Ebony returned to Elcra with no help for the first time. The skies of Elcra were vast but not quite as limitless as they used to feel. It was freezing cold up high, but at only around negative 130 degrees Celsius, it was bearable for a short period for most Grandmasters.

  But cold temperatures were fatal for hot-blooded creatures and Ebony wasn’t excluded. A few hours might kill anyone without proper equipment or clothing at these temperatures.

  Ebony’s ice magic didn’t reach these temperatures and his combusted ice for flames could reach temperatures enough to liquify carbon dioxide in the atmosphere but he had been careful about this because these temperatures depended on atmospheric pressures and it was different at different locations and planets.

  People who didn’t have some sort of breath control would have a difficult time near his flames but there were many easy solutions and the average combatant wouldn’t be harmed by it.

  Flying monsters weren’t anywhere in sight so Ebony’s fall was just a nice view of clouds and the quick warming of his body from friction and descent. A little bit of magic was all it took for a quiet landing.

  Shi Ling wasn’t around on Sky’s Edge so he couldn’t catch up with her about the parallel future him.

  Ebony landed closer to Plainston. Checking with his Mental Map, he found his way to Ordina, his first dungeon rather easily.

  Na, didn’t act like he forgot Ebony and still invited him in.

  Ordina expanded at an incredible pace. The weakest monster he saw was a level 130 Master and he had a feeling Na left it that low so that the people in his immediate surroundings had a chance to explore his world.

  The number of floors didn’t increase but the land area surely did. It was big enough on the first floor that Ebony couldn’t sense and see the end of it. More energy has gone into size than the strength of his monsters.

  “Na, long time no see.” Ebony greeted.

  “Has it been long? But…you’re still the scariest thing around, thought I would’ve grown past you.” Na still looked like a golem. It was 3.5 metres tall, with a shield that was very similar to the old one Ebony conjures and a longsword. It now had proper stone armour, very knightly. It must have learned from years of freelancer and knight involvement.

  Due to Ordina’s growth, the Imperial Army must have managed to land their hands in this place. Blocking out the entrance and exit with proper knights instead of weaker local soldiers. The golem had no reason to wear robes like Ebony or lighter clothing that could barely be considered armour like Xin.

  “How many guardians do you have?”

  “I have 2 back ups but I no longer personally act as the guardian, no one around has a chance to clear my dungeon anymore. well…I’m not planning to get you to change that.”

  “You can feel it?” Ebony cycled back to Na’s assessment of him. He thought he did an amazing job of hiding his mana, even having all excess converted to money in his bank account.

  He had to try extremely hard because with his current regeneration, causing normal people’s minds to slow down was the least of the problems. He was reasonably certain that he might leave people mentally challenged for weeks even after removing his influence. At least in Tidal, the average mana density was higher and people there were more used to higher mana densities.

  Plainston might have grown quickly but the people around were still not at Tidal’s standards.

  “Of course, I can. That leak of yours is feeding me close to half of all thirty thousand and eight hundred creatures inside me now.”

  “You have that many people exploring your dungeon?”

  “About four hundred of them are what you call monsters.”

  “You managed to bring them in through the knights?” Ebony was surprised, the Empire stopped monsters from entering dungeons.

  “A creature that claims to know you, a monster that can talk, brought its race in. This was before the knights came many years ago.”

  “A monster that talks, ah Obsius the Cysaru Aberrant. She brought the Cysaru here because she sensed something wrong with Bubble Hills?” Ebony nodded after the clarification.

  “Yeah, they live here now. They provide me mana, I provide them experience, training and food.”

  “Still, thirty thousand…they built a town or multiple towns in your dungeon?”

  “Yes.”

  “Anyone found out you can talk?”

  “I have shown limited ability to communicate but you’re still the only people to know about me.”

  “About that, I’m here to give the same offer. Want to leave your dungeon and explore?”

  “The stronger I get, the more expenditure I have once I leave my lands.”

  “Have you learned anything about runes?”

  “A bit. Mana absorption isn’t even close to enough. I lose essence not mana. I will have to be on a constant hunt. The monsters in the area can’t even allow me to live more than a day even if I spend all my time killing them.”

  “I see you’ve already tried.”

  “Yes, my absorption ability of essence also drops after leaving my dungeon. I am but a self-trapped entity. No matter how big I make my world.” Na was depressed.

