A similar exchange between Ebony and Gao'larg repeated over and over again. Ebony improved but Gao'larg didn't lag behind much. They knew each other's skills better and better. The Troll was surprisingly sneaky and had so weird life force imbuent that sent flying blades that he hid. The giant's sense of timing and positioning got better over ti and made many moves that Ebony couldn't dodge even if he tried. He countered the spell with a spell but other than that, magic wasn't used heavily.
Gao'larg knew that he was better off saving his energy for attacks that he was more familiar with.
Ning Xin was the reaper who went around sending challenges to those who beat the Imperials. For those that didn't accept her challenge, she gave them a chance to team up. She gave them the choice of escaping or duelling her. So far, all chose to fight her and died. On the second day, Athena ca out victorious against so of Baldur's squad mbers. She had been accompanied by so Imperial Knights but less than half ca out. Athena left by herself to get healing. She said her farewells with Ning Xin when Ebony had been too busy fighting.
According to her, Cap Dwarf and Korben were in danger and Koawe had to protect both of them at the sa ti but she couldn't interfere and couldn't enter their ring. Ebony was more worried for them than intrigued about what spells Koawe used.
Lucas had killed one of his opponents but the other wasn't dying anyti soon. He seed to be doing fine but he was getting more exhausted compared to his opponent. It was no surprise as his opponent was a rank higher. The stat gap only got bigger as their levels increased.
Mallory's battle was probably the worst. She wasn't able to keep all her soldiers alive which probably shook her more than it shook them.
"MOUNTAIN REEEND!" Gao'larg yelled out his evolved move that almost killed Ebony when he pulled it off the first ti. Ebony didn't cheat with magic and he took it head on. After all, he had his own skill evolution. Ceaseless Onslaught had evolved before Gao'larg was pushed to improve his own.
Fluid Blitz - Maximise exertion of the physical body. Every attack is a precursor for the next using montum. Speed and power of fluid blitz rise with montum. Ability to build up montum increases by 150% 5.0% per level. Ability to raise power and speed of flurry up to 0.05% of Strength stat per level.
It still had Ceaseless Onslaught's usage of montum but Ebony was able to apply this semi-active, semi-passive skill to increase his physical strength and speed. Although the skill description states that he was maximising exertion it wasn't really so. He does it subconsciously but it was just exerting more stamina to convert to strength. If he uses less stamina, he gets less power or speed. The good thing was that it was not a sword or weapon-specific skill, he could use it whenever he needed.
The bad thing was that he wasn't able to consciously control how much stamina to burn and most of the ti, he wasn't able to get the maximum buff. It felt like he had to 'emotionally' channel strength but that doesn't make sense to him. Perhaps it was sothing like berserks' gain in strength and that was how they channel more strength and have low endurance. 'No, it's definitely a berserker's skill. I should find so books on that.'
It just wasn't very energy-friendly. At above level 400 he should be able to draw out up to 20% more speed and power based on his strength stat. During the clash with Mountain Rend, he was able to draw out his maximum power but his stamina consumption at least tripled for a short duration.
Stalactite Drop also mutated into Stalactite Sunder and was refined once. It was a pretty new skill so its level was pretty much skyrocketing.
Stalactite Sunder - Ice and physical attacks have 200% 5.0% falling montum when used in conjunction with gravity magic. Ice spell landings' ability to slow down the release of montum on impact increases by 150% 5.0% per level.
He could cast the 'spell' with his greatsword or even his legs and it would accelerate down far faster than usual. The slowing down of the release's base originally increased by 100% but was refined to 150%. The skill effect is weakened quite a bit if he were to use it with Fluid Blitz. Montum doesn't stack and he wasn't always able to move downward slashes against a larger opponent. The interesting thing was that the magic classification and consumption of mana information don't show up any more. As if physical skills didn't get nurical values for stamina consumption.
Phantom's Flicker was refined a few tis but he didn't focus on removing the negative percentage, he worked on short-distance movent and perfecting the amount of stamina used. It reduced the physical load on his legs. However, the skill description didn't change at all and only the negative percentage changed in response. It went from -500% to -350%.
