"First time seeing an elemental." Ebony was immediately forced to recognise that the creature known as an Elemental had their baseline traits all focused on elemental affinities that would put him and the Frost Elves to the ground.

However, elemental affinities weren't everything.

Will struggled to put ice mana back where it was coming from.

After a minute of destabilisation, the Fabrication of Frostblaze Embodiment was back at around 35% of its usual capacity. Only because of the vast amounts of mana he put into the augmentation and Domain he set up.

Ebony tossed a few metal orbs into the ground and had Dusk send more Will back, deploying his control over the area without causing his limited Will capacity to suffer.

Will Relay Buffers were truly the invention of his lifetime.

If he really needed it, he could even send mana back to himself from Dusk's immense mana storage. Mana from a mana ore made of Ebony's mana with Kong Jing's compressor would have no compatibility issue. That was if he was okay with the 99.8% lost in transition due to distance and Hoarfrost Glade's environmental conditions.

But mana currently wasn't a cause for concern. He had too much to spare.

Apa's relentless yet futile punching had stopped Ebony from attacking blindly.

What should he even be attacking?

What was he even looking at?

He wasn't sure. It was darker than it should be, and ice was all around them.

Could he remove all the ice in the area? Is that how an elemental gets hurt?

Ebony didn't know.

There was no ghostly body. No form.

Nothing.

Apa's instinct made it attack the ground and every rocky surface of ice and he was probably making progress with how numerous projectiles and the lowering temperatures were going after Apa.

'Frigid Tranquility's Martial Grace…what should I be doing to develop my core again?' His last Core Development was during his duel with Xin.

That should have raised his Natural Potential which makes his skills leveling a little easier.

Then again, he was not just defined by his Class.

Ebony had been more than fair with his usage of his Sub-Class and Profession over the months he'd been training with Apa.

He had plenty of time to think with Accelerated Corporeal-Illusory Battleforge changing, the skill would likely mutate in the near future.

'Okay, I'll fight this with a focus on my three Core Skills and Mireloom Chassis Engine.'

With mana, Will, mental capacity and more mana Ebony had the obvious offence pattern that all Elcrain or otherwise, mages loved.

'Where does the Elemental start and where does it end, or is the entire ground part of it?'

Transparent fluid covered the sky, much like water.

But these thousands of meters across of liquid mana had nothing to do with the water element

Ebony filled it with Will meant to hurt and damage the monster trying to hunt them. All the mental capacity meant for studying and refining skills was paused to help handle this load of mana.

Tossing it down, he found the mass of mana to move relatively slowly due to their sheer mass and volume.

Apa was too deep in its excitement to notice that Ebony had to separate a portion so that he wasn't hit by the flood.

A loud wind blew across him, "A howl. It's working." Ebony kept the mental efforts up by adding a layer of vibrations across his liquid mana.

The temperature sharply rose as he attempted to melt the elemental with vibrations.

He was peppered with ice projectiles with unbelievable force behind them but his gravity cube gave him enough gravity mana to have Tempestuous Lull Pelt slide all projectiles away. Ebony warmed himself up with the same old vibrations.

"Hhkk!" Ebony had frozen blood expelled from his mouth. 'Its trying to override my ice augmentation to attack myself.'

He had never seen anything like that before. No one could override his magic body after all. Even with all his magical skill and manipulation, he couldn't do the same thing to another ice enhancement mage.

This unseen opponent of his was impossible to dodge. The ability to control ice mana slipped through his gravity repulsion as if it wasn't there.

His liquid mana was forced deeper and further using gravity while he further rose the temperatures in the glades by violent vibrations. Enough to have Apa run away in confusion while covering his ears.

"Sorry bud, I'll be taking this one."

Apa wasn't listening.

Ebony dived into his flood of mana, the viscosity of the solution not affecting him.

The external attempts to attack him from inside were reduced in strength the moment he was bathed in his mana. Odd considering the mana density was lower than his own body, with coagulated mana being processed for more mana.

The tiny lake of mana he produced hummed with Resonant Battle Hymm, cycled through a few genres in haste. The elemental reacts most violently to rock and metal music so he went with that. Too bad he didn't know many pieces of that genre so he went with random drumming and high-pitched strings. He had no music teacher to reprimand him for weaponizing music right now.

