Ebony didn't have Ning Xin's bullet ti-like ability but his reflexes weren't shabby. Despite his newfound speed with Phantom's Flicker, his legs could reflexively push himself backwards in the midst of his charge.
'This underground do…is a domain. Maybe it's the progenitor turtle's but Gen's probably more of a mage than a physical combatant, he probably has a domain skill. Am I in his range…definitely.' Ebony was facing an old turtle thousands of years old. Gen might have spent a lot of that ti in a state similar to hibernation but that didn't an his skills were lacking.
Ebony just couldn't sense that he was within a domain spell. He knew there was foreign mana in the surroundings and it was likely Gen's mana together with ambient mana. It might be Will, he couldn't sense that and it allowed him to learn that other people likely couldn't sense when he spread his Will to cast his domain without spreading his mana. It would take half a second or so for him to spread his mana but he could have the elent of surprise if he didn't blast out mana from the get-go. It was a nice tidbit of information but he couldn't rule out that Will could be sensed.
"Is that your idea of going easy on ?" He asked, the reflexive action of stepping back gave him a Calculated Hunch that he should stay 50 tres or so away from Gen.
"I don't know what you're talking about. You just never noticed my passive defence in the past."
'Passive defence, maybe sothing similar with my vibrational reflection.' Ebony quickly Flickered back above Ning Xin and slashed at the next moving snowclone. He let go of his conjured greatsword on impact, the magic turtle reflected the vibrations back at him like Cap Dwarf. Thankfully, the snow that crept along the blade moved slowly.
Other than toughness, the snowclones also sped up but not quite at the sa speed he could dish out. Getting 5 clones on him was an indicator that he sowhat surpassed Gen's expectations. It was thanks to his new movent skill and he was going to make full use of it.
The more ti passed, the more sure he was that he was under Gen's constant observation. The turtle knew his every move and he felt choked as a clone was present wherever he Flickered to. He was not proud of himself for Gen's attentiveness but at least the turtle had to stay awake.
He used every trick in his book and Fluid Blitz constantly scorned at his neglect of the Endurance stat. On the bright side, Sustained Optimum Condition was burned and taken apart at every mont. Aside from resistance skills, he suspected the skill to be his first tier 3 generic skill. Or so he wished.
The concentration of lightning mana was surprising so he did his best to manipulate them just for fun. He did not see how a being mage would be viable if they couldn't conjure the elent. 'Well, I still can't conjure gravity mana so I guess it's not impossible.'
Gen could conjure his magic less than a tre away from Ebony's body. So weird phenonon or what they refer to as a 'magic body' was protecting him. It was the magical protection most creatures had that prevented most magic wielders from conjuring sothing from inside their opponents. That distance was not enough to handicap Gen as he slapped Ebony to the ground with a fishtail.
Ebony expelled the compressed scales that covered his head and upper body as quickly as he could and used the snow cloud that rose from his hard impact as cover but that was the dumbest move when snow was Gen's ho ground so he just leapt from the ground and got back beside Ning Xin who was resting underneath Ful, on the progeniturtle's back.
'My skull cracked from that and my neck hurts. What happened to my pain resistance, I seem to be feeling the effects of these physical injuries more.' There was more than just a light head injury but those were the only concerning ones. He underestimated Gen's offensive capability with clones. His own Glacial Models were far weaker than himself and he wasn't expecting that much physical force from Gen's snow version.
He promptly showed off to the old turtle that a re 5 clones slower than him could not keep him in check but 15 certainly could. In return, Gen was showing him that his flimsy domain did nothing to stop snow magic from flooding the area.
Ebony felt horrible when most of his body was locked under the snow with only his head popping out after 2 hours. He only lasted till the clone numbers reached 22. These snow clones weren't even as fast as him and definitely not any faster than the real Jetfins. He only managed to destroy 61 of these clones, two or three at a ti. Trapped under solid snow harder than steel, he couldn't move. He already slightly over-drafted himself to break free from the sa confines once. He didn't use his new roar in case it injured Ning Xin further.
