Ebony's Fable

Thud

The sound of something hitting the ground woken Ebony from his stupor but his mind was clearer than ever and he never felt calmer. He was let out of the ice cryopreservation before he was woken but he wasn't sure at which point in time he was freed. Looking around to see Gen hidden in his shell and the large ice bowl beside Ebony. Actually, Ebony had only assumed Gen was male from his gruff and deep mental voice. The shape of its shell was similar to Ton but maybe Ton and Gen were female instead. The bowl dropping was likely where the sound came from. It was empty.

‘Looks like I used up all the sap, hope that Gen’s not mad about that. Is he asleep in there? It felt like only a short time passed though.’ Ebony assumed.

Incessant ringing pounded in his head as Ebony sat down to rest as well, he recalled hearing some notification that he ignored throughout the process and its all coming at once.

‘Ting’ ‘Generic Skill Persistent Meditation level up 39 → 43’

‘Ting’ ‘Generic Skill Ice Mana Manipulation level up 13 → 22’

‘Ting’ ‘Generic Skill Persistent Meditation evolved into Deep Persistent Meditation’

Deep Persistent Meditation - Maintaining a state of mind of intense serenity, calmness and clarity every waking moment increasing mana and stamina regeneration rate by 2.5% per level. Slightly increased perception when in the state of meditation. Increased pain resistance.

‘Ting’ ‘Generic Skill Deep Persistent Meditation level up 43 → 45’

‘Ting’ ‘Generic Skill Cold Resistance evolved into Sheer Cold Resistance’

Sheer Cold Resistance (Passive) - Extended periods of exposure to the sheer cold allowed your body to develop a strong resistance to the cold. 2.5% more resistant to cold per level.

‘Ting’ ‘Physique has been tempered into Frostblaze Physique’

Frostblaze Physique (Passive) - By absorbing and assimilating freezing flames into your body having it seeped into even your very bones and organs your physique has been changed into one of the Frostblaze. Melding your mana into your body, your physical body is now partially made of mana, being inseparable, 25% of your mana regeneration also regenerates your health. Natural resistance to cold is increased by 50%. Natural resistance to heat decreased by 30%. Reduced physical needs of sustenance and sleep.

‘Woah, now those are some gains. 6 levels and another evolution in Meditation, 9 levels in Ice Mana Manipulation, an evolution in both Cold Resistance and Persistent Meditation and also a tempered physique?’

‘So skill mutation changed the skill in some way while evolution just made whatever it does better? 2.5% is a large improvement from 1.0%.’

Persistent Meditation probably evolved when his mana manipulation turned automatic, he was able to manipulate mana without much mental effort. Ice Mana Manipulation had great gains since it was basically all he was doing.

Cold Resistance was not making much sense to Ebony now, a quick check confirmed he didn’t take a single damage to his HP but it still managed to induce a skill evolution though it didn’t level even once.

‘Maybe Gen’s semi-cryopreservation affected it in some way.’

Frostblaze Physique gave Ebony even more questions, honestly he only expected his stats like strength and constitution to increase when Gen said it would strengthen his physique. His stats remained unchanged, he didn’t feel stronger or tougher when he tried to flex and pinch himself.

His skin did feel different though it was smoother, fairer and paler, not exactly albino but paler than he’s ever been.

‘I thought the sap was for strengthening, not a beauty treatment,’ he joked.

‘Jokes aside, the main takeaway is that my body is apparently part mana now, a quarter of my MP regeneration will heal HP as well. That’s kinda freaking awesome, wouldn’t Deep Persistent Meditation regenerate HP, SP and MP? But would that mean my MP regeneration has decreased by a quarter? Will have to find out when I take damage and use some MP. Will my hand not heal? All this on HP regeneration but my HP is still stuck at 53 and I still can’t form a proper grip with my left hand. Is natural resistance to cold any different from the cold resistance skill or does it mean his base resistance? Most likely base resistance. It’s not all good though, now I’m even weaker to heat than I already was. Or well, heat based attacks deal 30% more damage. Reduced physical needs of sustenance and sleep. Should mean I need less food, water and sleep, maybe even air.’ Ebony ruminated.

“Ebony… were you successful…” Gen whispered in his head, sounding incredibly weaker than before.

“Yes. Yes, we were.” Ebony replied, knowing that he was successful due to Gen’s help

“...Good. Good. 3 moons have passed and I feared your body was unable to handle anymore. You were actually this close to not waking up anymore. Fortunately my worries were unfounded as you even managed to take in everything.” Gen didn’t sound like he was joking.

