Ebony's Fable

Scarlet Rhael Ning Xin – taking on the name Rime didn't seem to register with her status. She felt it was a slight disregard of her wishes, but she didn't take it to heart. It's not like she wanted to lose her father's family name anyway.

She was even allowed to keep both Rhael and Ning.

She recalled her past evolutionary memories the moment she arrived in this bloody place naked again.

This time, the blood level was covering her knees and unlike before, she was feeling the sticky wetness of the blood under her feet. It used to be only visual, and touching the blood would allow her hands and feet to remain dry.

The blood was also mildly warm and numbing her.

She took a deep breath and considered how silly her husband was.

She bet he spent time thinking.

In her point of view, this was an area she had a lack of confidence in.

What made her think she knew better what was more beneficial for her and what wasn't over her instincts?

With a fling of her hands, the sea of blood flicked over to whatever vial, cup, chalices, tankard, bucket, bathtubs and wells they desired.

Her decision-making was done in moments.

The 'sky' was trickling a stream of blood onto her 'Heart'. The gigantic heart that should represent her Physique and baseline, equivalent to what Ebony calls his main monolith.

The heart had veins and arteries linking to every vessel in this space. Within the Heart, she could clearly sense that there were more sections than her physical heart in the real world and it was a bit too complicated. Not even her Foresight or Intuition allowed her to know everything about this Heart.

All she knew was that it was currently being fed this stream of blood and she was growing.

'I can't leave here till this finishes.'

The free time she had allowed her to sense through what changes her instinct felt best.

Similar to Ebony's mindset, her instinct also did not allocate any potential to evolving, refining or even mutating any skills. She added Potential to them in general. This would allow her to change it easier by herself, as needed once she woke up.

There was no need to waste Potential making a skill do something that they could train to do as long as it had sufficient Potential.

Physique

Priming

Core Skill - Unwavering Immortal's Pulse

Core Skill - Adaptable Transmutative Heart

Core Skill - Firebird Heathen's Imitation Composition

Core Skill - Slot

Class

Class Skill

Sub-Class

Sub-Class Skill

Profession

Profession Skill

Generic Skills

In order of the volume of Potential that each received.

Interestingly enough, the Potential in the form of blood in this space that went into the giant Heart was still moving around.

As if her instinct was unsure what was best for her.

'I suppose this means there are equally good...traits that I now have sufficient Potential to unlock and obtain.' Since that was the case, she took a better look at traits.

First of all, she allocated a good deal of the blood here to precognition. That seemed up her alley and it was shown by how Potential cheap it was to raise.

There was a special space within this giant heart, a beating rock could be found. She instinctively recognized that this rock represented her Mask.

She manually tweaked the mask and the vessel within this time.

In her prior evolutions, the Mask was simply a material close to indestructible and slowly gaining new abilities like the storage of blood and energy.

Even so, considering her thinned Xeng Bloodline, her mask had overall weak abilities.

Her cousin Kong Jing's mask had impressive functions even as a Grandmaster. Such as an internal world that could contain living creatures, her personal collection of monsters carried around wherever she goes. Her personal farm and new materials could even grow if she managed it.

There was no wordy explanation as to what she was doing to change it, she couldn't even put it in words till she woke up from evolving but she instinctively knew how she was changing the mask and what it might be capable of once she finished evolving.

Leaving the mask alone soon, next was her Physique.

She wanted her ability to transmute into flames to improve. She was too easily caught by mages of sufficient power and control. Inside a Domain, she couldn't escape because transmuting into flames doesn't allow her to escape from the clutches of a mage's control. The only exceptions would be the type of domains that mages did not extend their mana throughout the space which gives her plenty of chances to shift around.

There was no need to copy Ebony with Will imbued flames. She could do that, Intent was made for that and the flames she transmutes into is still her body, carrying all her Intent. She can't punch in more Intent than she has.

Intent doesn't regenerate like Will does. It doesn't even regenerate at all, nor does it get exhausted in the traditional sense.

If Will was thought-based, then Intent was emotion-based. Though that was just a generic way to put it, she believed this trend more than Ebony would.

As long as her emotions didn't run dry or weaken, her Intent shouldn't either.

Her transmuted self should be harder for foreign energies such as mana to latch and extend control and pressure over.

The Lightning Mare had her look for some options that allows her body to incorporate or make use of lightning mana to the best of its abilities. Maybe transmutating into lightning instead of flames would exponentially increase her speed.

It was not out of the realm of possibility but she instinctively sensed that if she made herself more attuned to lightning, she would also receive the drawbacks that the lightning mare had.