"I admit, I didn't think you would get so strong so quickly." Gen hasn't moved from his spot from start to finish.
Gen chuckled before Ebony could speak up, "Did you think I was joking?"
'Hot damn, is this really Gen?' He didn't hesitate to overdraft himself further and a tremor pulsed from him. The loosening of snow let him escape back to Ning Xin to catch a single drop of snow above her icy seal. Funnily enough, it was his left hand which shouldn't have been able to move that caught the tiny bead of crystal white snow.
"Grr!"
'Sothing's really weird about this snow…' Ebony was forced to elicit a grunt again and he wasn't even familiar with making a noise due to pain that it sounded odd. The previous ti he got blinded had the sa effect.
"Amazing pain resistance. Almost unbelievable honestly. One of my fortifications is increasing the pain inflicted by snow magic by 300% and my Lacerating Snow was mutated to inflict more pain. 5545% more painful to be exact, so about 55 tis 4, roughly 220 tis more painful than if you were to be cut by sothing sharp."
"That's a cool property but isn't that useless against creatures that don't feel pain?" Ebony replied while the small bead of snow sunk into his skin and stained it permanently. Gen was either rciful and didn't make the snow dig further or it was the limits of the drop of snow.
"I haven't co across any. Not feeling pain doesn't take away the main effect of the spell either." Gen sat on his flat belly with a loud bang. All the clones were dispersed and the snow in his hand got withdrawn, letting Ebony heal. His palms were filled with deep cuts and his left hand already had the problem of not healing at a visible pace.
"Fair enough."
'5545%...A level 1009 tier 3 skill with a base percentage of 500%? Or a lower level tier 4 skill?' Ebony ruled out tier 4 as there was little reason for him to believe Gen at level 500 for such a long ti still has a skill around level 500 as well. It wasn't as if Gen didn't fight at all, the turtle was used to combat.
'At Grandmaster, level 500, skills at level 1000 would prompt a 250% Fortification…he probably has more skills that can reach the 2 tis requirent like how my mana chassis skill didn't give any options for 250% Fortification despite hitting the level requirent. Why did I even get it to 200 and stay in captivity?'
"That arm's not healing?"
"I think it is, just a lot slower than usual."
"I got it, want to seal that arm? You can observe it for as long as it lasts. It'll funnel all your vitality's regeneration towards that arm so you would lose the ability to recover health but it'll speed up your arm's recovery."
"That's an amazing ability to have. Is it snow magic or completely arcane in nature?"
"Find out for yourself."
"Wait," He quickly Flickered away, "Let heal up first."
"Fine, I'll take a nap." Gen hid in his igloo and the little critters ca out from the corner where they hid together. They didn't chew each other out when he was fighting with Gen. The Crawler who was a big lizard dashed and bit his arm. Its teeth broke but it continued to put pressure on him. Ebony furiously rubbed its head until it let go and stayed in place.
"Good." He didn't know their gender.
He had to pee but didn't feel comfortable letting Ning Xin out of sight. He left the trailer doors open and expanded his domain before doing his business. It had been over a week since he last had to go. As for number 2, perhaps thanks to his high Constitution, he had no bodily waste to expel for months.
High Constitution made him more energy efficient so all was not lost for putting so much of his stats there. The problem was that he saw the Endurance stat as simply stamina pool and stamina regeneration. It simply wasn't true as the Endurance stat also referred to muscle endurance and more. The tiredness of his body was great for Sustained Optimum Condition so he originally thought it was a good idea but it backfired more than a little.
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'Fluid Blitz at full output for 2 hours and I'm already slightly hungry.' He understood Ning Xin a little better. She burned far more energy than him in a far shorter period of ti. Supposedly, they would need less sustenance as they evolved but the prerequisite was that their physical exertion was the sa as a normal human. He didn't see the situation changing no matter how many evolutions one goes through. High energy output requires high energy input.
"Ti to chow." He made a large bowl of fruit salad for himself and so of the little critters that ate fruits. They learned not to chomp on his hand or eat the utensils the hard way. He ate right beside the frozen swordswoman, hopefully tempting her to wake up.
