Ebony's Fable

Ebony, Xin, the Xengs and even the Elven Domain which had been built for thousands of years all had monster hordes unleashed from who even knows where.

Like unseen eggs hatched all of a sudden. There was so much new land that wasn't within his relay network, he would never know where they really came from.

He could've just stayed within his Domain, but his wife was itchy for a hunt so he joined her and kept the area around his home clear.

In any case, all of the monsters were blindly blood thirsty and he did not have any qualms hunting for food against those that wanted them for dinner.

'Still the same monster breeds, but many have mutated drastically. The time they take to grow from a baby to an adult also shortened significantly due to the increase in Essence density and purity.' There were no completely new races of monsters, but every one was a slightly different variant due to the change in the planet's overflowing essence.

Monsters can grow beyond just stats and evolutions. Young babies like these simply didn't know how to fight or hunt as effectively as the monster before the planet's evolution. They were not a threat despite their increase in power.

Ebony still recorded the data and was slightly impressed by the pure baseline improvements these monsters had pre-planet evolution.

He had long known that the higher the Worldcore's evolutionary rank, the greater the difference that their monsters had. A Grandmaster born in an Ancient Worldcore and a Grandmaster from an Epic one had clear differences in their baseline strength and their highest evolutionary rank, also seen as the monster's 'Potential'.

Although he had expected the difference to be even greater between Ancient and Legendary, the pure stat difference was staggering. The King ranked mantis-looking creature that tried to slice his face in half was at least 10 times stronger than the species that Ebony identified before.

Ten times was no joke. That was basically a 1000% Fortification difference.

Just how much Potential did Elcra have for its evolution?

If this were the same for all monsters across Elva, not just the average but even the elite Imperial fighters and freelancers were doomed to be jobless for a long time. Or just dead on the job.

More importantly, these monsters were freshly born. They were only going to get stronger as time passed.

'A ten-time increment for Kings….it's going to be even greater for Emperors.' The physical prowess of the Saint that Vent helped kill made a bit more sense now.

He knew baseline Strength and stats in general were 'Potentially' cheap to enhance, and only got cheaper every evolution, but this was a drastic change and benefit that the inhabitants did not get. Other than the cream of the crop, Ebony didn't see how the Imperials were even going to get food.

Of course, there were still monster races that capped out at Journeymen, Master and so on but if it required a Master to safely hunt Journeymen monsters they were going to have an extremely difficult time feeding billions of people.

That, or they had to become vegetarian for a bit. They just needed to keep the Three Great Farms under their control. Food should not be a problem.

It seemed like they were ready for this and invested in these 3 large cities for agriculture.

The Rime couple looked as if they were overwhelmed. Maybe Ebony's attraction as a tasty treat was too much for these young monsters to decide that it was not worth the danger.

Yet every second, monster parts were flying into his Domain.

They hunted normally at first but it got a bit dull. Just flesh bodies throwing themselves at them and they weren't even physically stronger than Ebony. So the hunt became Ebony tossing monsters to his wife, who dissected and processed them in a flash.

She drained and collected all the blood to be refined and consumed in a separate preservation container.

If Ebony wasn't collecting data, it would've been difficult to tell if the monsters got any stronger.

Necks that took one chop still took one chop.

Scales that took one kick to shatter still took one kick.

Claws that don't scratch his skin still don't.

The monsters being able to use mana relatively effectively for newborns didn't change the fact that they were using basic forms of mana enhancement that made no difference to the couple.

Of course, the monsters weren't in constant frenzy. Many could see and tell that they were charging into a meat grinder. Ebony did not let go of those who made a U-turn.

Since they came, they stayed.

He made sure they stayed but he didn't need to send any Numbers. They were gravitationally locked in. He practiced using more than one gravity cube at once and pulled them back no matter how fast they tried to run.

They were all easy enough to deal with using magic alone but he wanted to prime his body. No matter how little effect training outside his specialised field had, it was better than just settling everything with one spell.

Not to mention, decapitation was the cleanest for his wife to process and store the meat. His mana would now ruin the weak flesh by warping, changing their texture and mouthfeel so he made sure to be unagumented. Against these monsters, he didn't need mana augmentation. Ten times stronger or not, their necks were about the same softness. If they didn't have necks, a small vibrational impact would melt their brains if they weren't used to protecting that with mana.