His mana was freezing at the corners but they melted almost immediately from the vibrations. The ground was already thinning as it was evaporating along with the heating of air making it uncomfortable for Ebony himself if it wasn't for his own air supply and gravity membrane.

Alert and surrounded by his mana, Ebony swerved his upper body to the left to avoid the ice blade that somehow snuck right up to him.

'Its body maybe?' Ebony thought slower than his trusty Icicle chopped at where a neck should be if it was a humanoid blade-wielding creature. That was what his accelerated mind and mana were sensing.

Rolling to the ground was an oblong sphere, a head. But like his clones, it was just a mass of ice.

Ebony ducked and backthrusted the sudden appearance of another moving body of ice, Quake Kick shattering the body into dust upon contact.

'Weird, it's not particularly tough. Tougher than Perennial Everfrost Armament, sure but not indestructible for me. But how is it spawning so near me and I can't sense it until it attacks…something to do with the 'Stygian' in its identified name.'

Ebony danced when his lake of mana continued to spawn undying enemies at him. Hundreds were popping up left and right but the Elemental quickly figured out that it wasn't capable of catching a sneak attack upon him.

Icicle danced and whipped around, finally showing off that a large sword was meant for crowd control.

The Elemental made new bodies and attacked faster and faster, desperately trying to stop Ebony from raising the surrounding temperatures while also attempting to kill him.

Ebony could feel the creature's Will too. There didn't appear to be any desire to communicate or go through non-violent means. It merely wanted to tear him up, just like the large majority of monsters.

'I'm a good evolutionary ingredient just like how I look for potent materials…'

It was almost fresh to fight something so similar to his clones but uses vastly different moves. Ethereal Arctic Rivertide Art was having a field day fending and countering inhumane moves. There was little technique or art, merely pure violence and efficiency as the creature determined where his vitals were and how to destroy it as swiftly as possible.

After an hour of this repetition, Ebony realised something. He didn't know how much he was hurting the creature but the same could be said for the other party.

"Are you trying to run me dry?"

Amused.

His odd sense of humour made him take a mental note. His mind raced to telling Xin about this and in parallel, raced to thinking about how he experienced something in life that he actively wanted to share with someone.

'I'm not frigid at all. My class name is just a name, I didn't have to mould myself to it. I should be moulding it over me.' Ebony's Shades raced and combined with him for the first time in an hour as his body came to a sudden stop, killing his momentum gains.

Stolen story; please report.

The Elemental was the first creature in the Glades that wasn't even tricked by his Shades much less light refractions with ice but that wasn't important.

"Let's do it your way then. If your mana storage is the entire Hoarfrost Glade's ice mana then this might be an interesting test."

Ebony was pretty sure he ate a heavy meal two days ago.

❅❅❅

"What the…today we learn that Elementals are pack creatures aren't they Apa?" Ebony had sweat run down his forehead from the numerous efficient and weird attack patterns.

Apa who was forced to return with frozen fur and a single blinded eye grunted, "Pa…"

"I can't make an encasement of ice for you to rest in this time, they'll override my ice magic and use it to end you inside. Buck up or run if you want." Ebony used sound magic to tell the exhausted Apex Ape.

"Called your papa didn't you?" Ebony was slashed on his back, tearing his robe and skin. Rolling across the ground, Icicle repaired itself in a jiffy and countered the next blow to his head. Despite taking a hit, he didn't let Icicle go. He wasn't going to give up on the art of wielding a sword due to a single hit he'd received.

The sudden rise in force notified Ebony of the new mana signature.

Signatures.

Mana Discern, a skill he hadn't even had the time to check out, informed him of the presence of more monsters than he could fit in this mana lake of his. Each one could spawn hundreds if not more of these bodies.

At least he could remotely read their levels now and none was above 700, merely King ranked monsters.

Whatever their real element was, it was like a Fortified ice element. Blended with an element similar to darkness. A hybrid element so to speak.

It prevented him from sensing them using vibrations or gravity. He was getting the hang of noticing them through pure mana but they were as good with stealth as they were with ice.

"APPPAAA!!" The Apex Ape screamed in dissatisfaction. Ebony's words rubbed it wrong, very wrong.

❅❅❅

"Calm down Apa, don't take in the Worldcore's essence for power." Ebony had gravity push the blood in his body. Vibrations not quite making enough effort to prevent him from freezing.

