A month later.

"No huh….well, take care." Mallory hang up.

Xin rejected her call for help once more. They needed people strong enough to contend with monsters smart and strong enough that were usually only found in the Glades or other forbidden zones of Elva.

They've confirmed it's Lure's doing.

Floods of monsters had been spewing out of Lacuna. Dungeon breaks were emerging from previously controlled Dungeons because the new owners had purposefully fed them. They've confirmed that someone on Lure's side was harvesting souls.

The Elves moved. Not the Archduke, those with actual power left their forest.

The Painter of Animation was the first to make a public move when an opposing Emperor 'dirtied' her canvas of serenity. They basically made too much noise, and she was annoyed.

Xin heard she painted a door that opened a hole in the seal that Lure placed on Elva that connects to the Spirit Realm. Lure knew that the Elves could contact the Spirit Realm and get assistance from Saints, as with the Saint existence that helped regulate war with the Trolls. It was expected that they had a past King of the Empire on their side. While Saints generally cannot interfere with natural Worldcores below Legendary, that was only if the Saint was an outsider. The Nebula Watch would know, somehow or other.

Oplot could do nothing. His opponents knew of his limitations and avoided him like the plague. Anywhere he was, there would be no attacks. But he could only be in one place at a time. From what Mallory shared, Lure did not want to offend the Wandering Celestial Monastery as it would mean Demi-Gods could lay hands on them regardless of the Nebula Watch. It would be a 'lawful' attack if Oplot was attacked because every creature was allowed to protect their offspring regardless of the standard law that this Ancient Worldcore couldn't be invaded by higher powers.

As a child of 2 Demi-Gods, and one who advertised that. Few dared touch him with real hostility. In reality, they did dare fight Oplot. Because they understood the Monks of the Wandering Celestial Monastary. On their pilgrimage, the Demi-Gods won't attack back even if they kill their offspring.

However, who wanted to test that fact?

Yvette already snapped weeks ago. Deaths of her people truly…did not bode well with her.

And Xin had to say. Yvette was the most impressive one from the news she received so far.

Life Queen was so last month.

She was now praised as the Immortal.

Not in any blinded way, but in an unkillable way.

Xin only receives rumours, and the Imperials love Yvette to a frightening degree so it was hard to believe everything she hears from her few friends.

However, she believed Sophia's words. Her husband has indeed found a…talented woman.

Although it was also thanks to this woman that they were in debt, her Intuition seemed calm about that. She didn't question why she trusted this Sophia so much despite not knowing much about her, but she rarely questioned her gut. This woman would get far, and she would help them get stronger. Yet, she would also be the one who ties them down to normal people. Something most Xeng don't keep.

Another month went by.

Despite all the death and war, she heard a piece of news that interested her.

Someone, she didn't know who, but someone, did not listen to Elcra's Lure operatives.

With a group of enraged monsters sent near Xienor led by a pair of Emperors that wanted to use Xienor's particularly high mana density for a facility or camp.

Xienor contained a couple of dozen people.

They were mostly part of the sixth or fifth generation.

Some were taking a vacation.

Others were studying a Skill or researching a spell that may take decades or longer to refine and mutate.

Some were injured beyond repair in their earlier days and simply waiting for death or finding a way to recover.

Most were King-ranked, either due to injury or aiming for perfection before evolution. They all have their own goals, but all were more than capable of evolving.

Most weren't proper 'combatants' by Xeng standards.

Xin only liked one person there, Uncle Wu of the Shui Clan. The King Fisherman had given her his catch every so often when she was young and never shunned her and her family, unlike the others.

It annoyed her that these Lure people had gotten him pissed enough to act.

It was a sight for sore eyes when the continent drowned in Uncle Wu's Will. Will she never felt before, or couldn't when she was a weak child. It extended to their house in the Glades so she was able to feel the warm hands caress the continent.

He even delivered a fish she'd never seen before to their doorstep while he did so.

His fishing rod swung out and fishing line span across Elva, into the World Dungeon Lacuna Expanse and hooked onto the Summoner-Tamer who was the reason for the beast tide.