Most monsters in the area were Grandmasters and Kings. So far, no Emperor has come. It wasn't like the surface was crawling with Emperors after all. While the Kings were ten times stronger than before, the Grandmasters were only 4-5 times stronger. Their vessel weren't able to hold as much as King ranked monsters.

The difficulty jump for Journeyman may be lower than his initial estimates.

Amongst Emperor ranked monster races on Elcra, Ebony was most interested in the Jetfins. How much more powerful did they get? Did they mutate some new capabilities?

Did they maybe form an even better underwater Domain?

Or so he could hypothesise while meal prepping with his wife.

Xienor was more silent. They did not bother hiding their overflowing essence like Ebony did, so most of the monsters there changed targets to the couple instead.

The frenzied horde only settled down after 3 days. Monster population very obviously exploded, but it was self-controlling as monsters didn't only aim for them but each other.

Without taking a break, he brought his wife around their surroundings to find a monster that lived through the planet's evolution. What changes would older monsters face?

Would they have to flush out pre-evolution essence or would the new one immediately override the old essence?

They crossed mountains that never existed, swamps that bubbled from the earth, and deserts. Elva didn't have many deserts in the past. It was mostly vibrant from fertility.

"Here?"

"Mmm." Ebony had tracked one of the old Emperor-ranked wild monsters that hid from the Empire and vice versa.

It was an Earthen Opal Bullfrog that used to be in Vermin Paradise.

They should still be in the Vermin Paradise, but this entire place had changed so muchthat it might as well be a different place. This Earthen Opal Bullfrog, like Miss Wiggles, typically hibernates for decades at a time.

Ebony's scans found it long ago but he had no reason to disturb a sleeping monster that burrowed itself under a mountain.

"It's still sleeping…" His wife complained.

That was fine. They changed targets.

Vermin Paradise had quite a few Emperors hiding both underground and atop or inside massive trees.

This next one was awake. The Arthropodan Gum Koala was an interesting one.

Not only was it a rare monster outside the Glades to mainly use magic, but it was also similar to them as a hybrid fighter.

More than that, it was territorial.

It had the general shape and form of a koala but had a chitin exoskeleton instead of fur, a segmented torso and head with weird ball joints that can be seen externally where elbows, shoulders, knees and ankles should be.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

This thing had been capable of condensing mana within its body to the point where it was similar to coagulated mana. It covered its body with condensed mana and had constantly tried to punch the tiny threads of Will infused mana that Ebony had over the place. It kept doing that till it got lazy and found that it couldn't stop Ebony from setting up his Will Relay Buffer network. Then it gave up and went to sleep.

It was sensitive to mana, yet also capable of punching Will by using its unique condensed mana augmentation. Ebony could tell that this monster could also touch Spirit-creatures using this special mana.

"Hey there. My husband and I come in peace. We just want to spar a little." Xin raised her hand and waved to the groggy creature.

The creature was intelligent, maybe only less than Apa.

The Koala lazily glanced at them, atop all the dead bodies of the frenzied monsters and insects that infected these lands more than it did to the area around Xienor.

A flicker of recognition flashed through its compound eyes when it saw Ebony, but it still took a second or two. While he didn't augment himself with Sequester, the Koala's perception definitely improved after the Worldcore's evolution.

It leapt with its long arms poised out.

'Mana gathered at his fist so much faster too, a few times denser. Its purity increased quite a bit.' Ebony's body turned to mist and the Koala saw him standing right beside its face. Spooking it to jump back. It quickly wiped his hands across the chilled neck it felt at the last moment.

Having successfully injected about 5 million mana in that brief moment, Ebony noted its reflexive and reaction speed had increased at least thrice over. He should've managed to inject more mana within that timeframe and brush of his hands across the Koala's chitin exoskeleton.

The Koala jumped back successfully but felt a shiver down his back when his body jerked to a stop. Its 360 vision suddenly registered a figure that shouldn't have been there before. Its torso was in full contact with the man he just tried to evade, its jump completely stopped by force with an outstretched palm.

It gathered all the condensed mana within its stomach, drawing all the mana he used for augmentation as well to weaken itself. Then it regurgitated out as fast as it could.

Just then, Ebony activated Sequester to see both the puddle of vomit and the koala set ablaze.

