Ebony's Fable

Yharnu felt like she was the only other mage with a noticeable self-infusion of Will. Yelling out by instinct, she was relieved when the irascible [Warcrowned Juggernaut Lvl 663 | Bear-Blood Raveger Lvl 643 | Lycantouched Slayer Lvl 638] listened to her for the first time. The disgusting animal of a man was still an ally, no matter how abhorrent his Class and habits were.

Stunned at the speed of the new Will overtaking control over this space, she realised the young man she'd never heard of in her time as a Elcrian had already made this small space around him his Domain. A Domain Mage!

But how can he infuse his Will into this space to make it his so fast?

If an Elf had a 2 in 5 Kings that can be a Domain Mage within 3 centuries, then only 1 in 500 humans discover the manipulation of Will to step into the stage of a Domain Mage within the same time frame. Everything about his diabolically dense mana screamed the youthfulness she had lost. It was purer than any Grand Archmage she'd seen in the Regional Station decades ago. And he was clearly suppressing most of it into his bracelet.

It was like watching a water fountain gush out when a massive hole was eating into the fountain, yet there was enough spilling out to cause their mental faculties to lag if they didn't shield their minds with mana, or, as the warriors do, Intent.

Unlike mages, it was much more common for humans to develop usable Intent by the time they were a King. Hence, the larger proportion of warriors to mages amongst humans.

Yet this space was clearly under the control of another. The youthful mana was one thing the Will taking over control of this space was another. The moment a Domain mage snatches control over space, they are already within his control.

The Warcrowned Juggernaut's sudden stop was eerie. Not a single hair of his shook from the sharp winds the young Barrier King was kicking up with their leader.

'Of course, an ice mage's domain is going to freeze us…But I don't see any ice. The information was correct, no hostility, no repercussions.' She immediately glanced around and found 2 more of her temporary allies having the same goal of taking the Empire they deserve from the old Elcrian nobles who were frozen stiff in the same manner.

She tried to push out her Will to control at least the space directly around her, but she felt choked. Her Will wasn't coming out…a spell might form right in front of her face like this. The frozen meatheads weren't even attacked directly; they were stepping on foreign mana. A common trap to get past magic bodies was for the warriors to step on or touch a mage's mana, so they didn't require close contact to overlap each other's magic bodies to cast a spell to one's face. For a skilled mage, touching their mana was no different from touching their bodies and overlapping their mental controls to be overrode.

She had already lost as a mage when the floor had been covered in mana and space had been taken over by his Will. Is she so far away from the talented?

Looking at the young Lord family member who stole the throne of the Empire with his strength, it seemed like the spot of a true King and Queen was never for a commoner like she was, no matter how much effort she put in. No matter how much blood she shed. How dry her mana gets from training, she would never beat the gifted.

All of a sudden, she sensed a gaze from the drop-dead gorgeous woman. How did she not notice how beautiful this woman was earlier? It was like she never noticed this woman standing there until her gaze landed on her.

"I'm not sure what you're thinking but, you're going to be fine. Keep studying and growing." The woman had a deeper voice than most. Her frame and swords led Yharnu to believe she was warrior built, but her words were confusing and random.

"W-what do you mean?"

"I'm not sure myself, just felt like you thought about something my husband would disagree with.

"…?" As an Elcrian, she finally noticed the mask. This was the current generation's Xeng?

They did not do their homework properly. Nobody said the Xeng would involve themselves in Empire business!

She didn't even know they had an offspring this generation. Regardless, it was her first time seeing an unmasked Xeng. The rumours of their unparalleled beauty weren't a lie, it was grossly understated.

Her own youthful appearance had already been dyed by the years she spent reading and studying magic.

"May I go? I will never return." She saw the situation as it is. Her life was more important than going back to Elcra. That hasn't been her home for more than 400 years; she didn't miss it after seeing how much it'd changed with cities and towns in absolute safety. She didn't have any family or friends left behind anyway.

"Sure." The youthful beauty gestured for her to leave whenever she wanted.

'Which Worldcore isn't surrounded by Lure…never should've joined for a few spell books. I have to avoid any summoners and tamers at all costs, the rest is not a big threat.' Sadly, she saw no escape route within her mind.

Then the information clicked in her head. This man was said to be 'avoidable and best to do so.' In the same logic of equivalent treatment, she just had to offer something, make a link. Her only way out was in front of her, she needed to secure it.

"Want to trade insights on magic?"

"…Interesting. I wish everyone was so friendly. What are your skill sets, or what are you offering to trade." She gulped, not sensing any questioning tone. Only statements.