‘3 whole days passed? Felt like hours to me, must have been due to Deep Persistent Meditation.’ Ebony ignored the comment about not waking up ever again. He was up and about so no point worrying about something that didn't happen. He was just curious since his HP didn’t budge at all, could he die with HP remaining?

“Thank you, Gen. I am in your debt, I am sorry I used all your precious sap up. When I get strong enough I’ll definitely come back and get rid of the weapon that plagues your kind.”

“Mmm...get on, I have to get back to recover my mana and feed the progenitor essence right away.”

“Sure, let’s go.” Ebony said, climbing onto Gen. He already bothered Gen for 3 straight days, unaware of the specifics of the process for Gen but it was definitely not as simple as keeping him in a seal and pouring sap on him, there was still the essence or lifeforce part that Ebony didn’t understand. From how tired Gen seemed no doubt was he low on stamina and mana. Not wanting to trouble him any further, Ebony hastily got on his shell.

Gen’s lethargy obviously didn’t impede his ability as they sped back down even faster than when they came up. Arriving at Gen’s original spot almost immediately, Ebony got off his back and something else landed beside him.

“You should rest too, let your body adjust. Don’t leave yet.” Gen instructed before Ebony could even glance at what was beside him and cooped up back into a snow dome.

A stick was sticking out of the snowy ground, it was a leaf Ebony forgot he wanted. Half stabbed into the ground. Unable to form a tight grip with his left hand he could only use his good arm to pull it out.

Pulling it out by its stalk, Ebony was kinda embarrassed when he had difficulty doing so. ‘Thank goodness there’s no one looking, this isn’t exactly Excalibur.’

It was almost as tall as him at about 1.5 metres in length, the stalk took almost ⅓ of that length. It was a 3 bladed maple leaf with 2 blades at the side being oddly short in comparison with the main blade that’s more than a metre in length. Wider than both palms put side by side, all in all it looks like a large sword in the shape of a leaf.

Nonplussed at its weight, Ebony dragged it along the snow back to his igloo.

‘No wonder Gen said it would serve well as a weapon. I can’t bend or break it as expected and it’s sharp too, it’s a greatsword in disguise. But first off is food, I’m starving. And sleep.’ Ebony thought as he fiddled around with the dried leaf.

Having made the mistake of wearing his body down with all the running, he lost a lot of water content from sweating. All the mental effort in trying to control his output of mana in the beginning was also wearing him out. Even with his Frostblaze Physique apparently reducing his need to eat and sleep, going without them for 3 days was still too much.

Gobbling up thirtyish crabapples, unconcerned about what a damn waste it was for its healing effect before falling asleep there and then.

Checking his watch when he woke up refreshed he didn’t even know how long he slept since he didn’t check his watch before he fell asleep. Fortunately, his watch seemed to have survived being frozen as it was still ticking. It was the only memento he had left from his family after all, it would suck to lose it.

Taking stock, he still had 73 crabapples left and a fruit only diet was not working so well for Ebony. ‘I would be fine with eating only fruits if they were glorious plums but I could really use a nice warm meal now.’ Ebony fantasised about his beloved plums together with soup, meat and alcohol.

‘Gen’s still recovering and he told me not to leave yet so what better to do than levelling some skills up?’ Ebony thought.

Giving his status a quick look while he was at it, there weren't any skill levels gained from sleeping this time. Though he did notice his HP going up to 55, it seems like he was actually healing this time, as slow as it was, it was better than nothing. Reckoning it was all the healing crabapples or his new physique at work. Likely both.

Reevaluating how he trained his skills, Ebony scraped the thought of grinding his Running the way he did. His current shoes were not made for running and gave him some blisters though it healed when he woke up.

He did his daily stretches and training, then ran less intensly, then he trained his Ice Mana Manipulation and body enhancement magic. But if he was going to fight anything or anyone at all he should have trained his body together with his magic. After all, he needs to get used to fighting with everything he has at his disposal. It was really dumb of him not to move when he used Icebody Enhancement.

The plan was to train his body while using Icebody Enhancement to get used to the buff and decrease in agility. And since he had a huge ‘leaf’ blade he might as well try swinging it around.

Pulling in surrounding ice mana to conserve his own MP, Ebony was rammed across the snow tumbling around hard. Coming to a stop he quickly stood up and looked towards what hit him only to see Sei standing there. Feeling no hostility from her, Ebony could only wonder what she wanted from him. Perhaps it was only a friendly greeting for turtles to send someone flying with a giant snowball.