"Oh well, it's just us for now. Ti to play 'Are you sealed or frozen?'"
❅❅❅
"She's awake," Gen called out from his igloo.
"Mmm," Ebony already noticed, he couldn't get into a trance thanks to the unease in him.
"I'll let her ou-" A sweltering wave of heat washed over the area before Gen finished his sentence. The turtle cleared his throat and made excuses that he used an amount of mana that wouldn't harm her. To be fair, Gen probably never faced much heat before if he spent his entire life in the glades.
She was about to survey the area but stopped when Ebony Phantom's Flicker got her in his embrace. She failed to dodge and he knew it wasn't because she could react in ti.
"I'm glad you're alright." His voice sounded odd to himself as if it cracked. He was quite sure his vocal cords weren't injured.
"And I am glad you're in one piece. Your chest got pierced…" Quiet minutes passed before a soft grumble echoed out.
"Healed, my arms the only injury left." Another grumble sounded.
"Let's continue while I make so food."
"Did you take the hit on purpose?" He would never stand in her way of food on a normal day but he was compelled to question her.
"Of course not, I really couldn't react on ti. You saw how fast those Jetfins were, I guess the tar enhanced his mount at that mont." She brushed it off nonchalantly.
"Aren't you angry? How did you survive getting your heart pierced?" He was not letting her brush it off, she didn't seem to act like her usual self.
"The tar is dead right?" She took off her torn boots and entered the trailer.
"Did you get partial? Sorry, I used so ingredients but I made sure to put everything back to their original spot."
"Nope. I just assud that was the case. Sothing made co here and my intuition told it was the safest direction." She didn't walk to the kitchen for fear of dirtying the place.
Ebony passed her the seal at he saved for her. "Wow, it's so fatty!" She exited the trailer and started washing her hands over her portable kitchen.
"Your Intuition again, you trust that too much. It didn't even warn you of the tar in advance." He admits that her intuition did help direct them in the correct direction.
She had less of a fighting chance against the Jetfins than he did. They had relatively fast flying speed and good manoeuvrability in the air but that was relative. They were far faster on the ground and the Jetfins outsped them still. If the tar or Jetfins were skilled at teamwork, and they were, she couldn't safely fly and cut them down one by one. Her ranged capabilities were comparatively subpar and the Jetfins had strong defences.
"It's not my intuition that I trust."
"Then what?"
"Oh, there is so prey. That snake would be perfect for soup."
"Those guys aren't for food." The little critters' senses spiked as they ran around the gigantic turtle corpse. It was only then that Ning Xin noticed where she was. He let her admire Ful's majestic burning form in silence. The tree never stops burning, it was causing it to die but Gen was sustaining the tree.
'Those little things kept biting but one look from Xin sent them running. Animal instincts are impressive, they must see as prey. Or my mana is too delectable. Hmm, dungeons are more sensitive or desperate for my mana and at. Wild monsters use their brains slightly more…' Ebony watched Ning Xin who seed stunned in place. He could hear her excited heart, it had been that way since she woke up. Probably due to the solar-blooded phoenix heartblood essence that's supposedly here.
"It's beautiful…"
She muttered words he didn't expect. It might have been the first ti she described sothing other than food and prey as beautiful. Or swords.
"Don't lt this place down." He attempted to calm her aura down because it was starting to warm up around her.
"It's not . There's sothing here, I can feel it."
"Yes, you didn't tell your physique na. There's a piece of solar-blooded phoenix heartblood essence here."
"What!?"
"Before that, introductions are in order, don't you think?" Ful could speak into his mind but he used mana vibrations to talk as well. Speaking with mana wasn't all that unique.
"You're awake again," Ebony spoke to the tree.
"It was a bit too hot in my belly to stay asleep," Ful comnted. Ton and Sei hid their kids under a thicker layer of snow. The temperature in this do probably never increased before.
"It's in your belly? You have a belly?"
There might have been a belly grumble at the ntion of a belly but the gluttonous woman didn't get distracted. "I think I'm still sleepy, can you get up to speed?"