Taking a look at his resources, he was beginning to go into deficit as the sustenance in his body was no more. This meant his body started to break itself down for energy. His backpack was long emptied of food easy to eat in an intense battle.

The angry monkey got a hold of itself.

❅❅❅

'Ting' 'You have killed [Grand Stygian-Frost Elemental Lvl 593]. No experience is gained due to maxed level.'

'Different one from the first…I can barely tell them apart even with Mana Discern. Melting them works but gravity vortex seems more useful against them. Too bad I can't tell how much of a single Elemental is sucked into one of my spells. Oh well, I have proof they can be killed now.'

There was no waver in his emotions when a Shade was formed from a sword swing.

❅❅❅

"Ah when is that wedding date of mine…" Ebony yawned when his Shade was getting attacked and Icicle's Shade decapitated the new attackers. Every step planned ahead, he just had to move according to his predictions and their Shades would end up there on time while his real body already completed his actions.

'Ting' 'Core developed. Potential accrued.'

'My stamina regeneration is down to 35% of its original…some pork dumplings would be great. Ahh, I can't bring a souvenir for her with them…an ice drink maybe?'

Ebony patted Apa's back while it slept in a foetal position. He didn't dare to seal the bleeding ape in ice to help him heal faster.

The first Stygian-Frost Elemental he'd come across was probably melted and dead already but their pack wasn't giving up at all.

❅❅❅

"Apa?" The curious Ape scratched his head.

"Hmm, was that maybe the last of them?" Ebony cocked his head when Apa punched a kilometer-deep hole into the ice.

"APPA!!" The Ape hopped around while smashing the ground with both his fists and pointing up.

"Light…almost forgot about that. Guess they either ran or are all dead. Would've been nice to find an Emperor, I think I can still get Natural Potential with a few level gaps." Ebony finally noticed that it was no longer as dark as it had been.

Apa patted his back, gently this time. He was learning.

"Hmm? What level do I need? Wait, you get notifications? Do you have a Class?"

"Apa," The Apex Ape shook his head.

"Well, I already have all the Natural Potential for 10-level gaps up to 600. And the 25s up till level 750. I wasn't maxed out when I killed an Emperor-ranked dungeon monster back on Cinderash, my clones snipped it to death after freezing it. No no, it wasn't tough at all. Those monsters can't deal with mana and freezing them was easy. And you know, dungeon monsters tend to be weaker."

"Apa appa."

"You're right, the Emperors here are a bit tougher and a bad match for an ice mage. That is even better, I want quality and it would do me good to improve my sound and gravity magic."

Now that Ebony was done, instead of resting he looked up Eidolon for information on Elementals. He could've done so while fighting but didn't want to rely on outside help if he wasn't in desperate straits.

There was no need to check on the almighty library. Plenty of information could be found on Eidolon's net. People had plenty of things to talk about on the net after all.

The most popular forum about monsters was quickly accessed and Ebony got what he wanted almost immediately.

'Elementals: Every Worldcore's residents.

Hey, want to know about Elementals?

Basic 1: Basically every Worldcore would produce Elementals.

Basic 2: They are almost always one of the strongest monsters a Worldcore would produce. Feeding straight from the source of the Worldcore's Essence, they are elements themselves. If your Worldcore is Rare-ranked, you bet your pretty butts that the highest grade of Elementals would most definitely be a Superior Elemental. Some scholars suggest that Elements are a good way of monitoring a Worldcore's growth.

E.g. If you find an Elemental on a Rare Worldcore maxed out at level 480, it might mean that the Worldcore is that level. IF Worldcores had levels. There is some degree of data on this and so far, no evidence proves against these theories. Multiple cases of level 500 Elemental were found right before a Worldcore advanced from Rare to Epic, and when Epic Worldcores are found, King ranked Elementals can almost always be found.

Basic 3: Elementals are currently classified as Demons.

They are usually more bloodthirsty for beings who have a close affinity with elements they are made of. They have a high degree of integration with a Worldcore's Essence and are always densely packed with it, hence, they have some of the highest stats for monsters but their strength is highly dependent on the purity of the element they are an Elemental of. This directly relates to a Worldcore's attributes and strengths.

If you're interested in more about Elements, leave a reply here and we can discuss payment in private.'

Ebony didn't like leaving public posts but the writer of the post didn't leave his Eidolon Identity number for direct messages or calls. He wanted to know about hybrid Elementals.