As if to counter him, Gao'larg got faster as well. He didn't know if the Troll saved stat points, refined his movent skill or his enhancent. He was inclined to believe it was an improvent to his enhancent as he didn't get as injured as before after facing Stalactite Sunder at full power. Now that Gao'larg had a smaller sword, he was able to fight in his condensed fra which he was much stronger so that might be the other possible reason for having fewer injuries.
Gao'larg went through multiple greatswords and Icicle was getting mistreated. Icicle seed to be getting tougher and repairing itself faster but it didn't change its fate as both of them were getting rougher with their weapons. Ebony noticed that the Troll only had 3 swords left, one of them was clearly a rarity higher so the Troll must have reservations about using that. He asked during one of their break tis, apparently, Gao'larg wasn't supposed to use that yet. They both knew it wasn't long before he was forced to use it.
Ning Xin took breaks with them and was their personal chef. She sensed a weak life force signature from Gao'larg's greatsword. Gao'larg admitted that the sword supposedly ate its user's life force in exchange for adding power to its strikes. As for how it increases power, it was most likely through the flying physical shocks that all their swings produce. This made Ebony guess that it probably increased destructive or piercing strength.
Troll craftsn were getting better at their job. It fits their race's advantages well. But it was probably one of the few such weapons, he hadn't seen any of these weapons in use.
With Gao'larg's reduced size, Ebony was able to face Mountain Rend with his Stalactite Sunder having most of its effects. He reinforced Icicle with layers upon layers of scales and Gao'larg actually copied his scales with his life force. They clashed, blowing both of them back and destroying the layer of protection they added to their weapons. Gao'larg landed first and ran to the side, Ebony did the sa as they searched for an opening.
Ebony Flickered in for a thrust with as much strength and montum as he could draw. Gao'larg was a good reference for how to withdraw more strength. He just had a hard ti making it flow, there was no chance that he was going to sacrifice all his mobility and manoeuvrability so it wasn't easy to blend into his own style.
He was a one-trick pony that dealt with all of Gao'larg's moves the sa way. He was able to adapt to the giant far better and faster than the giant could adapt to him.
His control over gravity was improving heavily when it ca to assisting his movents and attacks. At least, he could keep up with his enhanced speed. Overall, even in a direct exchange of power, he was closing the gap faster than Gao'larg could widen it. Outside of a direct exchange, there wasn't much that was new. He could have evaded many of Gao'larg's attacks even if Phantom's Flicker was still Treading Stride. It was just that he could depend on Icicle to parry and counter far more without relying on evasion.
Even with a better understanding of the placent of his weapon in guards, he didn't think he could fend off most of Ning Xin's strikes so he was still slightly dissatisfied.
They spoke with each other less and less during breaks after both fallen and had their greatswords out of commission. It would've been better if there was alcohol to share but Ebony doesn't carry around large volus of alcohol. His bag contained mostly rations and materials.
Ebony dodged backwards to prevent getting knocked back by Hamring Wave and Gao'larg's eyes brightened.
"MOUNTAIN REEND!" Gao'larg scread again.
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2 dark red greatswords spawned right above and below the Troll's actual sword. Gao'larg learned from him and left so strength to dash forward after an attack to catch him when he dodged back and was off the ground for a short duration. The Troll wasn't out of surprises yet, indeed a talented warrior.
'Did he think Frigid Refraction was an actual physical move, are these life force blades physical or illusionary?' He pondered but was already sent flying before his thought finished.
Inscripted Mana Moulding, Stalwart Endownt, Stock Mana Compressive Chassis and Frostblaze Augntation all improved to so degree but his hands broke on impact. Icicle was tightly gripped and was still in one piece. Ebony looked up to see the dark red demon in the air. Not even letting him hit the ground before leapt with a twist, combining Hamring Wave's spin into a single-handed Raging Torrent. From the looks of it, he was only going to pull off one more strike as if it was a Stalactite Drop. The Troll didn't have amazing stamina but he learnt how to conserve so strength.