Finally feeling pain in his side where he was hit, he only just noticed he took 8 damage from that and he couldn’t move his left arm anymore. “What did you do to deserve this?” He couldn’t help murmuring to his left arm.

Not to brag but Ebony believed himself to have a high tolerance for pain. Even now, there was no change in his inscrutable expressionless face. Getting increased pain resistance from Deep Persistent Meditation only accentuated the fact. Unsure if it was beneficial if his response to pain was lagging.

Sensing an immense amount of ice mana from Sei heightened his alert despite being unable to come up with a reason for whatever she was doing to him. Slowly another Sei formed in front of Ebony, an ice sculpture copy of Sei.

Hissing at Ebony to get his attention they shared a long look before Sei knocked the dried leaf sword over. ‘Haha… what better way to train to fight than to fight?’ Enlightened, Ebony picked up his leaf with his one good arm.

It was heavy, he estimated it was around 8 to 10 kilos, he could pick it up but with its size and dimensions it would be a struggle to swing it as a sword like he used to. Ebony has always liked swinging his old wooden sword with one hand so he wasn’t that bothered by the handicap. However, even a heavy greatsword like the zweihander was only about 2-4 kilos, this was in a class of its own.

Clone Sei charged straight at Ebony, reminiscent of the boar albeit larger. This time, Ebony was on guard with new skills and Treading Step didn’t just increase his movement speed it was also his footwork that he had long learnt from his mother. Dodging aside and slashing upwards at its protruded neck when it passed him, leaving a thin mark on it.

‘It’s tough and this leaf is too heavy for me to even hold upright.’ Ebony let the leaf rest on the ground digging into snow trying to imitate a longsword stance, the fool’s guard. The leaf had no pommel or crossguard and it almost slipped out of his grip when he landed the scratch on clone Sei, freezing his hand to the leaf so that he doesn’t lose his grip or cut his fingers out by accident.

Ebony still didn’t know how to convert his mana to ice mana like his Icebody Enhancement does so he had to use the ice mana in the surrounding to do this, surprised that it didn’t hurt or even feel that cold.

Clone Sei turned and closed the distance between them, using its head like a club, it swung at Ebony. Blocking it with the leaf was a bad move since he was sent tumbling again. Trying to use Icebody Enhancement again Ebony noticed that he couldn’t manipulate the ice mana, as if solidified and held in air, he couldn’t budge them at all.

Sei hissed again, ‘The ice mana is under her control huh.’ Ebony thought as he gave up wrestling control over the ice mana. Running Icebody Enhancement with his own mana, hoping that she couldn’t stop that had worked. It wouldn’t last long so he had to make the best of it, no matter how small the buff was now, every bit counts.

Already in front of Ebony, clone Sei opened wide for a bite which Ebony greeted with a full powered thrust. Clone Sei had no throat though, it bit on the leaf and swung it back together with Ebony. Sliding to a stop, Ebony ran towards its back aiming for its short tail. Feeling his joints being slightly stiff affected his movements, most likely a side effect of Icebody Enhancement and its drop in agility.

Honestly with Icebody Enhancement only at lvl 2 the 17% rise in Constitution and 12% rise in Strength and Endurance based on his Intelligence was not worth decreasing his agility by a static 20% at all, of course it was another story when his skill level and Intelligence stat increased. It was training and he had to start somewhere so Ebony didn't stop using it.

Ebony tried to attack it as much as he could, moving around the clone's big body and avoiding its front and head. He wasn’t doing much more than shaving some ice off but that didn’t stop him from trying. His mana depleted quickly and so was his stamina, keeping his breath as steady as always was the best he could do to conserve stamina. Only when he couldn’t raise his leaf anymore did he realise clone Sei was not even moving anymore.

‘Ting’ ‘Generic Skill Treading Step level up 15 → 16’

‘Ting’ ‘Generic Skill Icebody Enhancement level up 2 → 4’

Two levels in Icebody Enhancement was pretty good for such short usage of it. Training magic skills was highly inefficient, if his wisdom was any lower it would take days or even weeks to get the skill to level 10 to prompt getting a class. If everyone’s mana regeneration was 10% of their maximum per hour, it would take 10 hours fully recover and with Icebody Enhancement as his only example consuming 50 MP per minute, training it to level 25 or higher would maybe even take months or longer as it gets harder and harder to level a skill the higher it goes. Of course this is not counting any other methods of recovering mana, if there were HP healing fruits having MP healing ones wouldn’t be weird right?