"I spent my life studying and more recently developing my brand of magic."

"Self-created, good." The man snapped his book closed. The soft closing seemed to hammer into her head. It was like his whole attention was focused on her now, and she was beginning to regret her actions just for getting his attention.

Why were her legs shaking all of a sudden,,,

Why was she imagining visions of her death in uncountable ways all of a sudden….

Is his mana…his aura subconsciously threatening her not to lie?

"I used to study growth runes, but I've transitioned to specialising in growth sigils."

"A minute." He held his palm up for a pause and whispered into the gorgeous young lady's ears. She nodded and pulled a metal coin out. She hasn't seen a coin in decades. Flipping and catching it, she mouthed "pure coincidence."

"Sigils, that's basically another civilisation's brand of runes. Stiffer, no alterations once imprinted. Less intense than Branding, but more easily removed and updated than Branding."

"Yes! So you are know what Sigils are, that makes things simple. I was under the impression Elcrians don't have any research into Sigils."

"I've been trying to learn Branding. I suppose that means you have developed your runic language and made an editable Sigil?"

"Quite so," She didn't like Branding, it was practically permanent. The opposite of what she wanted, growth. To exceed talent, she needed a better ability to grow.

She went on explaining about her life's work, no one in this rag-tag bunch ever cared to understand or listen to. It had been a long time since she had an academic discussion, and this youth clearly knew what she was talking about and even made her question her study results thus far.

"So this Sigil on your neck increases your Endurance growth rate? Does it even work?"

"Admittedly, this is one of my latest works and is not quite as polished. I've marked it on a couple of young men and women. They've stated that their Conditioning has seen an increased levelling rate for endurance-type skills. I estimate with my Fortifications and results…perhaps it gives an 8% increase in levelling rate for Masters."

"Runes for increasing levelling and growth rate…fascinating."

"I've tested, but no amount of runes can give that effect with my skills and Fortifications hence, my divergence to Sigils. By making the runic formulations stiffer and removing their editable or overlaying nature, I've created working growth sigils. Ironic, don't you think?"

"What's your proudest work?"

'Proudest? Not greatest?'

"It would have to be my Overcoming Talent Sigil…can we keep this a secret?"

"No one has been overhearing our conversation, unless the Angel your group prayed to is somehow still listening even with her Will dissipated without a container."

She actually didn't notice how no one else was staring at their leisure discussion. Yet, she didn't couldn't shift her sight and focus away from the man to check her allies' attention. Just in case they attacked her at any moment.

"I created and carved the Overcoming Talent Sigil onto my skin when I was level 522. Since then, every level I gained in my Class, Sub-Class and Profession had earned me 320% of the stats that I would have gained as with each level from 500 to 522." She proudly divulged without any lies. She was so sure this was a secret worth getting killed over. That was like levelling over 3 times for every level she earned.

Yet the impassive look she had been getting was still unimpressed. She even got a feeling of disappointment from both.

"Your research clearly has great potential. Have you tested it on other people? Less evolved people?"

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

"…no." Why would she share such a secret?

Perhaps if she had a family and she would be sure it wouldn't harm them permanently.

Now her life was on the line, she didn't mind sharing.

"What would you like to trade for your research data?"

"On this Sigil?"

"On your life's work. Everything."

"…What do you have? What do you think is suitable…for personal growth?"

"You have a budding Will, I would suggest working on it, but even I do not know many good ways for strengthening Will that are immediately suitable for you. Do you have a cloning skill? That might be a good start for increasing Will's growth rate. Learn how to imbue a construct with your Will, and that's a cloning spell."

That was already valuable information. Clone-type spells increase Will growth rate? She did not know that.

He carried on, "I see you're concerned with your stat values…how about a Physique Acceleration Foundation potion. Hmm, I believe an Epic should be obtainable. You're a baseline human right, Epic should be sufficient."

'A what?! Physique potion? He has a physique-related potion?' She didn't even know what potion that was. Having invested a good deal of her life savings, she had a portable module of Eidolon, and this couple didn't stop her from using it.

'Physique Acceleration Foundation potion – Accelerates long-term conditioning and enhancements to the body to sink their changes into your very physique more permanently. Expected result – physique refinement.'

This was a useless potion for those who don't train, and those too young. It was basically made for an elder like her, centuries of training, centuries of running mana through her body. To date, she had received a grand total of 1 Physique Refinement notification. And it made her cry from the accumulation of her efforts, having quantified, confirmed improvement. That was over 300 years ago.

