"We're fine." The first thing Three and Five did was send themselves back when they reconnected. Teleporting in this manner causes them to lose some Will but it was worth the safety precaution.

"Creepily fast and big, it was a creature. I didn't sense any vibrations until it was near the buffers and then I felt a gravitation suction that swallowed everything in that river." Five reported.

"I felt the gravitation suction too but was too far to sense any creature." Three added. Both of them were gathering soil from different parts of Elcra for tests.

"What kind of creature?"

"Didn't catch anything with the gravitational disturbance messing with my sight." Five answered.

"Alright,"

Three and Five got back to whatever they wanted to do and they both went to close up and run runic experiments within Dusk. They might have already browsed Mark's comments that were posted up in his mindspace.

Mallory's pause was quickly covered up as the people in his garden greeted each other.

Sophia's squirming was well hidden but Mallory didn't seem to know who she was so she relaxed and she was fitting into the role of his business partner with her professional acting.

"Mallory, what did you do to yourself?" Ebony decided to ask what he was curious about since Mallory stepped onto the street hours on carriage away.

"...so you noticed, no one else did."

"No, the Elves around you must have noticed."

"Remember the finger I took from you?"

"Yes." Ebony might see his body parts as replaceable but his memory wasn't so bad.

"I studied your constitutional makeup…and now I somewhat copied you."

"You made yourself partially mana. How?" This was the first person he met that consisted of a similar component as him, and she used to have a normal human constitution.

"That's a secret. And no, I didn't eat your flesh or anything like that."

"Mmm." He was merely curious. He didn't want to make himself a greater degree of mana-being than he already was.

"It feels funny, to always have a constant scan of myself." The Crown Princess tucked her dress in as she sat, pushing her hair behind her ears after. She was seated in between Hector and Mark with Hector beside Sophia.

"I call it the mana chassis, be careful they can be damaged and are harder to heal once injured."

"Your body's a mess." The healer must have noticed that a large portion of his body under his clothes was sealed in ice as his mana chassis was injured, his flesh didn't have a source to regenerate from.

"Fought a couple of elementals." Ebony brought out a brand new set of glassware.

"Wha? You didn't invite me?" Hector broke open the barrel of alcohol in disbelief. The wooden barrel simply sprung a leak using spatial enchantment so the contents weren't exposed to the environment outside.

"I made a new monkey buddy. I think you'll like him." Ebony peeked at the yellowish fluid. Surprisingly, a type of wine instead of the usual ale or occasional mead.

The smell almost leaked out into the street before Dusk helped cover the leak with a layer of mana within the confines of his house. Dwarven wine.

"Congratulations and goodbye to your singlehood." Hector raised a toast to him.

It was news to the others around him but none of them were surprised.

"I got the Dwarven guarantee that a cup of this will knock anyone out for sure. 830 year old Drunkard's Breath, my gift to you."

"…You didn't kill or threaten them to get a whole barrel did you?" Drunkard's Breath was the Dwarves' most famed alcohol.

Although this was the Elcrian recipe, the original can hardly be traced back. Every mature and even child Dwarf drank this before, even Ebony had tasted it in a few Dwarven taverns and inns.

Like many wines, they aged. The older, the mellower and richer.

It was rare to find any Drunkard's Breath older than 200 years old being sold. Anything older than that was usually kept as a household heirloom, taken out for celebrations such as a family member evolving or like his situation, marriage.

Ebony's plum wine had been stored and aged well but most of them were experimental recipes and hadn't quite got any magical yeast or extreme alcoholic content. They weren't older than 20 years but he hadn't popped any unopened barrels to test them yet.

A barrel of 830-year-old Drunkard's Breath meant it lasted for at least 2 generations of Dwarfs and was living through the third or fourth generations. It was surprising that this barrel could survive a Dwarves thirst for alcohol for so long. But what was shocking was that it left their household cellars in the hands of a human.

"Course not! Our family has a tradition of passing on wine, I received 3 barrels when I had my coming of age and got my Class. This is the oldest and most precious of my collection. I also have to buy many wines with great ageing potential to gift to my descendants in future."

"Interesting. And you didn't have to…but thank you." The wine could've easily reached the milestone of being a thousand-year-old wine in Hector's lifetime.

