"Sorry girls, I'm going to have to cut our shopping trip short." Xin gave them a heads up.

"Oh, we can't come along? I have some questions to ask. Lure is Royal business and takes precedence over my job as headmistress."

"I'm very free. And very bored." Athena didn't like frauds just as much.

"Maybe we can get some fox pelt." Xin took a step forward and leaned into Red for good.

With a trusty stick, she wondered if she could beat the Seer's anti-divination measures.

Every toss of her stick, she would let Intuition control the muscles in her arm, wrist and fingers.

The Elcrian Seer didn't seem to realise that she was playing divination with the descendant of the greatest Divination Mage this Worldcore, this Sector, Hex Region had ever seen.

"You don't have to hide anymore, you can crash the party. Right?" Red spoke out loud before addressing her friends.

They seemed confused.

At least until one of her husband's Apparitions conjured a body for itself ahead of them.

"If you don't mind." She recognised all his 'Numbers' by both Intuition and her constant emotion detector. Each had a different Will, and subtle differences could be felt depending on how they reacted to stimuli.

They did not mind.

"I got her mana signature, let's make this quick." Two was a Number who represented a large part of Ebony's problem-solving memories, regardless of cost.

Today, Elva shook as Ebony's mana was summoned over the continent wherever his Relay Buffers reached.

"Hmm…the oldest trace I could find of her mana is in Vermin's Paradise, but it's over a week old. A divination-type spell that I'm unaware of was used to hide her recent tracks. She's hiding in a dungeon. We'll use your Intuition there."

A random staff flew from a distance into Two's hands, probably delivered from their house, flying to Arcta now.

Two casually raised the lousy staff and stood still for two minutes.

Outside of their awareness, Two had every Relay Buffer towards their destination vomit mana and reworked the gravitational waves of the planet.

"Mallory, barrier for all of us. As strong as you can make it." Two commanded.

Without waiting or asking for permission, Two pushed Athena and Mallory into the torrent winds that formed from the raging gravitational tunnel he cast. Gently taking Xin's hand, they hopped on.

Internally, Xin was gushing over how amazing her husband was.

It was too bad that no matter how alike they were, Two couldn't even be considered a fragment of him. To her, the Apparition might as well be different entities because they were growing and thinking differently. Otherwise, she probably couldn't control herself from leaping for a hug.

❅❅❅

"What's your deal?" Xin had the fox lady's neck pinned under her sword, scorching her skin. There was no fox pelt for her since her beast-proportions were close to none, with just her ears and tails present.

Unexpectedly, she only had 4 tails. A Grandmaster Seer that was comparable to the Archduke or any of the Dukes that were Kings.

The entire Dungeon and all its monsters had their faces and bodies planted deep in the fake earth while Athena gazed in awe, and Mallory hid a bit of her fear along with intrigue.

"Woah, how much mana have you spent?" Athena looked at the frozen people in the town they were in.

"740 million or so." Two muttered while playing with his staff and maintaining his gravity spell through the handful of Wolves he conjured throughout the dungeon.

The Crown Princess gulped audibly to Xin's sensitive ears, and Athena was blanking out, unable to comprehend what she had just heard. Athena pulled her fingers out and started counting to herself

Vermin Paradise was one of the biggest supply of materials for the Empire right after the dungeons in Tidal. This particular 2-floor dungeon had a town on each floor and was spread across vast surface areas, but even the town on the second floor they were on had its activity paused. They weren't planted to the ground, but every citizen was rooted to the spot.

Every combatant fighting stopped moving. Some held in midair.

They could only watch as their monster target gets planted to the ground.

In Two's words, "We don't know the limits of foxfire, her teleportation or clone-type spell."

Xin emotion detector was receiving floods of fear.

Every individual within and outside the town was shocked by the sudden disability to move and breathe. They also felt the sudden invasion of mana and Will that was forcefully calming them down.

Ebony thought that was being helpful, but she knew that it had the opposite effect. Being forced to calm down by a foreign mana would only heighten one's caution.

Yet, no one succeeded in resisting.

A Rare Dungeon and its dungeon divers didn't have the capabilities. Not when half a Turtle Fort was sitting at the portal entrance on the first floor, one floor down. It was a conduit helping to transfer mana fast enough for Two's purposes and to connect them with the outside world.

The fox lady under her sword had most of her body sealed except her mouth and internals, courtesy of her husband.

Knowing her husband, the portal outside was probably boxed up to prevent anything from slipping through the portal as well.

The slim fox lady had her robe down, she was rather pretty when she broke into a light smile and tried to reply Xin.

All of sudden, she went into bullet time but even then, she only saw a shadow of Two's hands punching right into the fox lady's face.

Smashing her teeth and pulling an enchanted orb out of her mouth.

"3 mana signatures. Hers, the crafter and enchanter are the same person…and the last one is a bit stronger." Two enveloped the marble and an ice Pigeon swallowed the marble before flying off to the exit portal.

Red felt a bit of disappointment, "don't waste mana. I don't think you'll track that mana signature anyway. Perhaps off-world."

