Ebony didn't expect yet another bounty hunter to be after him. And it was a solo attempt by an Emperor who barged right onto the ship.

He didn't have to do anything with the bodyguards on board having control of the situation, but it was interesting how even an Emperor was taking a chance at his bounty now. His bodyguards mercilessly disposed of the invader like it was just another day. They got his information before killing the man.

"He's a human from a neighbouring Sector, but he's been mentally infected by a species of parasite monster. You were the target. The host still had control and knew you had a bounty dead so they both stood to gain. I am not aware why he was stupid enough to think he could take us on. Perhaps he just doesn't know about our company." The guard Captain reported.

They took control over the one-man vehicle parked nearby and noted its above-average stealth capabilities. Even for an Emperor, it was rare to find a solo traveller in spacee. It was just too dangerous, and the chance of meeting threats they couldn't deal with was high.

'All my mana is being fed into Dusk right now. Am I still leaking mana? Even if I am, is it going through the ship and out into space?' Ebony didn't dare to get overconfident with his mana hiding skills however, he was pretty sure he fed every morsel of mana without any wasteful leaks.

How did the parasite monster sense him?

It was a pity that the nameless bounty hunter, hundreds of years old, successful, brave and strong enough to traverse space by himself, was gone just like that. Forgotten as if he had never been remembered at all.

Throughout the entire return trip that had the ship blaring its boosters, Xin remained in her fighting state. She also trapped herself in the training room and wouldn't stop their spars.

Ebony didn't even know about his bounty hunter until her Intuition stopped her and got her to go to the toilet. The short break allowed him to see her sword stabbed into the corpse that the Azzolith, the Toddium Captain, was holding up.

That, and she really had to use the washroom after weeks of non-stop training. He could do it, but her body must be a wreck after drinking and eating in the midst of their spars. She wouldn't even talk to him about why the sudden explosion of the training exercise, other than saying she needed to let loose or she would lose control herself.

Patting his wounds closed, other than the fact that he could sustain himself longer and had reflective damage to all her close-range attacks, he was pretty much on the losing end throughout the spar.

Her Sword Art was not logical.

He thought it was similar to his momentum build-up for the increase in speed and power. There had to be a limit to that. Yet, her Sword Art could build up so far beyond what Ethereal Fluid Blitz could and completely overpower him.

Although he could do the same for any of her spells, she was so fast and impossible to keep away from his body that the only damage he did to her come from her swords touching his body and having his Fortifications and active mana manipulation reflect damage through vibrations and gravity but she already got used to that and actively transmuted parts of her body to ignore the physical reflection.

She also made use of the repulsion to back off, and this time, her Sword Art combo didn't break off, so her build-up only continued to grow.

Their duel got so intense that he went into Domain Augmented, and she got so deep into her Sword Art that even transmutation couldn't keep her body safe from her strength.

If they hadn't stopped for a toilet break, Ebony couldn't even simulate accurately who would die if not both. He had extreme survivability, but she also had the offensive.

She could die just by running out of mana and not being able to transmute, so her chance of dying was always high. Not if her Mask and backup were taken into consideration.

That thing was still so tough that nothing either of them did could damage it.

When Dusk was used to smash into the mask and landed successfully, it was Ebony and Xin that took the brunt of the damage, while both items were unmarred.

'Recovering from this level of damage to my mana chassis shouldn't take more than 2 days. I need a mana chassis recovery speed Fortification or something along those lines.' Another option was to have a stronger mana chassis so that he didn't burn himself out to begin with.

[Inherited Stamp – Infernal Witch] wasn't enough for him to receive a fully compressed Domain Augmented Fabrication of Frostblaze Embodiment but it did increase to about 50% before he started to sustain real damage to his chassis.

While he was recovering, Xin burst into the training room with her eyes more fiery than ever. It was so intense, and he did not like that he didn't know why.

"I can't take it much longer. This is not helping enough. When are we reaching?" Her Intent scared everyone on the ship but Azzolith, who was standing by since no one else could stand in their training field without a threat to their lives except the guards' vice captain, was not afraid. "We've already been going into overdrive at your insistent demands. 1 standard day at the fastest."

The glare in her eyes flickered for a moment before it lay upon him again, "Please distract me for another day." For the briefest instant, Black seemed to surface, "I can't take it anymore, I don't smell you on me for so long…" but that got squashed by Red who returned and their training continued with Azzolith watching with secret awe and not so secret observation and learning with his note taking.