  Ebony was also at a loss, he could easily deal with his friend's mana needs but essence was a different issue. Giving away life force literally eats away at one’s life, they were not that good of friends. As for mana, runes could do the job, Na just needed to go somewhere with denser ambient mana and the limited range wouldn’t be an issue with his current understanding of runic formulas and Runic Mana Shaping's level.

  As he wasn’t a biological creature but a dungeon, a parasitic life form that eats the world it was born on, using ambient mana and essence was as natural as breathing. He wouldn’t have to worry about turning into a monster like if humans were to use ambient mana as enhancement magic.

  “I’m getting married.”

  “Okay.”

  “Can I use your dungeon as one of the locations for a trip?”

  “Sure.”

  “Want a spar?”

  Ebony was intrigued when he found out his Domain was limited to his body again. It technically made Na a better Domain mage than he was but it was just the nature of the dungeon. Na was surprisingly amazing at fighting like a Knight. He was a near-perfect knight with the sword and shield handling. His huge frame was utilised very well.

  “How was it?”

  “Your shield handling is great, your positioning is even better and your posture is amazing. By technique, you’re about as good as an Empire’s Knight gets including those Nobles I've seen. You’re limited by whose techniques you’re learning from. Your strength is about the same as mine with 3 types of augmentations while your durability is even higher.”

  A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

  “Is that good enough?”

  “For what?”

  “To walk outside.”

  “Not really. Mostly because physical strength is a bit cheap, too many magical ways to get around it. In the past I would have said you are about as strong as an above average King-ranked Knight with a few magic specialties but I think you’re closer to an elite Grandmaster now. If you understand the grading system, you would be around grade 4.5 Grandmaster.” Ebony needed to learn advanced forms of dispel.

  The type that could deal with most other magic spells. He was at a disadvantage when experienced magic users like Quasar could disrupt his spells while he couldn’t do the same. He did have a method for that, one that he learned from watching Elcrian warriors and knights dispel magic but that wasn’t enough for his needs at the moment.

  Ebony got Na to give him a moment. He was pleasantly surprised to find out that Eidolon, or Hex can still be connected to. Unlike callstones that couldn’t go in and out of dungeons.

  He searched the forums for ways to deal with constant essence loss and was more surprised to find numbers results. It was more commonly discussed than he’d assumed.

  “Oh Na, I found a few realistic ways to get you a source of essence on the move.”

  “You do?”

  Ebony explained to his dungeon friend about Elcra, Worldcores and Eidolon. The golem was intrigued but not quite surprised at the scale of the world.

  “So the most realistic way for me is plants.”

  “Specifically one that is parasitic and one that you can feed so the two or multiple of you can support each other like symbiotic life forms.”

  “How can I get these plants? That money thing you said? I have mana, but…”

  “I put an order for you for seeds, you’ll have to experiment yourself to see which works for you. There will be risks, implanting them into you. The more special the plant the more smart they are, just because you are a golem body of a dungeon doesn’t mean you’re safe.”

  “I know, even I can die. My immediate goal is still becoming one of those World Dungeon things so that I don’t die without Elcrian’s Worldcore to parasite on.”

  “Good luck with that.” Ordina the dungeon was going about in the dark more than Ebony was with skills. The dungeon had no teacher or predecessors to learn from for its evolution.

  “Thank you.”

  “Didn’t take much, keep getting stronger. Your learning speed is only going to increase with more people coming inside so don’t kill so wantonly.”

  “Never did. But I don’t understand why you’ve been helping me. It was an exchange in the past, but I have nothing to give now.”

  “I thought of you as a friend. I can count on one hand how many people I think are close enough to remember even now and you’re one of them. And, you still have things to give. You’re younger than me and have more chance of becoming stronger than me than any human on Elcra.”

  “Uhm, you want me to be stronger than you?”

  “No, I want you to try. I’m about to lose a rival for a wife, I need a new rival.” Na was the best choice in Ebony’s opinion. Inhumane learning ability, undying or substitutional body, not limited by talent, not limited by physique or natural potential. Vast energy storage and 'regenerate' by its nature of a parasitic lifeform.

  Na was supremely adaptable. As a guardian body that could change the makeup of its body with any material the dungeon could make. Learn the skills of everyone who fights inside the dungeon. Reshape itself however it desired. Ebony had never seen another dungeon that could or had communicated with him or shown such control over itself.

  “I learn from people that this rival situation is a mutually beneficial arrangement if I’m not wrong.”

  “You can say that.” Ebony nodded when he didn’t find anything wrong with the statement.