She desired it.

Lure's internal trading market didn't have anything like that. Heck…who's even selling these? How does he have one?

Does he have one? Will it be real? Is it poisoned?

He has no reason to poison her, she knew. She can die at any moment. If only she stabilised her Will and crafted a small Domain of her own in time, she would have greater confidence of surviving but that was not possible anymore.

"You…really have this potion?"

"No, I just have to buy it."

"…I can't find anything like that on the open market."

"Oh, no Hex doesn't have it. It's from a few dozen Regions away. Made by a Saint Alchemist, apparently. So far, his public reputation is clean, so it probably wouldn't be harmful….We can hope. Expected delivery date…hmm, I could get it directly warped to the Sector's Station and have a runner deliver it if you're in a rush, and we can make the trade now."

"Ho-how about something else…like, research for research." Her gut told her not to accept something so sketchy. How much would something like that cost? More than thousands of her life. Hundreds of thousands.

She wanted to live to utilise it, not drink and die from unknown reasons. She'd seen enough die from greed to think thrice.

"Works for me, I can give you information on my clone-type skill, but it is ice elemental in nature. The Will notes I have should still be relevant. Hmm, I'll toss my Skill Will Relay Buffer into the mix, it lets one create a network for ranged Will transfer."

"She's not satisfied." The beauty by his side claimed on her behalf.

Alarmed, she almost denied it reflexively but that would be a lie, and she bit her tongue. She certainly felt like her growth sigil was worth more than a clone-type spell or a range extension for Will. Those won't really strengthen one as directly as her sigil research would, although it would be just as permanent.

But who was she to bargain…The aura was suffocating when it was not aimed at her. The leaky tap of mana was drowning her mind and body.

Instead of getting executed then and there, the man spoke to his partner, but no noise could be heard. She flipped her coin once more and shook her head.

'Head nod please…' The head shake was a bad sign to her.

"To be honest, this growth sigil is of no use to me. I understand that I haven't tested it out, but its limitations are clear." The man then went on to explain about how flawed and limited her life's work was.

He sneaked in how he 'admired' her research for overcoming talent and about how this only worked on baseline humans and possibly lower evolved creatures of other races. It was also designed for herself specifically. He also suggested that her growth would slow down to a stop as long as she doesn't improve the sigil. About how this was able to decrease the gap in Potential but unable to exceed the advantage that physique or pure…he was silent, working around the way to explain something. She knew what this meant, knowledge from the God of Knowledge's library that Hex was able to get and he couldn't share it.

Once a physique was improved to a certain degree, her Sigil would not work anymore. This allowed her to match slightly better evolved creatures and people than her, which got a sign of approval from him, but that was the limit. It wouldn't go past that.

"Ho-how do you know it won't work…"

"I flipped a coin." The woman cut her question short.

"…"

"I recognise these runic symbols as the base. These symbols have a relatively low upper limit, you changed it and brought it up to Tier 4 at best. That wouldn't be sufficient for a King, I suppose you have some sort of Fortification that increases your growth rate too? That should enhance your sigil, but that means it's less effective for anyone else." He gave a more reasonable explanation.

"So…my life's work is worthless…."

"That's not the case, I'd bet you'd be hunted down within days if news of these leaked. I appreciate the sharing. What made you do so?"

She stealthily eyed the woman before she gathered her courage, "I just thought this was the only way I could escape, from you, from Lure. I'd rather just hole up for the next century to study magic but I need knowledge, resources."

"I see, you're looking for protection. Just go back to Tidal. Times have changed, you've witnessed how Navin's barriers protected them against your Emperors."

"…I'm already a rebel of the Empire."

"Other than the high nobles, a couple of ancestors, it's not like anyone can stop you. You're a level 703 Archmage. If you play nice, I doubt they'd reject you. You haven't slaughtered a group of Imperials, have you?"

"None."

"There you go. Start a course in Tidal Academy, ask who wants to help test your growth Sigil. The Empire isn't so dumb that it'll reject someone who can strengthen its whole nation. Most people are baseline and weaker anyway. Why would you even go rebelling with your skills? What's the allure of being a ruler? What's the allure of being in control of citizens…I do not understand. You are clearly an academic."

"…I suppose power got to my head." Truthfully, it was because a noble kicked her out. Well, they did more than just kick her out, but this was just petty revenge. 'Oh yeah...I am level 703, are there many more Imperials at my level now?'

"Then don't worry. Elcra alone has over a hundred people stronger. Anyway, that Emperor is not too shabby."