"You need a break, your body has been in an exhausted state for 3 days already." Ebony knew exhaustion better than most despite his endurance. Both the mind and body require rest for the full effect of their training to settle in.

Merely 2 hours in, he couldn't watch her deteriorate more in her technique and hastily removed his Cadence buff from her before knocking her out. Her Intuition didn't even catch that. It was clear how worn out she was. Using Will, he forced [Inherited Stamp – Infernal Witch] to shut down within his bloodstream.

Taking out a very familiar incense that was part of the Shi's gifts, he placed her down in their room and let her sleep soundly, but it didn't take her long before she squirmed around and tried to get her clothes off. This was a disposable bed and foreign, so he didn't mind getting it dirty with the dirt and blood from battle. The same couldn't be said for the other way around, so he wrapped her up in the blanket to stop her from stripping down to her bare skin.

A light sniff made her squirm around violently, which led to him locking his arms around her. It took another hour of intense sniffing before she peacefully fell asleep, and he did the same.

They slept soundly till their room's bell was rung; it was time to alight as they arrived on a ship hanger in space above Elcra.

The Empire didn't build or allow foreign ships to land directly. An unknown merchant group extended this parking spot from neighbouring Worldcores with similar arrangements.

There were dozens of people selling shuttle services to get around the few planets in this area, but Ebony and Xin could survive in space without special suits, and both were capable of traversing. Even so, they were far away from Elcra.

Vent had to be woken up, but he apparently left the ship without saying bye and only left a note saying he was going on ahead with his Orcas.

Ebony's contract with the expensive transport merchant group ended the moment they arrived, but Xin woke up and Black cordially said their goodbyes to the bodyguards and the helpful attendants who talked to her about ingredients that every race of their crew liked to eat.

Their honeymoon ended faster than he'd prepared for, but he didn't feel any pity. Searching for an Elcrian, Imperial Citizen, they quickly found them and walked towards the stall where these people were crowding.

Changing his language back to Elcrian to smooth the conversation, "2 Warp scrolls to Tidal." The Z&Z Firm employees recognised him immediately.

There weren't exactly many people leaving to and fro Elcra like they were. The warp scrolls were something the Z&Z managed to deal with between Hex and the Lord Royal Family.

It was a simple one-time use scroll that would send the user of the scroll from their position to an enclosed barrier building that Navin had built.

A simple version which had a range limit just about this hangar's location back to Tidal, and each could only activate for one person. It opens a warp portal not unlike a dungeon, but colourless. This way, a user's magic body wouldn't interrupt the scroll as it didn't have to directly translocate the user.

This was how Ebony got up here as well. Sky's Edge was parked not in space but directly in Elcra's airspace, so it wasn't that much trouble, but this hangar was much further.

As for 'allowing' Sky's Edge to be parked within range, Navin and Oplot completely ignored them. Not even uttering a complaint.

Furthermore, the scroll was so cheap. Using a couple of hours' worth of mana to reduce travel time by days was always worth it.

He found Seven's Will as soon as the warp opened and stepped past it. Then they had to wait for the Imperials to let him through customs.

He didn't mind following their procedures.

The cursed barrier he was 'trapped' in wasn't easy to break anyway.

And if the Xengs could get cursed, he decided not to test it unless it was a friendly setting with Navin. There was no reason to sour their relationship, and he respected the man who built and made the Empire the way it was within a tight time frame.

Stolen story; please report.

'I don't think I can break this. It's linked to the City's core mana stores.' Ebony did not under or overestimate Tidal as a City.

Impressive was an understatement.

Its defences were powered by billions of citizens who had taxes collected just by living within the city.

As his Numbers scoured the Capital except for the Elven Domain, many of the Empire's defences were displayed for him to observe. Hidden deep within the Capital was a bank of mana.

Comprising something similar to Kong Jing's mana orbs but made of Reds, Ancient quality mana ores. Their inferior craft and capacity were one thing, their volume and accumulation were another.

It was almost as if the Royal Family or Nobles had mined the entire planet's Ancient-quality mana ore veins over the generations and put it in one city-sized room.

That was how wealthy the Empire was and why Ebony was convinced that if the Lord Family owned that, they were richer than he was by magnitudes for now. They had thousands upon thousands of years of monetary accumulation if the Lord family had been around since the second generation of Xeng had been on Elcra.