"That's 45 years of my mana if I don't use any!" Athena yelled all of a sudden.

"So your Wisdom stat is around 1500, no physique, no baseline difference from the average Elcrian." Two muttered only loud enough for Xin to hear.

"You don't have any meditation-type skills?" He asked in disbelief.

"Do I look like I have the patience? I'm an archer not a damned mage, and I fight close range too. Don't need that much mana to last."

"I recall your active archery skill consumes a significant amount of mana."

"That's normal. My capacity is about 32 times larger than base. I store mana on days and weeks I don't fight, and when I require extended battles, there's always potions and my equipment's stored mana."

Two and Ebony should know these things. Elcrians focus on their maximum mana pool capacity. It was a lot easier to grow compared to learning and excelling at meditation. That wouldn't work if one couldn't calm down. In a battle, at war, being able to meditate or finding the time to meditate wasn't a guarantee. Even the Artillery mages require a special room that cuts them off from the sound and aura of war, fitted with calming pearls.

Mana capacity skills on Elcra were rather advanced compared to all other skill types, so much so that a Tier 3 version was commonplace enough for warriors and archers to obtain through Z&Z. Freelancers that don't fight, work or train every day could recover for a few days between jobs and have enough to spare for their next quest.

"You're the mighty Ebony, locally known as the Rejuvenator?"

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

"What's it to you?" All of them stayed silent except for Athena.

"I see. All of this was foreseen, as expected of my lord. This is not where I die, nor when. Whatever my lord desires, he shall receive. Mr Ebony, Missus Scarlet. As a form of goodwill, you should prepare to say farewells to each other. Farewell."

Xin stabbed her throat halfway through her sentence but the fox lady, sealed in ice, dissipated once again. Her voice continued to carry through despite the disappearance of her body.

She escaped them twice!

"Were both clones or were both real with some translocation spell?" Two wasn't impressed that someone broke out of his seal without trouble.

It was pretty much impossible to catch a Number surprised. They saw the world in third-person, taking every situation as a matter of passing facts. Like Ebony used to do and still does at times.

Xin's stomach sank a little when Two looked out. Towards the entrance portal a floor below them.

There was no need for these clones to 'look' in a direction, but they were still the Will of a person and Ebony naturally used his eyes so the Numbers had these built-in functions even when they served no purpose.

"What's wrong?" She asked.

That's when she felt a change happen. Another ice sculpture of her husband was conjured beside Two.

No Apparition took over it, but it was growing a new aura.

'What's happening, a new Apparition? Doesn't feel right…it's him. He's coming personally.' Red didn't wait long and patted the head of the new ice sculpture. "I thought you said this was a wasteful use of Will for now. Something serious?"

"The continental scan. I found traces of One. I came over to make sure." It was a bit mean spirited of the ice sculpture to not return her hug.

One, the first clone.

Without any update from Ebony, the clone wasn't even an Apparition. Neither should it have the updated bodily ice strength and durability nor its updated runes. It should be fragile. It should have run out of mana years ago, much less Will. Unlike Dusk or the core of a Domain, it had no unfading Will.

Yet, Ebony claimed its Will was still around.

"Where?"

"The Elven Domain."

For a moment, she was afraid to hear 'Fragadal's Sea'.

It wasn't out of her expectations.

Who else could keep a Will-infused clone artificially alive for a longer period on this Worldcore?

Perhaps the mythical, non-existent perfect race that her grandmother and all the Xengs talked about was present on Elcra but had never been seen before. Not even her husband's all-around scan ever found a trace of another race.

Ebony suspected they were either hidden in the Elven Domain or in the Garden of the Deceased. The two main areas he was completely blind.

Fragadal's Sea wasn't all that dangerous in comparison, even if Ebony didn't map that place out along with the innermost region of Hoarfrost Glades.

"Only here to confirm?"

"Mmm."

"I thought maybe you missed me and wanted to come by…" She muttered a tease, but Ebony had already returned due to the excessive usage of Will to transfer most of himself over.

She kicked the empty sculpture's butt in displeasure. "I know you heard me."

Her feet hurt even though she was in Red form. Ebony transferring his Will over did make this Apparition a Domain augmented version, that slipped her mind.

The sculpture faked falling and twisted itself around with its head beside hers, "I do, don't come home too late."

They exited the dungeon before Ebony left the town, the monsters and the dungeon to continue their activities. The first thing the townsfolk and dungeon divers did was panic, but that's none of her problem. She'd already left the dungeon.

Using the stick that she continued to carry, she tossed it in the air.

The stick somehow landed in a small pothole and stood up, pointing up.

'I guess that means she's not on this Worldcore at all."

"This is why I hate seers." Black resurfaced. She pouted.

Trying to chase a seer down wasn't easy, and it always made her feel like she was getting played like a fiddle.

It wasn't kind to her pride to let someone mess with her escape under her sword. Ebony must feel something right?

Now she was annoyed that he wasn't around for her to read his emotions.