This forum didn't allow for anonymous replies and he gave the thought up. This was enough information for now, he could read up in a library when he got back to civilization or decide that it was crucial enough to check out the international library known as the God of Knowledge's library.

"My research has a breakthrough that requires me, I'm going back Apa. Oh, I'm going to come back soon. Maybe a month or two." Ebony inserted a Will Relay Buffer into the ground.

There was no disturbance this time, either the Elementals were wiped out or they gave him some land.

His clones were mostly done with their mapping work, leaving Fragadal's Sea as the biggest patch of unknown land except for the actual Sea and the other continent that was home to the Trolls. If they were still residing there.

Fragadal's Sea was put on the same pedestal as Hoarfrost Glades but mostly fire and heat-based monsters. They were Elva's so-called Forbidden Lands that few explored. There were some Freelancer parties that were based there, to clear their dungeons in case of a monster hoard.

Hoarfrost Glades' dungeons that were near civilization were taken care of by the Frost Elves but Fragadal's Sea didn't have a similar group of people so it was done to the Nobles and a scant few Freelancer parties.

Ebony's Clones were able to map out the outskirts and even some volcanoes. It was no different from mapping the Cinderashian environment but unlike Cinderash which had plenty of extremely strong people that made it their home, Fragadal's Sea didn't have a Saint to cause mass extinction of its populace.

The other exception was a portion of Tidal with the Elves' Domain, a forest that Ebony found with the existence of a bigger Domain that was likely where the actual Elven home was. This forest was surprisingly close to Xienor, on the opposite side of the massive lake that resembled a sea. This lake that Xienor resides beside was a hole that the Spear Saint who split Elcra in two left behind from an attack.

There were also a couple of homes in Tidal that had the presence of a weak and flimsy Will. Ebony believed they were the homes of other Domain mages. There weren't many amongst Elcrian mages.

There were other sporadic areas where he didn't have any access with Will.

The passive running state of Will Relay Buffer didn't give his brain a constant scan of the entire continent. That wouldn't be too much in terms of processing power required but it simply wasn't necessary and a waste of his limited capabilities.

Other than mapping, his Runic studies have been going well.

Dusk has been receiving limited support from him in the past…two and a half months according to Lunar Bioclock but it was already back to its original conditions that Ebony had before the whole otherworldly trip.

'Elementals, over eight hundred of them and they could only last 70 days…oh well, it was a very beneficial 70 days.' Ebony checked his notifications which he mostly ignored.

While his three Core Skills had plenty of show time, his Unique Skill had less of a job.

Because of his immense use of mana recently, his mana couldn't overflow. That meant his mireloom couldn't grow according to the skill description.

"Apaaa." Apa let his shoulders slacken to show his exhaustion.

"Yes, you deserve a break. We'll get right back into it real soon." Ebony understood what the big lug was trying to say.

They barely started exploring the Glacial Region but the first and last encounter took more from both of them than he was expecting but was fully hoping for.

The trip back was less eventful. Unlike the way here, they didn't explore the entire Icy Region or pick a fight with every monster and just headed straight back home.

That easily cut the return trip home's duration by over 95%.

Ebony watched Apa teach his kin a thing or two about respect for who the real Alpha was before he waved his buddy goodbye. He felt like he'd known Apa forever, even longer than he'd known Hector.

'Do I have a tendency to make friends with big muscular men I can't communicate with words with?' Ebony shook his head and Flickered back home without stopping for Arcta.

He knew where the Frostblaze forest was but he ignored it too.

After all, his Will Relay Buffer allowed him to send a pulse of mana wherever on the continent he wanted with the few exceptions. This pulse would allow him to sense the area around the buffer in real-time but also allow others to sense him. So he didn't do it too often or monster-infested areas would actively search for his Will Relay Buffer to eat or destroy them.

It wasn't that he didn't have anything to learn from Ful, the tree spirit could still teach him a thing or two about frostflame manipulation but he only had sleep and food on his mind. His physical bag was empty, surviving the whole fight with the Elementals.

He was too lazy to hunt for food if food didn't deliver itself to his footstep so home it was.

With the experience over, he kept the bag back into his bracelet and pitied himself for not having any packed lunches from Xin left.

'Having someone cook for me sure is nice.' Ebony's mind was riddled with disturbances that he didn't allow Boundless Serenity Geyser to erase.

Yet, he'd never felt as calm or at peace.

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