Practically every basic wine-making book he got his hands on or lore amongst the Dwarven drunken stories was that all aged wine undergoes a mysterious and substantial change when they reach that age.

It was magical and Ebony didn't fully believe it but that was indeed the story. It could hardly be called a myth when a thousand years could be within the lifespan of a single-generation Dwarf. Hence, he thought the tale couldn't be too far-fetched.

The almighty library contained knowledge but even Ebony or perhaps the Xeng couldn't read whatever he wanted. Brewing methods had always been on his mind but that was under hobbies, he could search for that after going down his priority list.

"Are you about 5% mana?" Ebony got back to Mallory.

"Close. Your body was hard to heal, I didn't understand it. I understand it better now but mana has little to no way of healing this part you call chassis."

"But it heals and regenerates by itself even if it gets destroyed as if it follows the shape of my soul to recover. Just like how my flesh heals according to the outline shape of my chassis…perhaps they all heal according to the shape of one's soul but I doubt that from what Muse told me about souls."

"Souls generally get closer to the shape of your body as you evolve and vice versa but there are exceptions such as those cursed, have some soul illness or injury or those that manipulate their souls," Mallory repeated what Muse always explains.

The cheerful Muse was currently stuck by Life Queen Yvette's side, forced to practice healing with each other or so Mallory answered when he asked.

Kicked off the topic, the rest of them congratulated him. Mallory already knew, it seemed she had been talking with Xin with her portable module too. As the Crown Princess of the Empire, she didn't lack money.

Her family was probably many times richer than he was just due to all the mana ore mines they had and how many years they had been mining that stuff. Not to mention the taxes from a few billion people or the entire Capital City of Tidal constantly absorbing overflowing mana.

Xin didn't look like it but she was talkative with the ladies compared to him. Athena, her best friend probably also knew by now. He always gave people their privacy so it wasn't like he eavesdropped on everyone within his mental range.

The Noble or rich Dwarves always had the permanent offer of buying off any amount of these thousand-year-old wine with the promise of any of their best weapons or armour with generational repair and maintenance for free. And only Kings placed these offers.

Hector was good at talking. Mark was surprisingly good at keeping the conversation going while Mallory chipped in every so often.

Ebony listened while tasting Drunkard's Breath to their toasts.

It was a real shame.

He had some hopes up but the magical alcohol was no different from any alcohol he'd had in terms of what it does to his body.

But Hector was dead drunk after two glasses, holding his alcohol worse than anyone else at the table. Sophia indulged too but she stopped after a glass, having plenty of self-control.

Mark and Mallory continued to keep him company. Their dry topics of the Royal family's new policies were redirected by him, asking what was new in their lives. Sophia was quick on the uptake and took over for him to get the two of them to talk about themselves.

'Good barrel.' Ebony liked that the cracking opening of this barrel of wine didn't introduce any oxygen into the system. It could continue to age as if it wasn't cracked open. There should be something going on with the internals of the barrel that kept conditions constant even with the lack of a portion of fluid.

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When he realised he was a fifth into the barrel, he stopped and saved the rest for his wedding.

Dwarves made the best alcohol and he couldn't get anything as good at the moment. They hogged good alcohol so well that nothing great was ever for sale even on Eidolon's entire market.

"Yet another great day." Ebony felt content.

Mallory fell asleep on the table along with her cousin while Mark tried to say bye and walk out but fell unconscious on the way out his gate.

"Boss…"

"Yes?"

Sophia's sudden call made him ignore the change in her address again.

"I was searching through Hex's network…" She exposed the truth of her holding back her drinking.

Ebony tossed the barrel into a gravity tunnel that was conjured from this house to Dusk and sent the alcohol to be stored along with his wines. It was a gentle delivery.

"Uhm, you have a bounty on you."

"Where, who, when." Ebony's interest was slightly piqued.

"A shady forum. Unknown. The latest bounty, it appeared right as I was looking through what kind of information Hex can access."

"What information about me was posted?"

"A lot. More about your fighting capabilities than I'd ever known.