The predictability, inability to control one's speed perfectly were not that great for her sword art. Great for bursts of speed, not so much for combos and easy to catch off guard for people like her husband who always seem to know where she would end up if she used explosive speed to overwhelm him.

He was always steps ahead.

Jerky movements would be good if she could ensure her targets stay dead but perhaps it might be better if she simply got faster by training to the point she reached the same speeds. This way, the speed would be under control and equal to her powers.

This evolution had made all lightning-related Potential upgrades cheaper, so she fully intended to at least shift more towards it in her road to achieve greater speeds. 'How should I do this…what type of change do I need to be faster but useful fast?' She did like to move fast, but she loved to attack faster.

'Maybe just my arms….I would lose balance.' Xin felt around the 'Heart' for the portion that represented the genetics for her arms.

If she changed her arms, she wanted something more for her legs too. If she strengthened her legs, she would like her spine to be able to withstand it. It was a dilemma that she didn't like to use so much brain power for.

She was not a designer like Ebony, changing this incorrectly was going to harm her somehow or the other. Trusting her instincts felt much better.

'Lighter but stronger bones. More twitch reflexive muscles like the Apex Apes. Lightning mana attuned nervous system. Increased blood cell production. What else…more dense fat cells. Higher blood energy capacity. Increased metabolomic efficiency.' Xin's Potential continued to increase so her expenditure continued to rise.

She was spoiled for choice.

'I'll go for something bigger then…' She used her instinct once more to search for a more qualitative change.

The Potential that was flowing in very obviously catered towards reducing the cost for blood and fire related genetic changes.

'Phoenix-related stuff has started to pop up. Heh….that damned turtle truly is trying to revive her sister through me. Gotta slice some turtle flesh for soup next time.' Xin patiently waited for the changes.

'Rebirth once as long as my soul is not completely annihilated?' That was not as impressive as it sounded. Xin could turn her body to flames, vice versa. Basically, converting mana into flesh back and forth. Was that different from rebirth if she lost her entire body but her mana still floats in the atmosphere where her body was destroyed?

The real impressive part would probably be thanks to her indestructible mask. Her soul won't be annihilated unless something is capable of harming her mask, making this Trait be relatively worthwhile. Perhaps only races like the Phoenixes can unlock rebirth as early as King for this was the Trait of Higher Beings in general, even then, rare.

Except, this rebirth unlock was only for her body and she wouldn't be returned to her original condition. That would require even greater Potential investment. The most fragile one would likely be her mind, it wouldn't be rebirthed if what killed her had destroyed both body and mind.

Xin did not have Ebony's experimentalist mindset. She didn't bother moving things around after noticing that she was still in the midst of absorbing Potential. She merely meditated and felt all the new options that were growing onto her.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

The Gluttonous Solar Blooded Phoenix was straightforward enough with what its main capabilities were.

Xin technically embodied all those traits already.

Her blood might not have the power of a sun within but it was crawling up to that and their power was based on her gluttony.

All of these traits were being heightened at an extreme pace.

Except that the blood part was being swallowed so horrendously, this 'Heart' of hers started to freeze up.

It wasn't even close. Her entire being was being swallowed right now.

Xin didn't panic. She could feel that this 'Blood' entering was not merely Potential.

It had a presence.

'It wants to convey something but can't communicate….' In any case, it was not hostile.

Her 'Heart' started to deepen in hue. Before long, it bled into her other 'organs' that represented her Core Skills, Class, Sub-Class, Profession and their skills.

Her Core Skill was represented by brains, making her imagine that she was smart with multiple brains.

Her Priming was represented by a skeletal frame. It was pure white earlier, one of the few white shades in this place, but it was quickly turning crimson red with the pumping of her changed 'heart'

Her Class is a lung that breathed life into her being, extracting something from the blood pumped by her 'heart'

Her Sub-Class is represented by a liver that processes the blood from the 'heart' to produce glittery blood.

Her Profession, a kidney that filters the blood for refined essence.

The stomach for her Generic Skills, branched into intestines. Some didn't truly exist but were there for her to pump Potential into and potentially bring into existence.

Xin had almost expected a chef profession to be represented by a stomach, maybe even a tongue but not for all her skills in general.

Then again, she didn't care much for symbolic representation.

The 'Heart' pumped this blood to all.

And all were changing right now.

Xin started to get nauseated. She started to burn herself. Her Intent took the shape and form of her flames, purifying what was attempting to change her.

She felt it...a familiar energy. Similar to the Altarbound Kin's energy. Numen?

'Divinity huh….' She did whatever she could with Intent to push and wipe out this foreign energy. She's not going to be a servant of the Blood Saintess, that wasn't going to happen.

