent Path

Base Increment: 400% (Intelligence scaling)

Efficiency: 500 → 7500MP/Min/5 metres/stream

Special note: Use with care, differentiate between transport and attack spell. Pressure equals force over area. Attemps to kick a torrent path, successful. Attemps to slash a sharp torrent path as a ranged sword slash, successful but far more mentally intensive to maintain spell, reduces how many spells I can control temperorarily.

Gravity Quelling Vortex - Completely separate an entity’s gravity mana away from its body of mass. Separated gravity mana is commanded into a vortex and flow is increased in the strength of pull by 700% + 5.0% of Intelligence per level. The Quelling Vortex has the effect of 350% + 5.0% of Intelligence in keeping its contents inwards and quells chaotic outbreaks but also expels the contents with the same force.

Consumes MP

Classification: Gravity Magic

Evolution: Gravity Vortex → Gravity Quelling Vortex

Base Increment: 600% (Intelligence scaling), 350% (explosive)

Efficiency: Requires roughly 23.14 times the amount of mana for pre-evolution vortex at full strength.

Special note: Use with care, area of effect - not much control, too strong.

Special note 2: Most effective at keeping the contents sucked in…inside. Main use, storing Xin’s mana. The effect also strengthens the explosive strength when I release it.

Special note 3: Not exactly a black hole, but essentially one. Materials and objects sucked in can be released as a crushed orb or exploded into fragments like a grenade. Elemental mana like fire and lightning cannot be released as a crushed orb, but a mixture of rocks and earth might produce a sort of molten slag.

Special note 4: The ‘quelling’ properties require Will. According to Xin, her fire mana calms down slightly and no longer fights back to escape as hard. Amount of Will required - minimal(less than 0.4% required for a clone.)

Quake Kick - Infuse mana into a kick that can be directed to penetrate into or spread apart within the target. Mana will embed itself into a stationary position and quake violently in place. Mana embedding increases in strength by 350% + 5.0% Intelligence per level. Strength and speed of vibrations increased by 300% + 5.0% per level.

Consumes MP

Classification: Sound Magic - Physical Technique

Evolution: Tremor Stomp → Quake Kick

Base Increment: 200% (strength), 200% (sonic impact)

Efficiency: Requires roughly 2.46 times the amount of mana for Tremor Stomp.

Special note: First ‘physical technique’ classification, Odd as usual when I already have many physical skills. Tests revealed, only works with kicks now. Punching doesn’t give the skill buff effect.

Runic Mana Sculpting - Mould raw mana with or without any physical materials with mana manipulation. Sculptic runic endeavours into or on an entity with increasing efficiency and accuracy. Increases familiarity with repeated mana pathways and their effectiveness by 450% + 5.0% per level. Increases fine control over mana by 300% + 5.0% per level.

Evolution: Inscripted Mana Moulding → Runic Mana Sculpting

Base Increment: 330% (effectiveness), 200% (fine control)

Efficiency: Amazingly, only 1.32 times more mana costly for the same inscription.

Special note: ‘Effectiveness’ is vague, e.g. not direct power-up(multiplier) for tolerant stalwart foundation

Special note 2: Remember to frequently update Dusk’s Will to self-sculpt increased effectiveness runes.

Special note 3: Recently discovered ‘cap’ for ‘effectiveness’. ‘Cap’ is the runic formula itself, I need to constantly upgrade the runic formulas to more complex, mana-intensive, effective versions. Work on the runic language Korun.

Coagulated Mana Repository - The walls of the mana chassis are compact to their limits. Mana exceeding the natural limit of the mana pool will fill up and condense up till 800% + 10.0% before coagulating. Coagulated mana will line the walls of the mana chassis. Maximum charge of coagulated mana is static. Coagulated mana holds a static 15% more mana than completely condensed mana. Coagulated mana has a static 900% stability and resistance to change. Constitution is increased directly proportional to Intelligence to how compressed mana is in the body.

Base Increment: 300% (compression), 5% (static compression for coagulated mana), 400% (stability)

Special note: 400% stability and resistance to change also means it became that much harder for me to use this ‘coagulated’ mana. So far, I rarely have the chance to use it other than for experimentation. Currently, I see this as a negative. However, I believe it’s a positive change but I only have theories for when this would be useful.

Special note 2: I might not like this damn skill as much now. Mana Adjudicator increased density by 200% and this refers to base regenerated, it’s outperformed by the 300% increase in compressibility. My compression limit is increased by 8770%, all mana-skill/spells can be increased in power and scaling by 88.7 times and so does my mana cost. A single frost augmentation alone goes up to 709,600 mp/min, although, funny enough, I can’t handle even half of that compression before I take self-inflicted damage even after physique refinement.