'Amazing instincts. Even though it couldn't sense Sequester it still knew something was wrong. That ability cannot fully rid of Sequester that settles through its body and not just mana.' Ebony patted its shoulder after sieving through its 'blind spots' and waved the creature goodbye. He got the data he wanted.

The Koala would've complained that it had 360 vision if it knew that Ebony thought it had blind spots. But Ebony merely slipped through a moment of distraction in the Koala's mind to fade his presence and Oscilate forward. He could make it more seamless if he could have a microsecond burst of Sequester Augmentation to completely rid himself of any aura and presence, as if his existence was hidden. But there was no need for this monster.

Xin had an unpleasant look when she saw the vomit, losing her appetite for this koala that only tried to protect its territory.

"How much stronger?"

"Baseline physicals barely any difference, perhaps because it's an existing monster, it still needs time to digest and mutate to the new essence or to flush out the old. But just that little bit of time had its Physique refined at least twice over." Ebony's ability to differentiate the increase in power from baseline stat and directly to Physique was thanks to his understanding of the biological make-up of the body and Mana Discern.

No one on the planet could be as sure as him regarding this point. Physique and baseline stats were both genetic-deep but to him, Physique was like the bone marrow, while baseline was whatever the bone marrow produced. Figuratively.

"So all the monsters got a Physique refinement as the essence got purer, old monsters who survived need to adapt and new ones are born with the cleaner, more potent energy." She double checked.

"Mmm, people who choose to demonise here will probably be much stronger than if they were to be demonised before." Ebony felt that this change would incentivise more people to demonise.

Overall, it wasn't so bad as long as the Empire invested a little into buying, refining and training their citizens with the higher-tier skills they could get through Eidolon. People just needed more time than monsters to get to that degree of strength. To be fair, a ten times difference in strength for a King is merely a Tier 4 skill with a baseline of 1000% + however much the level increment in power. That was doable for Kings.

The Imperials don't have a wide range of Tier 4 skills across the board but it should be solvable within a few decades now that they had access to Eidolon and the bigger market.

"Is that Hata town?" Xin pointed to a town that used to be on a mountain hill but was now in the middle of a swamp, under siege by an insect horde. A little over two thousand kilometres away, it was a bit too close to an Emperor for that small town without any King-ranked protectors.

"Come on, they make your occasional morning coffee." Xin urged.

Ebony nodded. She was not itchy for a fight anymore after realising the change in monster strength wasn't as drastic as they had imagined.

The town barrier was fully activated, and it was almost hard to see the town under all the buzzing insects.

He Oscillated, raised a conjured sword and flung a wave of mana that constantly expanded, decompressed till the arcane mana could cover the entire town sky.

Dropping like flies they were. Ebony was a little embarrassed when he saw a crack in the barrier. It seemed like the town didn't have much mana reserves, and their energy had already been depleted by the swarm for a long time.

He didn't need any flames for these bugs that didn't have a single King amongst their ranks. Just pure mana did the job.

Xin glanced at Baron Ric Vigoureed in charge. A family member of one of their first party members. Ric used to be a [Master Light Archer], 'light' in terms of weight and not the element but evolved to a Grandmaster since they last met the Noble.

He did well in this defence. An arcane barrage arrow skill continued shooting the swarm down but he was just a little overwhelmed. It was hard to say if they would've lasted till the barrier was out of power just based on him and the few mages that tried to help.

'What a useful barrier.' Ebony didn't know how Navin did it but to make an arcane barrier that not only blocks everything, but allows arrows and spells to exit at the same time?

Ebony couldn't do that. He could attempt the same with Will but in his Domain and mental range, he didn't need to cast projectiles from within or behind a shield.

Seeing the bugs crawl out of trees, fly out of the swampy waters and break out of rocks all around them, he didn't want to waste time hunting them one by one and cast magnified gravity in a circular radius of the limit of his mental reach without his network.

Except for the town under him exempt from his spell, all the bugs and bug eggs were squashed. The swamp water level and the earth sank and pushed aside.

Xin was not exempt from his spell. He was too lazy to exempt her. This wasn't as strong as the gravity they used in their training field to push their Prime rate up anyway.

"Do you have any hata beans for sale?" Xin hollered softly.