"A bounty and a lot of information. I would've thought it would be Gearhart since he'd have the most information on me but the chance seems low that he would give information about me when he wanted to monopolise my generation ability…"

"It's receiving odd reception. Your bounty is equivalent to 3 to 5 King-ranked targets. People are speculating that it's due to your high flexibility to handle most situations and energy. To quote 'Ice magic is kinda annoying, but this piece of pie is tempting.' tends to be the general thought. But er, with a lot more vulgarities. It's odd due to how low your bounty is compared to the difficulty of, well, killing you."

Ebony put his hands out for his Myriad Bracelet, he had to know the exact information released about him and if there was any truth in them. He was almost impressed how Sophia managed to find this kind of site from Hex in a matter of hours.

'Not as much as I thought and outdated. Only wanted dead.' He was sent to a site that asked for confirmation that all users could be anonymous and Hex does not track them. So people could trick others without worrying about their personal reputation being damaged.

Name: Ebony

Alias: None

Allies/Alliances/Notable Associates: None

Race: Sub-human (speculated)

Age:

Life force signature < A standard century

Mana signature > 5 standard century

Evolutionary stage: Grandmaster

Class: Frigid Tranquility's Martial Grace

Sub-Class: Oppressive Resonance

Profession: Unknown - speculation: Mana-focused utility

Known abilities:

Martial artist on the Path of the Formless, on the cusp of Grade 5

Ice magic - Grade 4 defense, Grade 3 power, Grade 4 body enhancement

Gravity magic - Grade 3 defence, offence and physical support

Sound magic - Grade 3 offence, Grade 2.5 support

Grade 2.5 Active runic self support

Area of effect specialist (Above Grade 5)

Overflowing mana, aura specialist (Above Grade 5)

Body enhancement specialist (Grade 5)

Movement/escape specialist

Physical stealth - invisibility using tricks of light (ice-based)

Weak mana stealth

Highly resistant to:

Mind/mental offence including but not limited to direct attacks, illusions, suggestions (Above Grade 5)

Ice/cold (Grade 5)

Fire/heat (Grade 4)

Physical/Kinetic force (Grade 5, due to gravity and sound)

Relative Traits:

Vitality: Physical injuries near inconsequential and would not affect fighting capability much, capable of high speed regeneration.

Strength: High

Speed: Very High

Defence: Extremely High

Magic power: Average

Magic speed: Above average

Perception: Extremely High

Personality/Alignment: Violently neutral

Notable feats: None

Reason for bounty: None

Ebony looked at an image of his face below the inexplicable reason, it was actually him.

Bounty: 🜋20,000,000

Wanted dead only

Payment upon confirmation from me.

'20 million, my life's so cheap.' Ebony looked at the rest of the information including his location, his Region and Sector.

"I can't think of anyone who wants me dead that knows this much about me." As far as he was aware, he didn't have many enemies that wanted him dead.

"It should be the Cinderashians." Sophia confidently declared.

"They want me alive."

"Redirection. It's a gamble." Sophia got the Bracelet back to customize her own.

"That's the most likely possibility." Ebony didn't need her to explain more as his mind raced to eliminate options and come to a conclusion.

For one, they knew a lot about him. Elcrians wouldn't know what in the world 'Path of the Formless' was. It was not a native term. His background wasn't a secret, any information broker would know his close relation with a Xeng even if they didn't know he was part of them.

Ebony chuckled at himself, 'no notable feats, sounds about right'

'I'm guess people on Teheil spread some words about me. Cinderah doesn't want more to know about Teheil. They also don't want me dead unless Gearhart thinks I'm more of a threat than I am or he can't put down the fact that I took his family hostage. That is possible too but...I doubt it.

They are doing conquest on multiple planets so their low on military force. Then there's the lockdown on Cinderash. Mr Guru probably didn't erase the fact that I'm part Xeng in his mind. He's the only one barring Gearhart who knows enough about me.

The chances are high that he's betting that the Xeng wouldn't let me die or they believe this low bounty compared to the difficulty of hunting me won't attract anyone strong enough to really kill me. The bounty is a divergence a bait, no he knows where I live unless he doesn't think I'll return to Elcra. But that's easy enough for someone like him to trace. I took the equivalent of public transport until Sister Jing came to pick us up.

If there's no need to bait me, what's the purpose of a bounty?' Ebony admitted that he was not an expert at guessing why people do what they do. Following others' thought processes wasn't a forte of his unless it was related to battle.