For a blob unable to communicate, this energy was freakishly resistant.

'Damn it…' Her stomach grumbled, she was getting hungry.

There was no hostile intent behind this Numen it was merely existing here. Xin was aware of the changes. Her instincts are heightened exponentially in this evolutionary space.

She was getting charmed.

Charmed into her gluttony to absorb this power instead of rejecting it.

Crumpling into the moist, bloody ground, she resisted.

"Belly acheee—" She cried at the unfairness of the charm.

She began salivating as her mind waned.

It waned.

She tried to think about other delicious food. Other powerful skills.

Nothing was working.

She even tried relying on an image of her husband. But this Numen outcharmed even him.

That irked her.

It scratched the surface of the deepest part of her being. An obvious core of her being.

Her hair took on the shade of the blood in this place.

Then Red sat up and straightened her back. Propping a knee up with her other leg crossed, she rested her arm and glanced at the new blood potential still pouring in.

Yet no longer infecting or charming her.

"How beautiful. No desire, just mere presence has this degree of charm." Red had endless belief in her emotion-detecting ability and her intuition.

The Blood Saintess was not trying to convert her in any way. She was just existing in this space because her blood was here.

That alone would have been sufficient to turn her into a thrall and loyal servant of the Blood Saintess.

It wasn't merely a biological, psychological or inexplicable attraction.

It was a natural law to be charmed by her existence.

After removing herself from the charm, the process seemed to have sped up explosively and Red was ready to finalise her evolution.

Red's instincts presented her with a weird first choice, not purely for power but also for daily life.

"Singular Desire Converter. Unlocking this trait would allow me to convert all desires into one specific one." Red understood it as the ability to convert her Gluttony, Greed and so on into another, slothful desire for example.

For a berserker, this would let them convert everything into wrath. It didn't sound all that great until one considered Intent. This greatly strengthens Intent.

The trait was linked to many things; side effects were one way to see it.

Unlocking this would also open up seasonal behaviours.

She did not like this but there were benefits she couldn't overlook.

For example, she would start to have a natural biological need to hibernate. She was 100% okay with an explosive hunting and craving to eat, but hibernating?

No thanks.

On the other hand, she was actually considering mating season. At least this way she wouldn't be horny whenever she was in the same room as her husband. It ate into both their training. And sometimes, she's just tired yet her lust doesn't die down.

The last side effect would be molting and shedding.

This singular trait would force her to undergo all 3 of these periods, hibernation, mating and shedding for the rest of her life. A human doesn't need to molt and shed but that didn't mean they couldn't. Not with this trait unlocked.

This wasn't so bad depending on the degree of change. It was possible to further reinforce this ability. To the point where she could molt and shed every century and each time, bringing about definitive Physique enhancement.

She would shed things from skin and hair, to the more extreme possibilities of molting her very soul. But the last probably wouldn't happen just by unlocking this trait as a side effect. Molting and shedding a soul sounded weird yet an attractive proposition.

It seemed like a confirmation, telling her that she could strengthen her soul by doing so.

In every case, she would come out better than the previous version of her. Her husband would probably love this trait.

"So the only one I have a real problem with is hibernation." She could also lock it back, but this time it would take Potential to remove a trait.

She heavily considered it, but didn't have the chance to think before her mind decided on doing so. If she could convert gluttony into pure resources for Intent, then she needed it.

It was not going to be easy to move on to stronger opponents without Intent. Without it, she wouldn't even be able to harm Ebony anymore. They always had to be dangerous enough to harm each other.

That was one of their unspoken promises or so Red believed.

Red adjusted the strength of this trait and its 'side-effects' of mating season and molting/shedding season with even more Potential.

There was always some sort of balance in place.

Extending the duration of a molting/shedding season provided more Potential for her to strengthen the process itself. Weakening the effects of each molt and shed could cause her to make the molting/shedding process last a super short time. She could make it happen very often for a very weak increment each time, or have it happened once every dozen or so years but more significant impact each time.

She tossed the thought and reliance of a protective husband aside for now, that might keep her safe if she wanted a super long period of weakness for a very good improvement every time, but she was not here to add burden to him.

Xin was of the mind that there was no point molting and shedding if she wasn't going to be noticeably better each time. So she banked on a more potent process. One where even her muscles and bones would be remade each time. Her mind would be refreshed, her mana and spirit purified. This was exorbitantly Potential expensive.

This alone already cost as much as unlocking the trait to unlock the Singular Desire Converter trait. Roughly 30% of all her Potential, each. After all the Blood Saintess's blood had changed her. This Saintess's material alone had quadrupled her initial pool that she was working with.