A pair of Oplot's Guardian Knights stepped over with their usual stalwart demeanour. They were the main force against external entry, and Ebony saw them as airport security.

They should recognise him and they did, ushering him to place his hand over a metal device with a green light. Ebony didn't place his palms against it to let them scan his biometrics.

They injected their manas into the device and nodded at the guards before walking out.

No one's mana was hidden information as long as one lived and breathed, but the sensor here also couldn't read everything they needed to know from a simple analysis.

Xin caught him off guard when her wings surfaced, and she grabbed him from under his armpits.

Their home was safe and sound, but she didn't even bother looking at the great state of their garden before rolling both of them in when their magic was dissolved.

Dragged into the bathroom, the robes came flying off.

"You don't have to be gentle, I can take it this time." Her bright flush on her white skin rose and got deeper in record time.

He wasn't a fool.

Their tussling went from the bathroom to the bedroom, where he was pushed down.

"Aren't you hungry? You haven't eaten a proper meal in weeks." Ebony addressed the stomach grumble that Red wasn't even ashamed of.

"Shut up, you're all I'm hungry for now. Now don't move, you've treated me so nicely, but I was so passive. It's my turn to make you feel good." Red had never been in the bedroom with him. Despite her talk, she paused above him, and her grip on his arms only got tighter.

"I know we loosened up just now, but give me a moment." He couldn't tell if Red and Black were any different; they were one and the same to him. Just different parts of her.

Her voice tickled his ears when she tried her best to take the lead. It didn't take her long before her cheeky side surfaced, "Oh? You liked that a lot." Chuckling after reading emotions he didn't know how to decipher, he didn't let the opportunity of her guard dropping go, and his arms found their way around.

❅❅❅

Ebony rubbed his bruised neck. The fact that she picked up blood drinking during their activities allowed her to match his stamina. Physical comfort was fantastic and all but he just loved that they found a way to be more compatible.

Perhaps too compatible.

There was also a lot more that he learned about humans from their lust than he initially knew from accidental eavesdropping, his education and books.

At least, he didn't think his brain would release as many feel-good chemicals as it does during training.

Speaking of training, their morning training had the result of his accumulation.

'Ting' 'Class Skill Frigid Tranquillity's Martial Grace Conditioning subsumed into Ebony Rime's Priming.'

'Ting' 'Frigid Tranquillity's Martial Grace Conditioning completely dissolved. Prime rate exceeds natural limits. Metabolising excess.'

Ebony Rime's Priming - Peak of Conditioning. Placing aside Fortifications, Classes, Skills & Stats, you have found what's unique to you amongst all your traits. Above all but Physique itself, you saw to it not to live as you were born but primed to perfection as an individual.

All Stats increased up to 30% + 0.5% per level.

Core Skill Boundless Serenity Geyser increased in potency up to 100%.

Potency of Martial and Simulative Aura bleeding out increased in potency up to 600%

Mana, Ice and Gravitational Tolerance increased up to 300%

Prime Rate: 35.001% / 35%

Ebony, amid a training session, had many things to ask himself, but instead of getting thrown off by questions or the explosion of additional strength that never came in the intensity it should, he watched the Prime Rate go up to 35.002% and back down constantly.

Doing his tests and simulations anew while testing out his only Tier 6 Skill. Despite skipping a whole Tier since Conditioning Type skills were all about training and didn't translate to the power or efficiency of a skill and spell.

For any lineage or people who had access to developed methods, it wasn't anything special. Of course, it wasn't like a Master or any random old Grandmaster could handle the required intensity of a Tier 6 Conditioning.

Priming wasn't a new term to Ebony. The Xengs were self-proclaimed experts at Conditioning Type Skills. Every generation and clan had built and studied Conditioning Type Skills.

Not all Tier 6 Conditioning Type Skills transformed into a Priming, but all Priming was Conditioning.

The Skill description was quite odd in the sense that it seemed to be speaking or telling instead of explaining what he did to make the skill.

In Shi Qiang's words, Priming was the most non-unique, unique skill. It was made by and for the individual.

The Shi believed that the only reason it wasn't branded as Unique was because it couldn't be passed down, while Ebony or anyone else's Unique Skill may sooner or later be picked up or taught to another person. The Skill description may have come with a touch of the Ubiquitous Providence presence.

This 'touch' was also why the First had the Xengs as a whole study Conditioning Type Skills.

There was no explosive increase in his stat that usually came with skill evolution because of the priming rate.