"…" She sipped on the tea the lady placed on the table for her.

'Ting' 'You've consumed Royal Arcana Sovereign Tea. Your mana regeneration increased by 480% for 6 hours. Your maximum mana capacity increased by 2% for 3 days.'

'What in the world…this tea costs more than my lifetime savings….' Left stunned by what she just tasted, she wondered if this was her last meal and drink.

"I'm Ebony,"

"Ah, yes, how could I forget. I go by Yharnu."

"Now tell me Yharnu, about the Emperors here. In fact, just tell me about the one who has multiple armour sets, uses a spear. He looks like this." Ebony conjured a face out of ice.

'Here comes the interrogation…' she thought

"He's a weird one. I'm not sure how he got in or what his goals are but he always worked alone and achieved results so he's left alone. He's some type of armour blacksmith turned fighter. It's said that he changed into a fighter when his armour gained sentience, a spirit resides in them, and he depends on them to fight. It's believed that this spirit can hop to any of the armours he crafts and each armour he has is made for specialised purpose, making him as an all-rounder for any situation that can match any specialist in their field. He should also be a metal mage. His Profession is unknown."

"Emperor ranked Armoursmith and metal mage…how many sets of armour, any outstanding ones?"

"All are outstanding… it's widely known that he has a great stealth armour that even hides himself from people with Tier 6 perception skills, and he's almost always wearing it as it also hides him from Seers and most divination magic. A combat suit for almost any environment and its elements. A pure combat suit against warriors. An anti-magic combat suit. When he's around multiple armour sets, he can combine their advantages temporarily and reduce the weaknesses of every armour present."

"Do you think he's in Lacuna Expanse?"

"For sure, we were to take hold of Lacuna Expanse. He is one of the leading unit, though he's working by himself. The Angel's subordinates are paying handsomely to turn Lacuna Expanse under her influence, allowing him to slowly send harvesters to every connected Worldcore."

"Please go into details."

"…One of the three Soul Lords is investing in this operation to increase his powers. He is paying for the offerings to his, their Angel. He is paying for the manpower here. Once this place is under the Angel's Domain, all Worldcores connected will be a soul farm for him. He already has many, but is always expanding. They are flexible, us Elcrians are allowed to be caretakers if we take over the Empire. While people's souls are worth more, monster and creature souls are sufficient. If we succeed in the takeover, we are not required to feed human or people souls to them as long as we meet a certain quota, part as offerings to the Angel, and the rest for the Soul Lord to get stronger. If none of us Elcrians can take control of the Empire, the order was to just harvest people's souls to meet the quota, as it is a lot easier to target cities than to hunt." She never had any sort of loyalty to this group of people.

"Hmm, is that why Lure is good with gathering, guiding and taming monsters? I see. What about your summoners?"

"There is a certain structure and hierarchy in Lure. The Angel is merely one of the Saints of Lure. She holds the power and involvement of all soul-related Lure activities but Summoners and Tamers are the true core of Lure. They are controlled and there are not many of them. The Soul Lord's Angel does not command them, she can only offer payment for their services. While I'm not aware of the truth, it seems quite obvious that all summoners and tamers are simply under the command of a different Angel."

"Or greater."

"…Greater than an Angel?" She muttered back.

"Never mind."

"Anyway…the Summoner who was interested in this job had already been captured by the Xengs. Until further notice, the Soul Lord has not tempted or bribed another Summoner here yet. Those summoners…they are a force of nature. I've seen Elcra, it's changed greatly in the past few hundred years I've not been around, but a single Summoner's apprentice is enough to override them, including the Elven Forest."

"…I wonder if you're underestimating the Elves or if the Summoners are that great. I suppose they, if they can summon millions of Emperors, they can overrun almost anything here."

"Almost? You speak as if anything can deal with so many Emperors."

"Elcra was attacked by the Tetramyth not long ago."

"What?! We didn't see a sign of any ant…"

"Correct."

"In any case, these aren't just any Emperors." Yharnu obviously knew about the Tetramyth. As far as she know, there are a blight but their individual strength aren't some of the worst in the Region.

"Some of the Xeng are still spending their vacation in Xienor. Numbers aren't enough. Can the Summoners get a Saint over?"

"…"

"You do know that the Elves contacted Saint-ranked Spirits to oversee the war with the Trolls for generations. What makes you think they can't receive higher powers' help."

'Maybe…my homeworld isn't as weak as I initially assumed.' A commoner like her had no exposure to Elcra's highest powers before she left the Empire.