Special note 3: Since I can’t handle full compression for augmentation, including a stack with tolerant stalwart foundation, this skill is finally working as a mana capacity skill as I have no choice but to decompress my mana. My speed and precision of decompressing mana needs work.

Special note 4: My body can handle full compression in my Domain, mana cost skyrockets accordingly. My mind can’t react or keep up with my own speed, but my Will and body can. Continue working on Melding, refining physique so I take less injury from my elements. Reduces need for Constitution stat.

Special note 5: I desperately need a mind-acceleration type of skill, Intelligence stat alone can’t keep up. My Will and muscle memory also cannot keep up, but not a problem in Slumber or unconscious state.

Tolerant Stalwart Foundation - Endow a specific set of mana pathways into one’s very own body. Source the runic endowment with 3800 mana per minute to increase base Constitution by 300% + 5.0%. Strength and Endurance increases by 250% + 5.0%. Impact, shear and elemental resistance is increased by 25% + 0.05%.

Mutation: Stalwart Foundation → Tolerant Stalwart Foundation

Base Increment: 100% (Constitution), 150% (strength, endurance), resistances scaling increased from 0.025% to 0.05 - proper tier 3 now.

Efficiency: 2500 → 3800 MP/Min

Special note: I changed the runic formula myself, it’s now more compact but a lot more complicated and might be the reason why it is a mutation not a refinement despite there being no observable change in effects. Cast time was increased by 3.2 seconds but went back to normal after a 428-point increase in Intelligence.

Side note: I was lucky my increase in frame and size from evolving did not affect the old version, I should create a few more versions in case my body size increases further in future.

Special note 2: Reason for ‘tolerant’ might be due to redundancies that I incorporated into the runic formula. Now, I still have the full effect even if I sustain a deep cut but losing a body part might cause me to lose a great percentage of the entire formula’s effect.

Preservation Bubble - Extension of your vitality a small distance outside your body to contain additional mana. Stability of vitality bubble is increased by 150% + 1.0% per level. Size of mana pool is increased by 100% + 1.0% per level.

Base Increment: 50% (stability), 50% (capacity)

Special note: My usage of Vitality is elementary. If I take critical, or large amounts of damage in a short time I can lose almost all of the mana stored in this extension of vitality. Extremely deadly for me, assume I don’t have this amount of mana when in battle. Stability helps, but tier 1 skill has its limits.

Ebony tapped his finger on the last page once more before closing it.

His body parts had regrown but he lost a boot. He was glad he had spare pairs.

‘The Necrochitin Saintess added wings to this group, how astute…’ He would have left Dusk if there was an escape route through the air but the wings from a sub-species not present cut that path.

Usually, undead had weaker defences after this form of body-only revival but when a specialised necromancer was their opponent this wasn’t true anymore. The Necrochitins were even tougher after being brought back.

The silver lining was that none of the sub-species here were Vitality or health regeneration focused. And the Necrochitins don’t seem to be able to heal at all.

They were killable despite their unimaginable stats.

It was why they were camping them. Ning Xin slew two of them amid escape since she knew she couldn’t sustain her peak state for as long as the Tetramyths with quantitative advantage.

Instead of her nutritive soup stock, Ebony bled himself in preparation for her consumption once she woke up. They were hours away from the main fortress, and all the top combatants were busy with their battles. As for the main army, the distance would take days if not weeks thanks to obstacles.

Sitting around and waiting for help was never a fallback either of them depended on.

Within Dusk were another 3 people, completely sealed and encased in ice except for their vitals. He hoped they could survive till he made it back to a healer. They were strangers he didn’t know and they were dying faster than their vitality could recover.

Their bodies were sealed and situated above the bomb shelter and clone production area. 6 Clones were also parked above the shelter, currently placed in sleep mode. He had them retreat the same time as he charged in with Ning Xin. It was unfortunate 2 of them didn’t make it as he originally had 8 to protect Dusk.

If what Ebony learned from the war with Trolls was not getting involved with war, then what he learned here was that he was more human than he thought himself to be. He learned a bit about ‘empathy’ and was pleasantly surprised that he was happy that his ‘empathy’ in the past was not faked or an act to appear normal.

He cowardly and selfishly protected his own interest, thinking that the lives of the people here had nothing to do with him. And he truly did believe that. People die every day, whether he see it or not.

However, his actions told him different things once he was down here.

He risked himself to prevent people from dying on multiple occasions.

He felt…helpless when he could prevent a person from dying.