'He learned how to blend moves together as well…'
Gao'larg forgot to yell his skill na, only roaring with vigour. In the midst of his falling sword, he regained his size and redirected his condensed life force into his greatsword. He was really going for the break to reduce his bodily toughness for his weapon to attack and weapon to break through.
Ebony initially shouted as well but he cooled off, it wasn't really his thing. It didn't energise him, hurt his throat and his yell sounded odd because he rarely ever does that. Gao'larg's attack fell into the range of his domain where all sounds were silenced out.
He could actually just stand there, point Icicle up and Gao'larg's attack would skid down to the ground while his greatsword stabbed into Gao'larg through the chest and lungs. With the ice mana inside, a simple release of condensed mana was all it would take.
But he didn't.
He might be in the air but he didn't need to calculate to know that he could ground himself in ti. The Troll was talented but he wasn't picking up timing and gauging well enough, nor was he taking into account how fast Ebony could just have gravity plant himself down.
He didn't cast Gravity Vortex above Gao'larg to reduce his power. He didn't conjure nurous petals to freeze the undefended Troll who moved part of his enhancent to his weapon. He pulled back his Will to let the Troll move without facing vibrational reflections, stop his ice mana from defending him and didn't have gravity work against the attack. He only used his domain to strengthen himself.
What he needed was to polish his technique and skill with Icicle.
This strike was a bit disappointing as they were both off the ground. Even if he didn't have the strength to push Gao'larg's blade away, he could easily push himself to the side. His greatsword was already placed in front so it didn't take any effort to pull it off. Using that to recenter and ground himself, he was surprised that Gao'larg bounced off the ground with that strike before he twisted and continued chaining Hamring Wave. The talented warrior was switching his thods around to deal with Ebony better, likely seeing the futility of putting all his strength in a single move and breaking their weapons.
'Now that's more data for .'
❅❅❅
Ning Xin was a little unhappy to see Ebony restart his weapon mastery training with soone else and not her. To be absolutely fair, his rate of improvent when it ca to sword-wielding was just too slow compared to hers. He used his flexibility and control with magic to deal with her and his unnatural ability to know where her next couple of attacks were going to co from. His reliance and focus on magic training had hindered his growth when it ca to sword fighting.
That aside, she sat outside their battle's range and observed. Unlike Ebony, she didn't need to be in the battle itself to learn from it. He needed his body to rember through pain but she had full control over her body. It was only a pity that there wasn't much to learn from either of them when it ca to direct exchanges.
She crossed her arms at Gao'larg's attempt to blend Ebony's style into his own. Ebony was doing better.
About 30% of the Trolls were winners of the duels. She hoped to have let the n who died achieve more…peace after they died but she also respected that both sides willingly accepted death battles so she gave these winning Trolls the option to scram back to their land or to fight her. If they didn't accept a one-on-one challenge, it didn't make much difference except giving her a chance to escape should things turn bad. There would be no ring of light forcing them to fight to the death.
Although Mallory's fight seed to be going really bad because the spirit user Shamans were strong and most importantly, hard to deal with, she wasn't very interested in getting close to watch their mini skirmish.
'Hmph! He's trying to close the gap with our physical abilities? I can't lose!' Ning Xin spawned her blood halo. It was very special for a spell. The blood halo's connection with her was strong, strong enough that it weirdly carried her with a ntal pull and was her original thod of flight.
From the centre of the halo, a fireball was conjured. 'I knew it, It didn't take much ntal effort! I'll have it around from now, it'll constantly shoot fireballs at him when we clash…no, he has too many clones. I'll have to see how many of these halos I can maintain. The more fire mana I pump into them, the easier it is to control. I'm getting closer to being able to command fire mana to move by itself but not even close to using Will to influence them…'
She couldn't use this 'Will' at all so she had no idea how to train that ability. In that sense, she was more on the track of how a normal mage advanced. Her control over fire mana was simply very good, having a high affinity with it only made it easy for her. Just an advantage of being the daughter of a high-level fire mage, it wasn't anything special. It seed special to the Imperials since none of them were a pair of Emperor's kids but the only advantage was that she picked fire magic faster.