First off, Ebony introduced his turtle master so that she could believe that he learned a little from a turtle. Well 'learn' might not have been accurate but it was close enough. Next up was the remnant tree spirit and his/her dead partner. Ful took over storytelling, telling most of what Ebony already knew. He felt it was a bit unfair that he only heard the story on his second visit but the remnant tree spirit was just too happy to feel the aning of its survival.
She was a little shocked but it was her turn to share with the tree spirit how she got her physique. Her parents sent a small piece of the essence and never reappeared after that. The only clue she had was that it was from the Fragadal Sea's largest volcano, Cherufe's Pit. However, she was confident that nothing could endanger her parents on Elcra at that point in ti and he found little reason to doubt that.
Fragadal's Sea was a volcanic region past Vermin's Paradise. He already suspected that the sun-eating phoenix was buried there. Ful listened but he was stuck underground for too long and had no further clues to give to its sister's descendant and carrier. Ning Xin was not impressed by the history of Elcra. Twelve thousand years ago? The Xengs didn't exist back then.
The sword stuck in Ful caught her attention. She didn't know Xeng's history either so she had no idea which one of them perished against Rue roughly five thousand years ago. The tree spirit didn't have the exact date either, it might have co up with a very rough gauge of years.
Rue won the battle, but he left the sword stuck on Ful. The progeniturtle was Emperor or in monster terms, Ancient ranked and he was at the peak of that stage. Defence was the turtle's pride, no wounds could be found on the turtle itself. Not even the Spear Saint could kill Rue in a short period of ti. So many years back, the Elcra's monsters and its inhabitants were all pretty low in level. It was amazing enough for the 'barbarian' to stab Ful who was not nearly as durable.
Ebony found it hard to believe that the turtle was dead if Ful was alive, the tree was the one that got stabbed. 'Maybe he sealed himself asleep? Gen's sealing magic must be from sowhere.'
"Gen, lead them."
They were led to Ful's trunk, where the ice bowl was. There were only a few drops worth of sap there. Gen brought them to the right side and the snow-covered tree and unveiled a tree hollow. 'Of course, there's a hollow. Is this Ful's belly?' He was actually more intrigued that the tree was part of the turtle shell.
"You-you're just going to give…your sister's heart to ?" They had not entered the hollow but they could guess what was inside.
"You're not dead after taking her core. She's already accepted you and it would allow her to get reborn. Although she would no longer be the sister we know, I just want to see her gluttonous self again. Who knows, I might be willing to let her chew on so of my leaves without getting annoyed this ti."
'Ful's being depressing again…'
"Alright, don't dally anymore it's getting really warm inside so just get her out of there. It's about 3 droplets worth of her core."
'That's a lot less than I imagined.' The tree hollow wasn't large, Gen couldn't fit inside. They only walked a few tres in before they saw the red sphere lying on a wooden seat.
"Woa-this is three droplets?" The girl gulped, maybe she couldn't stand the hunger anymore. The red sphere was far larger than their heads put together.
"Oh right, the phoenix carried Rue and many others on her back when they escaped. She must have been humongous." Ebony recalled the little detail.
The Progeniturtle was hundreds of tres wide and he recalled the little tidbit of information that this sister of theirs could carry the Life Grafter's sons and daughters on her back. They flew from world to world to alight before arriving on Elcra.
"You don't understand, this is not just normal blood, this is blood essence!"
She was right, he didn't understand but he knew it was like a core of the creature in blood form.
"Erm, could you help with this? I'm too hungry to lift it up." She acted shy about her weakness. After her evolution to Master, her arms no longer looked noodle-like. She had more toned arms but it wasn't very obvious. It was always a mystery to him how stats show differently from individual to individual.
He hefted the sphere out, it was only 4 tis heavier than Icicle. It could wreck a roof if he dropped it.
"I'm not going to be able to consu this."
"Maybe you can lick it down over ti. Wait, we changed the subject you dodged the question." He gave a random idea.
"...Don't make say sothing so obvious. It's embarrassing."
They started to banter while she cooked. She never gave in and didn't answer him. It left him unsatisfied.
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