Instead of killing the summoner, it seemed like this person was now summoning fish for Uncle Wu to cross-breed.

In a few weeks, the Empire was able to cull the leftover horde since this summoner was taken out of the picture. It was tough for the Empire, their soldiers and knights didn't cut it.

Only Counts, Dukes and freelancers of that power could stand up against these monsters. It required a lot more manpower and mana to power some magic towers for people weaker than them to defend or slay these beasts.

The Glades were as silent and noisy as usual. It seemed like they weren't part of Lure's target.

Another half a month in, she was getting antsy.

Mallory sounded in bad shape. The Lord family lost people, a lot of people.

Hector…lost his father.

Apa was caught after he jumped into a city that had been overtaken. He killed the man in charge, and the one who came after him. But he couldn't take another 3 Emperors that jumped him. They were interested in the Apex Ape and seemingly knew the race of Apes.

She did not like this passivity. She might care little about unrelated people and cared little for war. But she did care for her friends, and their hurt was transmitted to her.

Sitting here, killing a couple of monsters every hour did not bode well.

She could see why the seniors in Xienor didn't make friends easily.

Selfish, definitely.

But she also understood all of them were just obsessed with their growth, growing close to others that would die before them would waste time and inflict pointless loss. She knew many of them stopped going out when the people they know in their generation all died of old age. And they've explored whatever they were to explore on this tiny place.

However, they were still friendly with the Empire. Her Grandmother used to stay in contact with the nobles but she wasn't the only one.

The Xengs also helped against the Tetramyth, although that was people who moved with Sky's Edge and not those from Xienor.

Xin was impressed by whoever these attackers were.

She heard some people coming out to help, but it's been days, and their presence was still around Elva.

These weren't the usual punk Emperors if they could still, and were still increasing their efforts to take over Cities.

Ten days later, she got a visitor.

"There you are." Hardock rapped his knuckles on their front gate while kicking aside a rhino's fresh corpse. She did not appreciate that; she would make sure to clean the rhino with extra diligence.

"What are you doing here?" They did not hide their tracks; it wouldn't be hard for someone of relative strength to find them. It might be different if Dusk could use Will properly, but Ebony's Will was evolving.

"Come on, your friends are losing dear family and friends, and you're still sitting around. I've come to ask for your assistance."

"I haven't exactly forgotten what you did. You think I want to help you, of all people?"

"Come on, let bygones be bygones. Didn't we already go through all that on the Sector Station? We're already even on that, but Ebony still owes me one."

"Is this the favour you want?"

"Of course not, that is whole'nother story though related. I'm asking for your help."

"It's related, alright. Now I can see clearly. See that burstbow resting on that sword stand, that was held by a puppet." Xin should've closed the front door.

"…that gun huh, what puppet?"

"A puppet with multiple souls combined. You, too, are 3 souls in one." Xin did not invite the man in, but her door had been open and Icicle's standing rest was by the door.

"….Yeah. The one who did that, that's the one I need Ebony's help with. Their grubby hands have come. They understand the Xeng, well, those that's from Elcra. As long as they don't make the first move and the Xengs attack first, you're fair game and your old foggies won't interrupt no matter what, even death."

"Do they have the capacity to worry about that?"

"The fools who are here, no. The one who put me in this state is an Angel. She's a different story."

"…"

"You don't know what Angels are, do you?" Hardock sighed and shook his head.

"Hmm," She was too embarrassed to reply with the truth.

"Yeah yeah, you don't read books. Ebony would know. Angels are Saints that carry God's power. Archangels are Demi-Gods that carry a God's powers. Subordinates. Well, borrow might be more accurate. But, they are more powerful than most Saints you can find."

"So?"

"They aren't afraid of you Xengs."

"Okay. But that's none of my business."

"I see you're just like your people in that regard."

"Get to the point."

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"You're married right? Have you become like Ebony?"

"Thanks."

"He's evolving huh? How long has it been?"

She answered him with crossed arms and a silent glare.

