Ebony's Fable

Since they had no conversational topic and Baron Ric was busy trying to calm his people, the couple left.

"Can't you find something for me to hunt…" His wife complained about her itch for a good hunt.

This was a difficult problem for him. Putting aside the changes Elcra just went through, there weren't really many monsters that were a 'good' hunt for them.

Tova did have a few monsters that his Numbers couldn't kill before he evolved his skills but the entire continent had practically been wiped clean after the Turtle Forts kept recharging them endlessly.

Elva had more 'forbidden lands' with a higher density of Emperor-ranked monsters but they avoided Fragadal's Sea, and the deeper regions of the Glades were left alone too. Ebony could probably find the Frost Elves' second village without a guide even if they had their illusion up but he actually left that place untouched due to the ice mana and monsters affecting his Will Relay Buffers.

Chances were, the Frost Elves or the monsters had built their domains there. Not wanting to be rude if it were the Frost Elves Domain, he'd never barged in with his network. He'd already taken one continent as his hunting ground to reach level 750. It would be impolite to bring his wife to steal some hunts from the Frost Elves' territory.

That left the sea, Vermin Paradise, where they were and one of the mountain ranges where he fought the lightning bull for known Emperor locations. Besides of the wide ocean, these had weaker monsters. They were hardly a challenge for the current couple.

Existing monsters needed time to grow into new essence and power and freshly born once needed to mature their skills and experience. He didn't want to bring her into the Garden of the Deceased either.

He distracted her by checking on their students' well-being. It worked.

Tidal was their next destination.

They rode on her hoverbike for a joyride.

The infestation of monsters didn't hit every habitable space, so it wasn't like every town they passed by was in high alert or under attack.

"Hmm…smells beastly." Ebony immediately widened his scan, but he did not know what she was smelling until something flashed in his senses.

They jumped off her bike immediately and Ebony saw something white at the edge of his view. Something that stopped moving for a fraction of a second.

With a red and yellow blast, he was almost blinded momentarily, seeing his wife red turn red and use her lightning elemental footwork.

"Wait, don't kill that." Ebony hurriedly chased after them.

"I know what that is."

The Lightquartz Twitch Tiger.

Ebony didn't think he would Mana Discern this breed. 'They didn't go extinct after all. Did they only just come?'

Zapping and Oscillating through the jungle that was Vermin Paradise the two of them were chasing the tail of a creature and quickly figured that they were getting played. The creature never let them out of sight, baiting them with its tail.

The speedy couple was outrun.

If the thing could exactly turn into a Light Elemental form, neither of them had a chance of catching it. They weren't capable of moving at light speeds.

"Hey tiger," Ebony lit a burning flame atop his palm.

That got it to stop moving.

Well…appear in his face more like it.

'Not light speed.' Ebony studied that it was still a semi-organic creature, not an Elemental.

"This little thing!" Red tackled the Lightquartz Twitch Tiger to the ground and gave its head a furious rub. The Lightquartz Twitch Tiger that outrun them was a mere level 300 Master.

Baited and wrestled to the ground, it couldn't escape their clutches any longer.

Sadly, this one couldn't speak as Gen could. Ebony searched his bracelet for one of the gems that could convert mental energy to speech. He was certain this creature was smart enough to think coherently.

After fitting the gem on a string necklace, they could hear its panic. "Unhand me this instant lady!"

Red was having none of it.

This creature…looked pretty much a living version of the white tiger plushy he got for her decades ago that she still hugs or lies on during their movie marathons. Its fur was similar to fibre optics but made of flexible quartz.

When the struggles of the white furred tiger continued till it tried to chomp on Xin. It's fierce glare while heading for a chomp had it meeting Ebony's pair of pitch black eyes.

The Tiger's body went still. It obediently put its paws down and sat on its butt, allowing red to pat its head nicely.

"Good girl." Red had her fun and was back to non-combat mode. "What is your name?"

The poor thing was now too scared to even whimper at Ebony, so his wife had to take over and question it.

"Payla."

"Did you just arrive on Elcra?"

"Yes ma'am! Great ancestor sent me here to look for great ancestor Rueful's descendants. She said that traces of frostblaze are leaking all over the place and guessed that their lineage still lives on."

"Why not search for Rueful?"

"Great ancestor Rueful passed away long ago."

"…"

This little one and possibly her Great Ancestor didn't know Rueful never died?

Perhaps only they, the Xengs, the recent generation of Frost Elves and people like the Blood Saintess knew Rueful never died.

