Ebony thought it the perfect chance to test one of Dusk and his Numbers' experiments he'd left alone all this time.

Turning his back against their incoming target, he walked towards a chair that grew out from the Turtle Fort's tree trunk.

He sat comfortably, letting vines crawl under his pants and robe to latch onto his skin before they pierced through his skin.

He went into a trance to focus on his internal factories. Sensing Xin's annoyance, he would have to explain himself later, but even that was just an echo of an afterthought.

When it came to growing and training, he would place improving himself over her annoyance with his self-damaging spells.

His skin and muscles were most redundant now, so he had Mana Chassis Implosion burst out across his body. Supplying his Domain with the mana they require.

Mana Chassis Implosion - Desperation for mana, squeeze your mana chassis to the point of backlash to draw out 300% + 0.5% of your mana pool's capacity by crushing your mana chassis with your Will. Rupturing Chassis draws out an additional 50% proportional to the amount sacrificed. Mana Chassis mends from overdraft 100% + 5.0% faster every level.

This skill was rarely used, even training with it was done sparingly so its refinement had only increased base from 200% to 300% without any refinement to the mending rate.

Losing skin and a small portion of his muscles' mana chassis was enough, he couldn't sacrifice too much of his Chassis. That would reduce his regeneration as the Mireloom Chassis Engine would not have enough 'factories'.

His dehydrated body sat on his runic chair, but his Domain brimmed with energy.

'These runic vines could use a bit more absorption speed over their durability.' Dusk commented after receiving real-time data.

Ebony wasn't moving even in his mindspace but he felt himself regaining some energy when Xin's Imprint dissolved away and stopped sucking his life force.

'Vent's mana capacity is nonsensically high…my regeneration should have exceeded his but--I just realised that's his base regeneration.' Vent was still one of the 2 people that Ebony was aware that could regenerate mana while manipulating or casting spells.

At least, effectively. There were a couple more amongst artillery mages but those were so poorly done he considered them to have barely picked the skill up.

Today, with Mana Discern he realised that Vent's base mana regeneration had been higher than his previous regeneration with Tier 4 Meditation at well over hundreds of levels. He had passed that long ago, but he had no doubt the Frost Elf's baseline traits and Physique gave him a massive boost to mana regeneration amongst numerous other possible effects.

The other was the Tuffock trio but theirs was a bit unstable the last time they met.

Similarly, the Frost Elf had mana compressed to their purity's limit. However, they weren't flooded with Vent's liquid mana. He was sweating mist even in its compressed state.

Dusk wasn't able to tell what kind of effects the mist had, and it was probably because Vent recognised them as allies.

"Change of plans! Take care of yourself for a moment!" Vent stopped his preparations all of a sudden.

The pillar of Will that was supporting Dusk stopped growing, and Vent disappeared from their perception.

"He's rushing to the river." Xin's voice carried through to his mindspace even in his trance.

Ebony tuned his Will.

He needed Xin to be invincible and his Resonant Battle Hymn translated his Will.

'Ting' 'Sub-Class Skill Resonant Battle Hymn evolved into Resolve's Cadence.'

Resolve's Cadence - Your Will pulses to your resolve through your mana to resonate with unique frequency and cadence. Each Cadence pulses with mental fortitude, channelling inner strength into soundwaves that bolster the target entity. Effect of increased stat of (35.0% to 50.0%) + 0.10% of intelligence per level, scaling based on the Will's intensity of the user's resolve. Effects persist briefly after silence, lingering like echoes of Will. Will's Cadence may influence the target entity.

Consumes: 650 MP/Min and Will

Classification: Sound Magic

He didn't quite like that there was no quantified number for Will, but it was the same for most channelled spells with mana. The variable base of 35 to 50% was brand new.

Since he could compress mana more than a hundred times over, the mana cost would be closer to 70,000 per minute or 17,000 per minute after his Fortification for sound magic mana efficiency. Essentially costed nothing to cast for a single target so he extended the spell to all the bodyguards, Miss Wiggles and the Orca family.

The skill was at level 997, it should give a 134.7% to 149.7% increase to any stat. That was multiplied by over 50 times for Xin alone. With the skill evolution, he didn't dare to inject so much condensed mana into someone. However, he was underestimating his partner, who only looked ecstatic at the power flowing into her.

"Keep it coming, you can do more."