"I was just trying my luck since I was hiding in the area. Anyway, keep your head up. These guys might be lackeys but they aren't something Elcrians can handle. Although I'm shocked by how well some of them are doing."

"How strong are we talking?"

"Grade 4 Emperors give or take. But the leader is well into Grade 6 is under direct command of one of that bitch's direct subordinates, he's mine. The Nebula Watch prevents Saints from coming over and no past Elcrian who managed to evolve is involved."

"What is Lure's goal anyway?"

"I don't know, I sneaked in and climbed and climbed. But I don't know. No structure. No direct link to whoever's above. Too many layers of lackeys under lackeys."

"How's your success in gathering strong people?"

"After failing with the two of you, the people I've gathered are…lacklustre. Their quantity doesn't help cover the need for quality. I was on the Sector Station trying to gather the resources, but…"

"This is all for your…revenge?"

"I suppose so. You know what?"

"…"

"I guess we didn't fail after all. With Ebony owing me a favour. You would be there too. Ahahahahahah!"

"…"

"Anyway, hope I can have tea next time. Be careful, once Ebony gets near the end of his evolution. They can feel it, and they will come. Don't attack them, they won't attack you first. Your Clansmen are watching, no?"

"Why?"

"Why what? Why would they come?" Hardock answered himself, "It's obvious. They would either sense a threat or an opportunity. You must have heard what they are doing to the cities they've taken over. I believe one's soul would emit a type of signal or energy during the evolution phase."

"Imprisoned, drained of mana. Mana slavery." Due to past kidnappings, she began to dislike this breed of people.

She had difficulty understanding Ebony, who stooped to their level and 'imprisoned' or jailed in his words, his bounty hunters. These people were still frozen and displayed at Tidal, right in the open of their old house's garden.

"Mana is wealth. Wealth is power. Mana is power. It might not be their main purpose, but you bet they wouldn't let any easy-to-come-by sources of power go. Mana production facilities are abundant throughout the universe. Harvesting from people are usually the easiest, least capital investment required. Back when Ebony was a Master, he was already an anomaly, but still nothing amazing on the large scale due to it being close to baseline human. But now? His mana quality is changing fast, even I can sense that."

Xin didn't know how Tuffock was sensing Ebony's mana quality. During evolution, the individual uses up their essence to change themselves.

Their resource pools should be in deficit throughout the process.

Monsters sensed what was exhaled. To put it dirty, the excretion of old essence.

She knew what energy was attracting the monsters, but nothing about the essence or mana being excreted should show an increase in mana quality. Not obvious enough for someone who was standing by their door for a minute.

Their house had been enchanted well enough that even the Kong Clan could not peek into a room if the doors were closed. However, they had to leave essence in and out.

Why?

Xin wasn't sure if 'tradition' could satisfy her as an answer anymore. Tradition only went so far; the Xengs and the Elves must have suggested it for a reason. The benefits should outweigh the risk of attracting beasts.

'Not just beasts…its starting to attract people. Did they find me through whatever honey's leaking?' To be honest, Xin was surprisingly not angry at the 3 souls in one body person in front of her anymore.

They snapped her neck, yes. And they also took Ebony's spell to snap their necks.

Many tried to kill her on Teheil. Yet somehow, Ebony was able to help integrate her with the humans. That was when many powers there knew she was praised as the Holy Maiden of the Altarbound Kin.

Ebony was indifferent.

That might have caught on to her a little.

Of course, she also knew that was because they were strong. Not strong enough to beat Emperors on Teheil back then, but strong enough to make people take a step back or think twice. They also had an advantage back there with Ebony not hindered by the Cushioning, and she was drawing power from the Altarbound Kin. Yet, inconsequential enough that they weren't hunted down. That was also because they didn't understand Ebony's actions.

Helping multiple races. Selling his services. Serving food to random people. Going out at night to duel people.

Sometimes, he selectively duelled people who kept track of them and their daily activities. After they did that often enough and continued to open their food stall and their runic load reduction services for everyone who paid up, people started not to bother them.

"You're strong. King?" Red had been keeping her attention on every movement from the man who stood by their doorstep.