"Why do you think they placed this bounty out of nowhere? It's been a couple of years since I escaped?" Ebony asked for another opinion

"I don't know how strong these Cinderashians are but I'm thinking civil unrest is no longer as immediate of a problem right now. They must be reaching out to all sources of Sulpto. This is merely information gathering.

They can confirm your location, your well-being and what new powers are under your command without lifting a finger. People from all over will willingly send them information about you for them to verify or simply ignore." Sophia continued to peruse Hex's sites while replying.

"You think people will attempt the bounty, even with the unreasonably low reward for the associated risk?"

"Experienced bounty hunters would smell the plot Worldcores away but people would do more for less. You don't understand how much 20 million is to people. By dawn, higher-ups of the Jaded Parasites will catch wind of the bounty along with some other nasty buggers on Elcra where Sulpto is worth more and currently hard to obtain. Within 2 days, people with the means of Worldcore travel would arrive at your very doorstep if they think it's worth the expenses or effort. And if you're unlucky, there could be someone with a skill set that perfectly counters whatever you could dish out. The person or group that put this bounty up is betting on the fact that this doesn't happen." Sophia pushed the bracelet back to him for him to place the order of her custom Bracelet.

"I see, let's hope for good days to come." Ebony liked that he didn't have to go out to find creatures who thought they were predators.

He saw Sophia's reserved order and found that it was mostly range and secrecy modifications. He added some stealth features, found metal materials that would be suitable and added defensive options that money could buy. Hex helped him filter out unreasonable requests that no crafter within the entire Region could make.

"Let's get back to business, you were saying?" Sophia chugged some water to wash down the flush that was rising from the alcohol she drank.

"Other than employing specialized farmers, this route would be my preferred plan. Automation. Robots…think of them as advanced golems are used and I have been sourcing for agriculture machinery." Ebony saw exoskeletal frames used by Mirellan farmers back on Teheil.

He'd enquired and it seemed like they usually used robots brought from a neighbouring sector but Teheil's conditions made them impossible to work normally. Also Dwarven technology. The leading agricultural robotics in the Region were made by them and the whole planet under Dwarven rule specialized in robotics.

Ebony used Hex to search for the merchant group under that Worldcore and showed Sophia the machinery he had been eying. It was every man's toy.

"That would rid of the issue of loyalty but golems…that would still require a controller." She browsed through the numerous different models and individual smiths for various branded robotic farmers.

An ice sculpture of Ebony formed from the ambient mana within Dusk's Domain. He could dedicate a Clone or two to maintain control.

"There is a big problem with using robots. They don't improve but, I uncharacteristically prefer this. We can just acquire more advanced types as we grow our reputation, reach and wealth. People are unpredictable and robots are always as efficient as they were designed to be." Ebony had long attempted to contact a couple of the merchant group from this planet of Dwarven robotic engineers but they've assured him that they were just an offshoot Worldcore and they had greater professionals further away.

Their Region simply didn't have the materials or skilled manpower to supply large quantities of anything more advanced than they could currently offer. He had no proof, but according to their labelled and branded goods they had more Saints than Cinderash. Though all were smiths and engineers, that didn't mean they were weak.

Farming robots were the least of their only specialization.

"That's your plan all along wasn't it, where do I step in there? Sounds like you can do everything by yourself." Sophia shook her head.

"I'm not good at talking or as well versed in information gathering. Source for land. Find buyers, sell the products. Source for opportunities. Tell me about dangers, be my adviser. Handle the operations. A bunch of things."

"I don't have a merchant Sub-class or Profession, many would be more suitable for those jobs…maybe I'm not who you're looking for." Sophia's hands griped her knees tight.

"Hire a merchant if you have to. I'll leave it to you." Ebony patted Sophia's shoulder before he tossed Mark over his shoulder.

'I could let him be but I suppose he should be happier to learn so I'll bring him to Sky's Edge too. Hector complained that I didn't invite him so I'll just bring him there to train too, haven't seen how strong his punches have gotten anyway. Sophia…she's not ready for even the lightest spar with any of the Xeng.'

"Take her home for me, Sophia," Ebony passed the responsibility of the Crown Princess's safety to his new business partner while taking his dear friends on a ride.

He had to return the favour with the great opportunity of training with the strongest around.

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