"Sale? You can have it all!" Ric sat his butt down on the tower roof where he was shooting arrows from. The other long-range combatants were on similar tall grounds.

"Leave me a mug!" Seeing how spirited they still were, Ebony thought maybe they would've survived even without his intervention after all.

"Should've moved to Tidal decades ago…" The citizens complained.

"Are your callstones working?" Ebony decided to ask if they could still contact other towns and cities.

With a shake of the heads, they were all out of range even with their largest Callstone.

Ebony was aware that large Cities all had modules of Eidolon but there were a few too many towns to supply. Navin had to prioritise his funding, their coffers ran deep but grew slowly. Hata was likely lower on the priority list to receive one such module.

In exchange for a large amount of their remaining stock of hata beans, he gave them a small ice turtle. About the size of a large dog, no taller than their knees.

The lord of the town was confused, but his town's mage and advisor got dizzy from sensing the mana in the turtle. This turtle had one of his hairs that Xin used Intent to cut out. It had 1 hair worth of mana chassis capable of regenerating roughly 4500 points of mana per second at full-powered Resolve's Cadence.

Equivalent to the baseline regeneration of a single baseline human with 16,200,000 stat points in Wisdom or 1,300 humans with 1000 points in Wisdom to be locked in Meditation of Tier 2 and a skill level of 500. Less if they were Mages or support classes with a mana regeneration Fortification which was common enough. Depending on the evolutionary ranks of these 1,300 humans, the mana they produced wouldn't be stronger than the equivalent produced by his hair due to mana purity.

They had the option of using the regenerated mana to power Navin's barriers or their magic towers but he did not give this hair that instruction since his mana would warp things it touched.

In any case, 4500 mana per second wasn't a lot for the barrier. To reach a combined baseline or resting regeneration of 16,200,00 Wisdom points, only required 54000 people of an average of 300 points allocated into Wisdom. Even with a 10% absorption efficiency, the population of Hata Town was currently over half a million people and provided more mana to the barrier than a single hair of his.

At most, Baron Ric needs to order a temporary tax increase or encourage people to donate rather than keep their mana sucked into their bracelets to improve their security. By relying on solid mana ores, they wouldn't need to worry about town-wide ambient mana absorption efficiency loss.

Having done plenty of studies into meditation-type skills, Ebony knew that human mages rarely got Meditation past Tier 3. Those with Tier 4 were generally only found in Emperors or humans close to the end of their livespan. Elves were slightly ahead, but not due to talent and only due to their longer lifespans.

A large majority of high-tier meditation-type skills require full focus. Being locked in meditation removed their ability to move, cast spells and even perceive their surroundings.

The ice turtle was not exactly a Turtle Fort, but a hatchling.

Since it had Will and mana regeneration beyond just runic absorption and conversion, it could grow bigger and tougher. Once the Will ran out, it would be useless other than being an extremely durable block of ice. Having a hair's worth of Mana Chassis, no matter how small, it may regenerate Will over a few months and move again.

If the Hatchling sleeps and does not spend any energy. Will would gather throughout the icy body and gain more operational time.

As long as the town was safe for a few years, the Hatchling would be able to operate and fight for a short time. Its abilities were very limited compared to a normal Turtle Fort as it lacked the Will capacity for many complicated spells and instructions.

Of course, he wasn't going to hand these or sell these on a whim. Once his Will Relay Buffer was up, the hair's worth could still be siphoned to Dusk if the mana or Will was worth the transportation.

"This should be able to handle a King or two. If you let it rest, another horde of this scale should be suppressed for an hour but you will still have to clean up." Ebony wanted to test how much autonomy a single hair's worth of Will had. It probably wouldn't attack a human attacker, but if the human attacker was strong enough to break Navin's shield, the Hatchling wouldn't be strong enough anyway.

He drank more tea than coffee. Other than usage in other dishes or baking experiments, the beans would likely go to some of the farmhands in Tidal that Sophia initially hired. They would work as a suitable gift or workplace benefit.

As the only town that harvests these beans which only grow in Vermin Paradise, coffee was still considered a luxury consumable.

The baby turtle had one more ability. It could activate Sequester he slapped into the nearby Emperor Arthropodan Gum Koala, should it decide to attack Hata Town.

Securing a supply of workplace benefits for his company was an excuse he made up for lending a hair.