'The Domain buff doesn't extend to Resolve's Cadence. The Will augmentation to a spell doesn't overlap.' Dusk recorded. They didn't test the Will scaling immediately, fearing they popped Ebony's wife with mana poisoning the same way they could pop Ebony with a Domain Augmented Fabrication of Frostblaze Embodiment.

"…is she taking more mana than I could myself?" Ebony was awake from his trance when they figured that Xin was constantly asking for more compressed mana for the spell.

"She's transmuting and burning all your mana into flames faster than you ever could exert strength." Dusk hypothesised.

In the physical world, most of her body was popping with flames spurting all over herself. However, she conjured her blood sphere and put all her mana and life force into it.

Ebony's Resolve Cadence was increasing her Vitality, Intelligence and Wisdom.

One thing he noted was that unlike Resonant Battle Hymn, it seemed like increasing 1 stat took 1 portion of mana. Still, 3 portions were nothing compared to the Will required.

"1.5 points of Will per minute for 1 type of stat. Diminishing returns as usual. 0.2 points per minute for 35% base, but 1.5 for the additional 15%. It's worth it once compressed mana multiplies the effect dozens if not hundreds of times over."

Fully awake, Ebony opened his eyes on his seat to watch over Xin's condition from this excessive support spell. The Emperors could take a surprising amount of mana too, possibly since the foreign mana was not as pure as theirs.

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"We are not trained for this, tone it back down a notch." Mr Martial Artist, Hachiken, hopped on the spot and shadow-boxed to get a feel of the support spell.

"What in the neatherfae is this alien noise!?" The rest of them, except for Mr Captain, Athelopus the 18th son of the 22nd and Hachiken had their skins crawling and goosebumps rising for there was no music, only vibrations at different frequencies for each of them.

Each received Ebony's resolve in the form of Will sent through mana. Each 'resolve' seemed to be Ebony's recollection of all his different targeted training for each different stat poured into this Will to form their unique natural frequencies and wavelengths.

They slowly adjusted the mana density for each fighter and the stat each of them preferred. He could technically increase all stats, but that only increased the burden of mana poisoning.

"Honey, contain my spell for me and fire it off." Her flaming head of hair fluttered while dark veins bulged on her forehead.

Dusk shot their Will into her blood orb, forming a gravitational vortex to crush the already compressed blood.

Miss Wiggles' mental power overlapped with his own for the first time. It forcefully took over his control, showing off her greater Intelligence stat after his augmentation. It was stronger than Ebony's mind after the Domain augmentation with Resolve's Cadence buffing himself.

"Seriously, no mages?" Xin yelled a complaint at the assault team.

Athelopus the 18th son of the 22nd, Azzolith lazily met her side eye. "All firepower required for magical threats are met by our weaponry. It just so happens to be this light elemental beam cannon on our ship. We could overload it and it wouldn't hurt a Grade 2 Saint, but our pilot is already charging it up."

"We're more of an anti-personnel bodyguard team. Rescue missions aren't exactly our thing, but letting you get whisked away is under our security mismanagement." Hachiken had steam rising from his body from his shadow boxing.

He was so excited by the power running across his body that he couldn't stop micro-adjusting his power output and performing his footwork to make sure he could make full use of the augmentation Ebony was supplying him.

"Azeloth, Axoth and Aggold with me." Azzolith called upon his Toddium brothers. "We'll go ahead and weaken it with our powers, give us a warning before you fire that spell."

They grabbed a crystal Dusk tossed to them by reflex before they leapt out of Ebony's Domain. Pulling along a thread of Scout Pigeons, he needed to keep in touch to continue casting Resolve's Cadence on them.

"Young mas--young client, what in the world is this support spell?" Hachiken disturbed him uncharacteristically. He should know better than to talk to a mage focused on a lethal spell right above their heads.

"Why do you ask?"

"I feel...younger, my body is moving in ways I never knew. I'm seeing these weird lines when I look at everyone here. Even your pets. I'm certain it's your spell doing this."

"..." Ebony remained silent.

'Lines. Is he talking about what I see when I look at creatures? Did Resolve's Cadence also transmit some of my fighting experience or my general ability with Phantasmal Shade Sovereign Arts? That can't be true. The lines aren't because of my Mastery skill but just openings I see when I look at people and monsters.' Ebony decided not to answer Hachiken.

Xin probably saw similar things, so she didn't notice anything out of the ordinary. But the rest of the bodyguards didn't experience the same feeling Hachiken did.

Setting his eyes on Hachiken, he realised he saw less of these openings on the martial artist than before.

'Resolve's Cadence reduced the number of openings he had because his battle instincts improved?' He had to further test this with Xin.