"I'll get people to search what they can." Mallory was concerned about the news on Lure. She made it her business to follow up, but Xin wondered if her people would be as effective as Ebony or her Intuition.

She asked the Numbers for privacy for their girl time. Educating Athena about how she needed to use her Natural Potential to push her Fortifications to their limits during her next evolution, should she get the chance to manually evolve, they returned to their girls' day, which turned into night.

The Crown Princess was too busy to continue and Athena had another appointment to go to, which left Xin alone not long after.

'I don't want to go home yet…' As much as she wanted to, she still had Ebony's scent on her and she really didn't want to occupy his time around the clock.

He needed space away from her to develop.

Yet she realised there wasn't much she wanted to do by herself besides cooking and hunting. Nothing interests her in the City, not even eating at a new restaurant seemed inviting.

'Am I actually a more boring person than honey?' Unreasonably, she disliked the fact.

Left alone, Ebony would've found thousands of things to do and work on in this City. He wanted to see and test everything.

The person who couldn't care less what happened to this place and its people could find more things of interest in this City than she could. 'Maybe we're more alike than I thought.'

Did the ability to sense emotions cause her to get attached regardless?

Did she actually not care or have interest in anything besides power and food if it wasn't for the ability to sense emotions?

Suddenly feeling lost now that she had quiet time, she picked up a loose brick from the road. The road was perfectly fitted.

'The stone mages following Oplot didn't remove all the debris? How incompetent.'

Unsure why she picked the broken brick up, she tossed it in the air and let it drop to the ground.

Humming, she lightly kicked the brick around.

Unknowingly, she fell into repetition.

And the brick hit a shopfront's stairs.

It was late into the night, but she wasn't exactly afraid of the dark or anyone in the City.

Looking up, she found a familiar store.

'Well…this works, I burned through a few dozen pairs recently.' Without a doubt, her next evolution would push her a little deeper into Divination.

Her subconscious has already been using a stick and a rock as mediums to connect to the Astral Realm. Her mother started with a bit of divination when she was a Master.

With the thinned Zhao blood, Xin's affinity and genetics for Divination grew more recently as a Grandmaster.

She pinched her bodysuit to make it cover only her chest and allow her natural body shape to recover, and entered the store that was still open.

She immediately pinched her nose at the strong scents in the store.

The rabbit beastwoman she once saw over a decade ago was still present and her store at night was filled with customers, unlike her store during daytime.

All the customers were forced to look towards the door when she entered because of her overflowing vitality silencing the building. Black might not have any deadly aura, but she could still pull off immense pressure, clean as it may be.

It was no different from every single Archduke and all their Dukes suddenly appearing at the door.

"Welcome!" The owner rabbit beastwoman wore a translucent nightgown over her strings as underwear. "ah, should I say welcome back?"

Seeing that she was just another customer and her overflowing vitality wasn't targeting anyone, the rest of the customers and employees recovered quickly. There were only rabbit beastwoman, and human employees but every race of customers except Elven were present.

"Ufufu, young lady got yourself a partner? You're not a virgin anymore."

"How can you tell?"

"Smell and aura. Need help picking?"

"Yes. Anything that can get my husband's heart racing."

"What are his preferences?"

She gulped and her hand gripped the brick that rolled from her kicks before dropping it and watching where it rolled. 'A stick is better.'

The brick had a drop of conjured blood filled with Intent of her Intuition. And it worked ever better than she imagined.

The round brick rolled in a different direction than it should have naturally and it didn't stop rolling for a while. 'I stand corrected.'

The stone ball rolled to a stairway and couldn't roll up.

"I don't remember you having a second floor."

The owner smiled and brought her up. "My selection and customer base have been increasing."

It was quiet, and the scent wasn't as repulsive upstairs. There weren't more than 5 people in the room upstairs either.

Her eyes confirmed that there was 1 employee, a young rabbit beastwoman sitting behind a counter and reading a book. 4 customers who were behind the curtains, trying on their selection.

"Tell me whatever catches your eye and I'll tailor it to your size within the hour, should you choose to purchase them."

She didn't need the help of her beginner divination for this.

"How durable is this?" The flimsy straps didn't look like they would hold.

"They'll tear right off."

"o—oh, I see."

For the first time, shopping for clothes didn't feel like a drag. All she had in her mind were possible reactions she could get in different underwear.

"All of these haven't been worn, you can try them on after I alter them"

It was fun.

Taking a seat the owner offered after she was done picking a couple dozen, she eyed the young employee who never said a word. Her life force informed Xin that she was a teenager, not older than 20 but she was a Journeyman. For Imperial Citizens these days that were young, they could spend more time training up their skills.

Identify seemed to be an Active Skill for Ebony, but Xin always had it pretty much as a passive and these days, her target never seems to notice. She could stop it from activating by subconsciously ignoring the existence of a person or object. It might be her Divination in her genetics with anti-divination properties that would indeed stop people from noticing.

[Sexual Predator Lvl 0 / Coy Maiden Lvl 78/ Succubus's Vigour Lvl 0]

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