Now that the planet was 'public', Ebony and Xin did not speak out loud. If Payla could sense frostblaze, what if the Spear Saint hadn't died of old age and was still hunting them down?

Even with Eidolon, Ebony had no frame of reference for the lifespan of a baseline Human Saint. It was not easy to get an average from these Higher Beings.

Speaking of the Spear Saint, Xienor's lake was actually unchanged after the planet's evolution.

It had been roughly twelve thousand years since the event where the Life Grafter and his creations were hunted down by the Spear Saint. The pair of Lightquartz Twitch Tiger Great Ancestors sounded like they were alive and kicking.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

Ful once said that the Lightquartz Twitch Tigers were the strongest of their siblings.

Having just experienced the little one's pure speed, an overwhelming advantage in battle. It was not hard to understand why the Lightquartz Twitch Tiger was the strongest purely based on the speed their race had.

That just made the Spear Saint stronger than they'd imagined, for he hunted them down and still successfully killed a Phoenix that the Life Grafter managed to hatch. Needless to say, if the high and mighty Blood Saintess couldn't find the Phoenix, it was a real wonder how the Life Grafter got his hands on a Phoenix egg.

The Universe was truly vast.

They postponed the idea of going to Tidal and brought the little one home. Into his Domain. Upon entry, the little one had its head on the ground and both paws on his head, "Please don't eat me."

"Don't tempt me." Xin teased the poor kid.

This little one was in a predicament.

While she was sent here on a mission, she actually lost all methods of contacting her Great Ancestor. Apparently….clumsily dropping the item that would help communicate when she turned into the semi-light version for movement.

"You're quite a little liar, you know?" Xin bobbed Payla's nose.

The little one was so nervous trying to hide her clumsy failures that it made it difficult for them to iron out what actually happened.

They did not use Eidolon, but a different crystal made by her race.

Ebony set off the new search request for his Numbers.

As for looking for Rueful, he would do so if it were that easy, but the giant of a creature was on the move and invisible to his senses and network.

As long as Payla wasn't clumsy, she would likely be safe even against Emperors of Elcra so he wasn't so worried about letting it run amok. The little one was trying to escape from the two of them so badly.

They restarted their journey to Tidal after that interaction. Payla immediately dropped the gem he gave that helped her communicate mental thoughts the moment she ran away.

She probably didn't have perfect control over the trait and the ability to make most of its body light elemental.

As long as Payla doesn't stop moving, Ebony can't track it with his Will Relay Buffer. But his network hadn't stopped growing since the Worldcore's evolution was completed.

Dusk was able to estimate the distance and time to calculate that Payla wasn't moving all that fast. Maybe 1/500 of the speed of light if it were travelling in a straight direction. Ebony wouldn't know if it could turn or was turning without stopping. By the looks of it, it was more than capable of turning agilely without stopping like the Lightning Mare. Of course, it was also possible that Payla ran a few hundred laps around before stopping and letting his network sense it, so his estimations may be so far off the mark that he didn't care to believe Dusk's calculation.

During the ride to Tidal, they didn't encounter anything more evolved than a Grandmaster.

It was rather surprising to find Imperials already out and about. Considering how most towns and cities didn't have an unlimited reserve of resources. Now that the world-ending earthquakes and natural disasters were over it was no surprise that people had to find a way to feed themselves.

As expected, freelancers or full-time hunters were having a lot of trouble but experienced ones didn't face any difficulties. Hunting tactics worked even better on dumb but strong creatures but younger hunters got hurt trying to face these monsters head-on.

The Imperials weren't stupid either. They were moving in larger parties than they usually moved in, probably having experienced multiple deaths already. If the freelancers left to hunt during the Worldcore's Evolution and never came back, that would wake the citizens up to the reality of the situation. The world was no longer the same as it used to be.

Ebony's Scout Pigeons had been working all this time but he actually hasn't reconnected to Tidal. Their once casual trip had turned into a longer journey. Long enough that they got bored with their joyride and started racing. He practised his movement while she practised her flight.

Instead of flapping her burning wings, she had turned to more propulsion-based flight. Though still wing-formed, she would have them mostly fixed in a position for flaming thrusters and only flapped for manoeuvrability.

Aerial monsters had always been a larger threat to humans in general. New or old, no one picked a fight with the flaming one in the skies.

Four days later, they saw Tidal in the distance. Despite the lower effective stat, he was faster when it came to traversal speed.