"You're the strong ones. So fast. We're merely recovering what's once ours, but you're growing fresh. Anyway, we evolved a while back. Don't die before I claim that favour of mine. Oh, here's some Rockwine. Splash it on anyone and it'll petrify most, including non-living, so aim well. Call for your older cousin from the Kong Clan to protect the two of you, you're insufficient as things stand."

Her Blood Halo came buzz sawing but hit air.

'How fast is he…perfectly fortified King for sure.' Red didn't let that missed attack bother her pride. She didn't put any power into it anyway.

What ate at her pride was how she had a feeling the trio, or Hardock, the only speaker during their meeting, was right.

She wasn't enough.

'Elva got a lot more dangerous all of a sudden. Gotta do something more than sit around.' Kong Jing was in deep waters. The space mage didn't want to implicate them any further and was trying to deal with the wizards she found trouble with.

Xin wasn't too worried. She had never seen her cousin genuinely pissed, perhaps her pride with her space magic was finally tackled when she couldn't escape perfectly.

No, she was more worried about themselves now.

Creatures from the Glacial Region were already beginning to get attracted. She had an overwhelming advantage over most of them due to the nature of her elements and the fact that these creatures didn't have heat-resistant ice. If they came in hordes, she might not be able to last, and that was assuming she could beat them in the first place.

Disregarding distance, Koawe the curse mage needed months to travel back and forth the two Frost Elven villages. Taking into account that most people, herself included, did not run at full speed for days, and walking was the usual mode of travel. There must be incredible creatures making the Glacial Region their home. Creatures much like Apa or Miss Wiggles, who weren't monsters, less than 10 years old and survived nature.

'Gen is in there somewhere, doing something.' Xin took her coin out and tested out possibilities.

It took her a few dozen attempts. It was draining; she wasn't quite ready for proper divination magic.

'No relevant Skill yet. So Gen's looking for his children in the Glacial Region.' She recalled that the Turtle of immense power, who broke her swords before tossing her towards heat-eating bats had a son and a daughter-in-law who travelled into the Glacial Region but never returned.

Just like their huge ancestor's partner, Gen's daughter-in-law was a species of tortoise from Elcra's oceans. Gen was more of a tortoise, with legs quite suited for land. His daughter-in-law was from the ocean but had transformable flippers. She knew that from Gen's grandchildren with slightly different features, probably inherited from the mother. Gen's dead wife was of the same oceanic species.

Making his grandchildren a few generations different from their Ancestor.

As for this oceanic species, Ebony said he never found a trace of them, even though he froze a large part of the ocean from Elva to Tova. He only froze a portion of the ocean, so it wasn't unexpected.

She couldn't rely on anyone else.

Pacing around, she wondered what kind of protective measures and spells she could cast in advance.

'Maybe I can copy that ritual?' Xin recalled.

She went out of the house, making sure the door was shut.

Rolling her sleeves up, she summoned a small blade of hardened blood and sliced into her forearm near the elbow down to her wrist.

She bled.

She hasn't bled for a long time. Being able to transmute was one thing; having full control over her body to stop her bleeding with muscular strength was another. Not bleeding, thanks to blood manipulation, was yet another.

However, she let herself bleed.

Staining the soil off the pavement from their door to the gate.

She winced.

There was a big difference between conjured blood and the blood within her body.

The blood in her body contained all the energy she converted from eating. Although she could feed that into conjured blood, this is a lot faster.

She didn't learn runic formulations.

She didn't have any spell in mind.

The Altarbound Kin were not only incomprehensible to Ebony, they were odd even to her.

Due to her ability to sense emotions, what she could tell from the Altarbound Kin was that they were all fervent in their beliefs. Unnaturally so.

She once saw a mother tripping over a protruding rock.

Within hours, the entire neighbourhood started to curse the rock. Saying it was an object of misfortune and the lady's downfall. To cleanse it required her family's protection.

The lady's family, including her baby took the rock and bled themselves onto the rock till it was drenched.

Then the neighbours around her conducted a ritual.