There was a limit to that advantage and both of them were reaching the limit of these advantages. These centuries-old elder knights and soldiers from Fourth Tide really seed to have high refinents for their skills. There was nothing she could do about that other than spend more ti on training.
She tested how many halos she could maintain before it started distracting her. Sadly, two was her limit. Any more and she needed to consciously move them around her. She preferred to be able to have at least 99.99% of her focus on her body. It was nice that these halos seed to be an extension of her body. They could move a tre around her like another pair of arms that she had total control of. Any further and it would take actual effort like casting a spell and she didn't want to risk losing the attention and focus.
They could be decent defensive disks if need be but not worth counting on to protect her if she couldn't dodge whatever attack it was. Shooting out blades of blood, wind, sparks of lighting and fire spears and balls seed to be their primary function for now. She had to be careful not to overuse it since her mana supply wasn't all that high but she couldn't wait till she evolved or her mana capacity to increase to train it. She couldn't lag behind Ebony!
Ning Xin knew that the Frost Elves didn't tell them that Fifth Tide was contractually under their protection because they either forgot about it or didn't really care much about it themselves. At least a few of those elders in Arcta should be aware but they weren't combatants. She was just glad that this fiasco was almost over. She didn't need the Trolls to level her skills fast anymore. She already settled her skill set and wanted to get so quiet ti to work on them. Refinent needed ti and effort and not an opponent, if she needed skill levels dungeons would work.
Yvette wasn't answering her calls. Navin was supposedly secretly missing. The Archduke of Dwarfs who should've been in Fifth Tide didn't show up in any other Tide. Her Grandma was still uncontactable. Her Sister Jing was in a world of her own as usual. It was also news to her that Sister Jing reforged her brain. She never seed unnaturally smart or anything but it was likely that her sister never bothered about making herself smarter in a traditional sense. It was most likely improvents only for her crafting and maybe magic rather than pure logical smarts. Because Kong Jing was a bit slow in certain aspects, like Ebony.
Ebony was only going to get stronger faster. That was what her intuition told her. His eting with Korta accelerated this. She had a bit of an advantage with cultivating her physique but she had hit a limit already. He would probably be working on it. It would do him good to visit the Frost Elves second village if possible. She personally wanted to visit Fragadal's Sea to find both clues about her parents and also more of Heartblood Essence of the Gluttonous Solar Blooded Phoenix. However, she didn't think she was ready for that. Her grandma couldn't find anything and there was no doubt she wouldn't be any better at finding things or clues.
For so odd reason, she felt that Ebony wouldn't be visiting Tuctra even if she suggested it to him. Perhaps, they just weren't ready for it. Koawe took months to get there and back and was even a dangerous journey for him. She had confidence they would be able to make the trip but he might be convinced that the Frost Elves wouldn't teach him. They advocated self-discovery of skills after all. The 'fight' with Korta also showed how far away they were.
Ebony's fight was about to end and she was prepared to cook again. Their next match would probably be their last, she could sense it.
She fed them.
Then she looked over to see Koawe getting avoided like a plague. She finally managed to see a little of what he could do. It was really far away and there was snowy mist everywhere but a blackened Troll was begging for death while the others were not far behind. Sadly, the range of their ring of light was too big and she couldn't get closer to observe but that was good too she didn't want to get close. It probably took ti for his magic to work on King ranked Trolls but she felt that they would finish soon.
As for the main battle, she didn't know the situation. The only notable point was that the ambient temperature was already ice cold and they weren't even near any ice spells excluding Koawe's battle. The ring of light stops such effects from escaping but the main battle wasn't enveloped. Anyone could join if they dared. It was usually the only battle that dragged on since the participants could escape. The limit was anywhere on this earthen battlefield or the Spirit in charge would consider it as an admittance of defeat.
Ebony was playing giant blocks with Gao'larg. It was the sa rectangular blocks Kiva played with and Ning Xin had no idea why they found it fun. The one who made the tower of blocks fall would take a barrel of beer and they continued to play till their break was over. She shook her head at that.
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