Deep Persistent Meditation - Maintaining a state of mind of intense serenity, calmness and clarity every waking moment increasing mana and stamina regeneration rate by 2.5% [112.5%] per level. Slightly increased perception when in the state of Mediation. Increased pain resistance.

Thinking of bringing up the skill info for Deep Persistent Meditation went smoothly and there was even a calculated value based on his skill level. If what Gen said about not being able to regenerate mana while casting magic was true then Persistent Meditation would be extremely useful in the long run. Even now, it helped by more than doubling his mana regeneration but the most noticeable effect as of now was his stamina he was back up on his feet in less than 5 minutes.

Taking the chance to train with his leaf sword, his earlier usage could only be described as pathetic if he had to say so himself. Its weight and bulkiness caused it to pull along Ebony’s body when he swung it with power throwing him off balance the whole time.

Testing different forms, swings and thrusts till he ran out of stamina again. It just didn’t fall into place smoothly like he’s used to. With how heavy and slow it was, every swing would leave him wide open. It was also difficult to transit from one swing to another. He had to kick the body of the leaf upwards to thrust it and the tip of the leaf would drop to the ground as he didn’t have leverage to hold it in place for long with a single arm. It strained his forearm.

Continuing with his somewhat foolish motions whenever his stamina recovered. Feeling a little more comfortable with it after prancing around with it but not exactly there yet. Standing up for his 4th cycle, clone Sei moved as well. It didn’t attack immediately but started… splitting, it split off into 3 smaller versions of it instead.

“Time for round 2.” Ebony said while watching the 3 not exactly mini Seis come after him from different directions.

They were going for bites at his legs and torso, dodging two aimed at his feet and slashing at the one aiming at his torso. It let go of the leaf this time but there was a thin layer of ice left of the surface which Ebony could only assume was going to be injected into his body if it bit him.

The assault continued as Ebony dodged, blocked and countered whenever he could with the ice sculptures getting more and more coordinated in their attacks. They even started to use some ice magic though low in lethality, ice sheets on the ground to make Ebony slip though he didn’t fall for that and snowballs the size of tennis balls for projectiles.

They stopped their assault again when Ebony slipped and got his face planted with snowballs. His stamina was dropping faster than against lifesize clone Sei. Perhaps due the increase in intensity and numbers of attacks, traps and projectiles he had to watch out for.

He didn’t gain any skill levels, possibly from what a short time he lasted but it was good training for Treading Steps. He was also starting to get around the weight of the leaf from deflecting snowballs. He just had to move along with the pull from his swings and twist his body rather than transiting from one slash to another. Letting his swings flow as one continuous motion.

Having multiple opponents helped him realise this as he had to block a series of attacks that hardly had any gaps in between for him to take advantage of to change his guard. Turning and kicking a snowball aimed for his chest Ebony used the momentum to complete the 360 turn for a slash with his blade. ‘Hmm? This might work.’

Using a sword of this proportion with a single hand was seriously flawed. Wide swing breaks his stance leaving him wide open, twisting and turning left his back wide open as well. Mixing in kicks could reduce his openings but it would be difficult if he had to dodge and kick at the same time.

Right as his stamina recovered, Ebony was met with a snowball flying towards his face which he barely managed to avoid by jerking his head aside.

‘She was actually keeping tabs on how fast I recovered… hot damn.’ Impressed by how smart Sei was, Ebony believed she was changing how she attacked him based on his abilities that he showed.

The first clone Sei was too tough for Ebony and just whacking or getting whacked by it didn’t really help. Making 3 smaller ones instead helped train his judgement when facing multiple attacks that he could react to. The forming sheets of ice on the ground and projectiles trained his footwork and reaction.

The 3 ice turtles were slightly faster this time and changed their tactics as well. One of them jumped up high, kept its legs into its shell and started spinning like a top towards Ebony. Obviously seeing it coming Ebony was going to avoid it rather face it head on, only to be stopped by the other two ice turtles. Jumping out of the way just before the spinning leap landed deep into the snowy ground. The two ice turtles only managed to graze his pants.

‘That would more than just break a bone or two.’ Ebony was undisturbed by the fact, the pressure only calming him down.

Sei’s added new tactics or changed old ones from time to time, never letting Ebony get used to any one type of attack. Snowballs slowly increased in number and projectile speed. Freezing his feet onto the ground. Walls of snow to block his retreat. Chains of ice from the ground pulling his arm or leaf away to leave him open to snowballs.

Relentless, Sei even started pushing Ebony to fight in an exhausted state with his Agility, Perception and SP regeneration rate decreased. Ebony welcomed the challenge, the higher the pressure the faster he would get stronger.