It was honestly hurtful to her pride. All her work was worth 3 times less than some bathtub of Blood. Maybe more because she didn't know how volume of Potential worked.

There were no numbers here, but she trusted her Intuition and foresight after thinking she didn't want the process to last more than 3 hours each time. Hopefully, that directed the Potential correctly. A fast molt/shed took more Potential than it gave.

Increasing the pain of the process gave her Potential but an insignificant amount. Yet she still did it, since a little pain of remoulding her body was nothing. She'd already burned herself to a crisp before, melting her flesh off didn't sound all that scary in comparison.

As for the melting of her very mind and spirit….oh well, she'll know once she faces it.

The trait automatically balances itself whenever any changes to its properties are made. The increase in potency decreased the frequency of this happening. The increase in molting and rebuilding speed further vastly increased the energy requirement for this to happen.

As if she already had the trait, it was like greed overtook her mind and all her desires converted to greed. She explosively increased the energy requirement and it spat more Potential out for her to redistribute. If there was one thing she was unafraid of burdening her husband with, it was resource gathering. Even without him, with her metabolism and hunting abilities why would she be afraid of having a lack of energy in her body?

As a safety precaution, she made it possible to delay the process from activating for a short while before it starts hurting her not to molt.

At this rate, it felt like the process would only happen twice, maybe thrice in her life rather than something continuous. At least till she evolved or put even more Potential into the trait.

Next for the mating season, this was actually relatively massive information for her. The Xengs had reproductive issues. This genetic ability can adjust their fertility slightly but…it was locked out for her. Meaning even if she got into this season, her fertility wouldn't change. Red realised the issue with their genetics was too deep. It wasn't just costly, it was out of her budget, even if she had a thousand times her current Potential. It felt like someone had messed with this trait of theirs so deeply that as their descendants, it was too much to fix.

Well, to be honest Red had no desire for a child. Black, on the other hand did.

But both believed 'not at this point in time'.

No matter, Red was in charge.

Red wanted full control of this season. She had to consider the presence of her husband. She mutated it to mix with her Singular Desire Converter trait to a deeper level. This way, even if her husband wasn't around her lust would simply build up and feed her other desires. There was no frequency other than the fact that the longer she went without intimacy, the more intense the season would be once she did get a taste or hint.

And if they were frequent with it, she wouldn't be hit by the season at all. This was both Potential cheap and convenient, it even powered her up when she abstained. The conversion rate and how much her Intent would be affected was currently an unknown even with her Intuition, but it would only be a plus.

Numerous biological animals and monsters had mating seasons, its cheap cost at the ranks of a King was hardly a surprise. It didn't even take 1% of all her Potential to gain full control and make it have beneficial effects.

Red did not give much to her Generic Skills.

Within the 20% of the rest of her Potential, the majority went to her Core Skills and then in decreasing amounts to her Class, Sub-Class and Profession and their skills.

10% went to her baseline stats. It was more expensive for her because she was already stronger than baseline human compared to Ebony from the get-go. She'd never thought to compare how much stronger so she'll simply take note, and her hushand would probably be bored enough to make some numbers up that she didn't care about.

The stronger she got, the more she understood that even Class skills felt a little secondary compared to her Core Skills. It wasn't obvious with 1, 2 Core Skills, but moving on almost her entire combat style would centre around one's Core Skills.

The remaining less than 10% strengthened her Physique overall, such as her earlier decision on metabolism, blood production etc. Of course, this also went to split to her soul, mana purity. Her entirety.

Ebony told her that his total volume of Potential as a King was easily 20 times greater than the time he was a Grandmaster. Her instinct told her hers was closer to 25 times greater. But she had a feeling he had greater Potential to begin with, just not poured into direct stats and power but his mind and soul.

Knowing her grandmother and the Xengs in general. This probably was just enough to bring her up to par with pure blooded Xeng, maybe slightly higher than average. It was hard to believe the others had the same opportunity to use the Blood Saintess's blood.

'Ting' 'Evolution of a King is beginning. Evaluating calling…Greedy Desire. Evaluating forte…Energy harvest, conversion and emission. Evaluating path thus far…hunting, gluttonous...pride.'

'Ting' 'Seven Desires Combat Ascendancy Trial determi---.'

Red flinched rapidly when it felt like her entire soul got zapped. A zapping sound appeared to echo.

"Hasn't started yet, good."

Red lazily eyed up at the blob of blood that transformed into the devilishly beautiful figure she once saw.

The Blood Saintess.