It was no wonder his Scout Pigeons hadn't fully mapped the place out. The expansion of the planet was on the larger side. Plenty of meadows, plains and forests grow out of nowhere. Very few barren lands could be found.

He didn't see any rocky mountains or canyons in this direction but he knew a few popped up around the continent.

The lands were too fertile.

The mana density was higher than the Legendary Worldcore he had been by at least double. Near Tidal, it was even higher. Thanks to the increase in ambient mana purity, they were not drowning in liquid mana but it was to the point where non-mages were affected.

As for gravity, it increased by a factor that would cause prior baseline Unclassed and Journeyman difficulty.

Until a few generations of people later, the current youths might have a tough time. However, unlike normal people on Earth, these people were capable of growing their levels and stats so they would not be permanently disabled due to the increase in gravity. However, it was probably impossible to naturally gain Gravity magic resistance unless the individual was capable of controlling their magic body and learning to resist.

Tidal was not under attack, but their bloody walls did show that a large horde had hit them in recent days. They dealt with it before Ebony arrived.

The immediate thing to note was that the Capital City had been split into two along the southeast gate to the northeast gate. The gulf between the two looked weird, after studying it from high in the skies, Ebony realized that they were actually using Earth mages to fix, recombine or expand their cities along with the crack that pulled them apart.

'Is the barrier formation still going?' Tidal was too expansive for him to scan it all at once. However, now that he reconnected to his network, he didn't have to rely on just his mental reach and could have the perception scan fast.

'Practically no one died. As expected from Yvette's and Navin's healing barrier I suppose.'

The two gaps that appeared in their walls were clearly the most bloody ones that were taken advantage of. That was a sign that perhaps the city-wide barrier was damaged to some degree.

Oplot was still missing in action, taken away by the Soul Angel.

He sensed Duke Entras and his fellow Dukes stationed at the Southeast gate that the two of them arrived at. While the Northeast gate was cared for by the Royal family and other Noble families.

Since Duke Entras was stationed at this gate, his direct superior was also present. The Archduke of Beastmen, Medina Fyre. Supposedly stronger than Duke Entras and also a Seer.

As many beastmen oversaw this gate, just about all of them had their fur standing up the moment they sensed Xin charging towards them. What they saw was a red light that expanded and closed in on them rapidly.

"Stay your hands!" Duke Entras warned the mages and siege weaponry handlers.

While they feared the hot red figure, the wings dispersed and a human figure was displayed. Calming the soldiers down a little knowing it was a flight skill, not a monster attack.

Then they were spooked when Ebony suddenly appeared in front of Duke Entras, cutting through all their vanguard. While the Duke was usually on the frontlines, he was taking a commander role this time to let the younger ones get experience.

Ebony tetted Entras without injecting any Sequester.

Then he got Seven's update. Slightly proud to hear that his students volunteered to go defend the Northeast gate the moment they heard of an infestation.

As for Xin's student, she was still at home. Helping out with her mother's store. Since the Numbers didn't watch over their every move, he wasn't sure if she was training hard or not and only knew they were safe and sound.

With Hector and Mallory both not around, they had limited friends to visit.

Xin took off to find Yvette who should know where Athena was.

Ebony wasn't insecure about leaving her within the city but he did let the network throughout he city to pulse scans more often in case Ezekiel popped out of nowhere. Low chances weren't zero.

Her foresight has already proven to fail before.

With only Ezekiel as a concern, it wasn't too much of a headache. He had strong abilities with space magic but the current pair should at least be able to react now.

Ebony didn't visit his students or converse with Entras after the greeting.

He found himself at the doors of the main tower of the Mage Association.

He sat himself in the tallest office and research room without telling anyone. No alarms rang, and no one noticed.

Ebony found the guest seat facing the main table and the owner of this room. The owner was currently walking up from the library. He prepared a tea set and two cups. Then he waved his right hand above Tower Head Slyvarinth Dawnweave's chair as if swiping a fly.

The preoccupied owner of the room walked in while reading a thick leather bound book and never noticed him. Seating back down after dropping the stack of books he carried. Reflexively picking the tea cup up for a sip, only to wonder when he made or asked anyone for this tea.

He jumped in his seat when he looked up and finally noticed Ebony sitting in front of him.

"When did you get in here!? How?"

Ebony kept the room's mana stabilised and no sound vibrations left the room to alarm anyone else.

"Just. Door."