Their horns shone, not with mana since Teheil the parasitic Worldcore was strong enough to consume even Ebony's mana, but whatever power it was reacted with the rock they fervently stared at.

They had a long discussion on the fate of this rock before they decided on a…mantra of sorts. '…misfortune shall dissolve.'

They repeated the woman's name to have their family's misfortune dissolve for hours and hours.

Till the blood on the rock bubbled and started to dissolve the rock.

Then they cheered and celebrated once their ritual succeeded. The woman and her family were gifted food and clothing from their neighbours.

This was merely one of the many times she saw a similar ritual.

At first, she assumed it was similar to the Nebulian Mandate. Using Will to cause something to happen. With the weak willed Altarbound Kin, the individuals couldn't use Mandates but combined, it didn't sound impossible to her.

However, there were a lot of limitations, and Ebony confirmed that their Wills couldn't manifest even with many of them together. They were not a race specialised in Will.

Ebony didn't know what it was either, though he had never seen many of these rituals.

They knew it was the horns since it glowed with energy. They didn't know what energy could do that.

Xin had this energy since she gained the Skill - Lesser Symbol of Might. They were filling her up with this energy every day.

More shockingly, the distance didn't seem to affect this energy transfer.

Ebony couldn't even transport this mana a hundredth of the distance before his mana would dissipate into the environment or get used up from moving.

Feeling this energy on Teheil, and now on Elcra. Xin didn't feel much of a difference in quantity or quality. It wasn't something she could control at first, and it moved by itself to strengthen her.

After the Shi Saintess sharpened her Intent, she felt like she could guide this energy a little. The unknown energy was exceedingly weak when she moved it. In her control, they lost their power. When her Intent lets go, it strengthens her again.

She was being influenced by the Altarbound Kin's Skills, just like how Ebony had Entity Evansence, which makes people forget him easily. For once, she didn't hate this foreign influence, but she wouldn't want it to last. No time like the present to get it under her control.

Dusk unconsciously sucked up her blood from its roots, but she didn't want to override Dusk's control, so she tried to get it to stop. Its plum bombs were already full and holding too many would drain its mana resource by maintaining too many gravity vortexes. It was also limited to how much gravity mana their cube had if they wanted the environment to maintain its gravitational strength.

'What do I need to do, strengthen defences? Hide essence leaks better?' She was trying to come up with a mantra but decided that she didn't need one. The Altarbound Kin only used that to get everyone in sync and she had control over Intent which was more direct form of manifesting her thoughts into reality, just like Will.

Hiding was not for her. She couldn't gather that kind of Intent, for she never had the intention to hide.

She was vindictive compared to Ebony.

Those who step on these lands with hostile intentions shall suffer.

They'll carry the scent of her blood.

They'll inherit a stamp of hers.

'What Stamp would be good….' Pretty much all of her Inherited Stamps consume health. Only people with strong vitality could take her 'buff', while it would kill just about anyone without enough life force.

Inherited Stamp was a magic spell, it could be interrupted by natural magic defences. But it was also a Vitality-based spell, bypassing a good portion of the natural magic body.

Ebony told her it would be more effective, rather, more dangerous for mages while being unable to cause instant death for most Warriors.

That was to say, she needed to make the strongest Inherited Stamp she could that did not increase Vitality. She also couldn't strengthen her targets if they had a deep vitality pool.

She decided to make an [Inherited Stamp – Blood Witch's Acumen] as concentrated as possible. It'll only increase perception, sense of smell and sight. Possibly a bit of her foresight. Yet consume vast amounts of health.

Focusing her Intent on her senses and her foresight, she started to create a new Inherited Stamp. The stronger the ability, the more life force it took. She didn't know if she could give her foresight to her target, but it was worth attempting.

Surprisingly, Dusk probed her to include its Will. It'll help her aim and land her spell should something touch the ground or reach its Domain.

They can see their impending doom.

"Can't forget to make it hard to remove."

That's when she realised, Dusk could help her seal her target or have her Inherited Stamp sealed onto her target.

Taking a page from her husband's book.

It was skill experiment time.

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