The fact that he felt helpless highlighted that he cared about people’s lives. He also did not want to see people, humans or other races alike, to die from a horde of hungry ants. So he got more proactive at hunting over time.

He did not like how uncertain he was. Sometimes he cared, other times he couldn’t care less. It was a struggle he faced before he even arrived here. But ultimately, he would regret it if he didn’t help people he could help.

So Ebony regretted initially dismissing to assist in monster hunting with the lives of billions at stake. Regret was rather fresh for him.

The realisation allowed him to evolve Battle Song to Battle Hymn. By itself, Battle Hymn increased a stat by 16.375%. With his compression, it increased a stat up to 1452.4625%. A 15.52 times multiplier. And this was 40% effective for his Wisdom so almost multiplied his Wisdom by 6.20985 times. And so does his mana regeneration.

815,036 MP/Min.

And he wasn’t satisfied yet.

“Cold one, you can’t hide forever.”

Ebony sensed the ant right outside his door speak. It spoke Gia, the common tongue. He knew day-to-day language for Gia now. Its raspy voice wasn’t the Emperor’s. They couldn’t speak.

It was the Saintess who was connected through them by her Spirit Nexus.

He ignored it, numerous mandibles were chomping on Dusk. Sharp legs poked about and hard heads rammed. Dusk was losing tens of thousands of mana by the second but its power source had plenty in the tank. The ‘low’ consumption rate was evidence of how durable it was.

The Domain’s range was limited to the outline of Dusk itself. The hardiness of the Armament and Repository was at its limit since Dusk was the accumulation of months of mana. He could not afford to compress and strengthen his Domain. Not spending mana for a single day of 28 hours netted him over 1.36 billion points of Ebony-brand mana.

“Ugnn, noisy.” Xin muttered.

He would silence the vibrations harder but it was a waste of mana. They were already on a timer.

“Good morning.”

“Morning. I wasn’t saying the attacks were noisy, I was referring to all your thinking.” She eyed me before the cup of light purple fluid.

“Drink up, then inject your elements into Dusk. Just touch anywhere.” He ignored the comment, she was bluffing. There was no way she heard him think, she didn’t have that kind of power.

“60%?” She took advantage of Ebony helping her sit up against the wall and grab his hands while gently wrapping them around the cup of frost flame melded blood.

“Let’s go 90%, I’ll protect you so you can just sleep after charging. Dusk, fruit up. Gravity Quelling Vortex.” It wasn’t advisable for her to spend more than 60% of her mana on explosives and leave herself at risk but he prioritised creating an opening.

“How long can you quell that much power? I would like at least 2 hours to rest but…is that too much mental effort on your part?”

“That would take too much of Dusk’s mana, it requires full compression to handle that amount of your lifeforce and mana, don’t overdo the conversion of life force to mana. We don’t need that much power.”

“Hehe, did you know?”

“Know what?”

“You became even greater of an ingredient. Sister Jing tested me, your blood increased my lifespan by a year. And you know, these things don’t work well for us. Made into a potion, your blood might increase an average human’s lifespan by a century. It can also be made into various potions that can refine someone's physique in some way.”

Ebony couldn’t help but blink. She only drank his blood once in the past year, and less than a cup.

“Is that why…” He made sense of why they became bigger targets after the Tetramyths managed to hurt them on a few occasions.

“Yes, the Tetramyths managed to figure out how special our bodies are. If not for the fire in my blood, mine increases lifespan a few times better than yours.” Not everybody or creature could consume natural treasures and assimilate it into their bodies immediately, compatibility had to be taken into account. However, most creatures with highly evolved ancestors had strong adaptability and potential to evolve so direct consumption did not waste much of the ingredient’s energy and potential.

“I will get Sister Jing to make my blood into a potion.” Ebony

“She’s already looking for other ingredients to match your blood, oh I gave her a sample to test. And mine too I suppose.” Ning Xin shed light on some of the projects that Kong Jing was currently undertaking.

“Mmm, she could’ve asked. I hope it remains effective.” Ebony felt like weight had lifted off his ‘heart’. He might have put her short lifespan at the back of his mind but he never forgot about it.

He didn’t mind the mutual cannibalism, it was just a bit of blood donation at best.

Ning Xin licked her lips and squinted at him, “you are delicious.”

“Now is not the time to seduce me.” He knew she was coming on stronger over time. She was getting comfortable and impatient about their relationship.

‘It would be a lot easier if you weren’t growing stronger so fast!’ He complained inwardly.

He read. He experimented. He had clones to delegate studying. He needed less sleep, heck, he could fight and train in his sleep if he wanted.

But this terrifying genius was doing more than keeping up!