The Toddium brothers' impressive speed aside, the magic casters within his Domain were all busy spell casting now that they had a brief break. Excluding the fact that Ebony still had to block the intensifying sandblasting.

He wanted to know what happened that Vent, a man who he knew had just fought against a bona fide Saint not long ago, ditched them all of a sudden.

❅❅❅

'What's this presence? Another Winterborn? My brethren?' Vent Ly's lower body had a propelling mist rocketing him to the Divine Artifact he was gifted.

He didn't mind it sitting out in the open since retrieving it was easy, but the sudden appearance of someone diving into the river alerted him.

The presence had such overwhelming pressure of mana, but a dying life signature. More importantly, it was one touched by Winter. Just like him.

He crossed the short distance practically instantly but the figure already rose out of the river with his possession gently grasped by the man. A human, with a suspiciously familiar mask of the Xengs. One very similar to the one he saw moments ago.

"Vent, that you?" The man's cold voice hammered into his mind with unbending Will.

"And you are?" Vent just woke up from slumber, his soul still frozen from overusing his gift, but he wasn't about to fall to such a weak cry.

"I'm borrowing this." The man ignored his question but seemed to think he answered all Vent wanted to know.

"You are aware of the contents of that box?" He asked a silly question. The man moved with purpose; he must know.

"Mmm."

"Then you must know you won't be allowed to use it." Vent tested for the man's reaction instead of scoffing at the laughable attempt to use a Divine Artifact without even the right bloodline.

"I already asked and got permission to borrow it." The man with a worn robe, soul splitting every moment only to recover the next, said as naturally as breathing.

"...You spoke to Father Winter?" Vent's suspicion was at its limits.

"You can say that."

"Lie. I'll be taking that back." An unbelievable farce. The man before him spoke to Father Winter and lived?

The Frost Elf raised his bow.

"I was merely informing you." The masked humanoid patted his Divine Artifact dry of the liquid gas and packed it into the pocket of his robe.

Vent coldly looked at the man who had his wrist, arm and shoulder implanted with his arrows.

"It was nice meeting you again, Vent. I can't hold back Misfortune while I take this Eye, watch after this 'me' if you can. No worries if you can't. 'I' probably deserve some Misfortune. 'I' have already had it so much easier thanks to me(s) before me. Oh, I'll help with that Soldier, since the Worldcore is irritating me." The man moved his frozen body as if the arrows that were currently turning to ice dust had never hit him.

Vent's mist latched onto nothing when the man dissipated into ice dust just like the arrows implanted into his body.

'He's still here. Invisibility and a mental presence erasure skill? His Will is so potent when he's dying? What race is he?' Vent poured mana and Will into his eyes, but he couldn't find where the thief had gone.

"The elders are right. There are first experiences even after living for centuries." The Son of God never expected to be robbed in broad daylight, and he couldn't even stop it.

'That mana, speech pattern and Will. Ebony? Holding Misfortune back? Did he really communicate with Father Winter?' Vent had a lot of questions.

He left the kids and the lesser Emperors against an ongoing onslaught from a Saint for half a minute, but still remained where he was, settling his mind from what just happened.

He just lost a Divine Artifact that was supposed to be guarded by him.

Father Winter.

The Warden of White Silence.

The Cradle of End.

They were not going to be happy with him.

Or were they?

Vent looked at himself, down to his boots.

He was not dead yet. His soul was untouched, although already damaged from the previous use of the Divine Artifact.

He had a feeling the man who stole Winter's Eye wasn't dead either.

'Its true then. Ebony is one of the Winterborn. One of my brothers.' Vent recalled the cryptic words of Tuctra's Matriarch. His older cousin, though not Winterborn, was of a lineage not inferior to his own.

All the effort going to Cinderash to destroy their Dungeons and the lethal battle with Saint Cormac wasn't for nought if it was for a brother and his people.

'This brother of mine doesn't have as much elegance as Ebony.' Vent breathed a misty cold breath out. The space above had the silhouette of a blade.

The greatsword covered the sun and enveloped the sky.

Not even his Tier 6 sight could see into space and out of a Legendary-ranked Worldcore's atmosphere, where the conjured frost greatsword stretched into and beyond.

The 'slow' descent didn't even aim at the Grade 2 Saint and pierced into the ocean.

His lips twitched when he realised that this Emperor was aiming to pierce the Worldcore itself. The tidal devastation from the ocean hit the Soldier as a mere side effect.

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