Tier 1 Conditioning had an incremental 0.01% increase in a stat. It went up to 0.025%, 0.05%, 0.1% and 0.25% for the Tiers after.

With a 0.5% incremental increase and his Conditioning at level 500, that didn't change after the skill being subsumed and the base increase from 10% to 30%.

His stat increment from the maxed out skill should have went from 10% + 50%, to 30% + 250% or 60% to 280%. He very clearly did not see that improvement.

The Prime Rate would explain why. His very existence could only take up to 35% of the skill itself. That was the whole difference from the usual skill of 'Increased by' to the current 'Increased up to'

Thanks to all his studying and the Xengs having the study material to begin with, he didn't have to figure things out himself.

It was simply because the Skill wasn't at 100%. It absorbed a Tier 4 Conditioning, and it was already great that Ebony's current maximum Prime Rate was 35%.

The Shi's recorded average upon evolution seemed to be 19%. As for the non-Shi Clan members, it was more common for them to have skill evolutions from Tier 5 to 6. There weren't many data points for a Tier 4 to 6 evolution.

This was public information amongst the Xeng and only the Xeng. Ebony only lost to Shi Wu, who evolved a Tier 3 Conditioning into a Tier 6 Prime directly when she was a Master, and it sat at 44% upon evolution, but this was only known to the second gen and Ebony himself, who Shi Tao told.

'I'm still not that much of a training addict?' There was also the fact that his mother had a Physique hundreds of times stronger than a baseline human that gave her the constitution to handle intense output, but that wasn't everything.

The Prime Rate supposedly translates to any of the effects that one could draw from their personal Priming Skill. At the moment, he should only be able to draw up to 35% of the maximum skill effect.

His test matched the numbers. All his base stats went from a 60% rise from Conditioning to a 98% increment. That was 35% of the maximum skill effect of 280%.

As for the Prime Rate rising beyond 35% and metabolising, it was his training that continued to prime himself, but unable to take the changes. He was just able to numerically visualise how training strengthens him.

A series of training, resting and growing would allow the maximum Prime Rate to increase. The same as any human exercising to grow stronger and faster.

Needless to say the most obvious and self-inflicted change to himself was his meditation increasing in potency.

Priming makes what is unique to an individual even stronger, more than just Stats like a conditioning-type skill. It now gave modifiers not unlike Fortifications. If the Skill Description wasn't playing with words. It seems to take effect before a Fortification.

A brand new effect on, and from his mana chassis and mind, was more noticeable than a stat increase that happens all the time with an augmentation spell.

His body literally chilled down when the skill evolution suddenly came. So much mana flowed out he didn't know how to trap it within him or pack it into a spell fast enough.

Fortunately, he was within his personal training field. He believed it may be sturdier than the whole planet and Xin was in a different space for her personal training.

Mana gave him numbers better than raw stats.

Since his Wisdom stat increased, his mana regeneration was already higher than before just from the stat increase, but having his Priming strengthen his Core Skill felt different.

His understanding told him that his Priming would double the maximum working effect of Boundless Serenity Geyser, where Potency equaled every part of the Skill as a whole.

The math and language made him wonder if this decreased his Core Skill's original potency because of his lower Prime Rate and the increase of 'up to' 100% would technically mean he has a weakened effect of his Core Skill due to the 35% Prime Rate but it seemed like the percentages the skill show was additive to whatever was originally his.

Just like the stat increment of 30% + 0.5% per level was additive on his original stats.

And his mana regeneration checked out, his Core Skill wasn't weakened. It had an increase in effect of 35%.

Tolerance to his mana and elements was great and all, and he would surely have fun experimenting and finding out the exact difference between resistance and tolerance.

"So what in the world is Martial Aura and Simulative Aura…?" He was so confused that he had to question everything he knew about his fighting capabilities.

At the very least, this seemed to be the only effect he didn't consciously train or 'Prime' himself to do.

All his training methods increased his stats' effectiveness and the use of elements to toughen his body up from his own Augmentation spell was obvious enough. Meditative exercise to condition himself also gave him some expectations of improving his meditation, but Meditative Aura and Simulative?

Not a single trace of those thoughts went into these areas while he crafted his personal training methods.

Whatever the case was, 'bleeding out' simply doesn't sound beneficial, and he had to find out as soon as possible because it doesn't seem like he could control it at the moment if he didn't even know what it was.

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