  “Then I am in your debt for the moment. I’ll return the favour in future.”

  “As a side note, I’m starting a company. Want to be my employee? I pay well.”

  “A company, do you mean a merchant group or a commercial organisation?”

  “Yes.”

  “I was under the assumption that all you care about is Scarlet and your personal power.”

  “This is for my personal power.” Ebony had come to an understanding that wealth is power just as knowledge was.

  He had questioned himself why the God of Knowledge needed monetary or mana payment for reading some books, gaining some knowledge. Why does a seemingly all-mighty existence need money?

  He was kidnapped for mana and more accurately monetary value more than once.

  Why wasn’t he using his own worth?

  Access to Eidolon widened his perspective on the power of wealth a tinge bit more. There were simply objects, items and power that money could get him. Power that his individual skills can’t obtain.

  As a modern man, he wasn’t blind to the use of money but it never quite clicked with him. Money had rarely ever been a problem for him.

  Hex might treat him well, like a big customer. But he was not.

  As an individual Grandmaster, he was probably one of the biggest spenders. But in terms of trade volume, he couldn’t even be compared to a small merchant group by Eidolon’s standards.

  He liked travelling to search for ingredients that could strengthen his physique but it wasn’t efficient enough. Neither was he strong enough to go to places with natural ingredients potent enough to raise his naturally high potential. But money could solve it. Along with Eidolon’s help to connect to people and resources.

  Using just his mana regeneration for money wasn’t efficient enough either. Ebony needed that for training and feeding Dusk’s mana stores. The conclusion he came up with was investing. He didn’t know enough to invest but had to start somewhere.

  Ebony spent two days teaching Na his formless style while also learning a bit more about swordsmanship from a different perspective. The dungeon guardian was not a big magic user and more of an environmental user. It was too bad for the dungeon that it couldn’t conjure anything a few kilometres from Ebony's body. He didn’t exert any form of Will outwards, just his magic body from his mana stopped Ordina the dungeon from doing any spell work outside of what Na the guardian could accomplish.

  Then he took breaks to search Hoarfrost Glades.

  He couldn’t find a single trace of Arcta but he left traces of his own, hoping the Frost Elves were scouting their surroundings and found him.

  ‘Illusion magic doesn’t work well on me so there must be some form of physical camouflage as well.’ Ebony was clear that most magic that affected the mind was ineffective against him. Although there were many exceptions and he couldn’t discount that the Frost Elves might have some thousand-year-old seniors helping them.’

  One of these days when he went deeper into Hoarfrost Glades, he was called out.

  “Congratulations sonny boy.”

  “Thank you, Uncle Xun.” Ebony decided to treat Xin’s Great-grandfather as a senior since he was going to be an In-law. It was a bit odd for him to call the older man a nephew.

  “No, no. That’s not quite right.”

  “It must be.”

  “If you say so! Hahaha.”

  Ebony was surrounded by half a dozen Nings. He reintroduced himself to them and got introductions as well.

  Veronica, Xin’s Grandmother was present.

  Ning Xun and his wife, Zhao Ya were Veronica’s parents.

  Ning Hua and her husband Qin Haoran. Ning Hua was Ning Xun’s older sister and Veronica’s direct aunt.

  And the last was their daughter, Ning Min.

  They were supposedly looking for something from the Garden of the Deceased for Veronica’s grandfather or Ning Xun and Ning Hua’s father.

  “So how did you guys end up in the Glades?” Ebony asked.

  “We were flung out. The Garden of the Deceased is a forbidden land of Elcra but it wasn’t always that way. It used to be just a part of Bubble Hills till someone made it their territory.”

  “Domain?”

  “Even a ten thousand year old mature Domain can’t kick us out. No, it has proper…rules. Never mind that young Uncle.” These people were not looking at him, nor were they actively hiding their aura like on Sky’s Edge where their homeworld suppressed them.

  Ebony wasn’t taking the pressure easily. The sheer quality of their mana and life force was shockingly purer than Gearhart's by leaps.

  “If you’re looking for the Frost Elves just wait another week or so, someone will find you.” Veronica had been in pain since he’d met up with them.

  Whatever was in the Garden of the Deceased, it wasn’t for him to meddle with yet.

  “Sorry I can’t be of help, good luck.”

  Ebony tried to smile but the muscles weren’t quite moved before all of them flew away. They must have made a detour and pit stop to meet with their future-in-law.

  ‘Divination mages sure are troublesome.’ Ebony wasn’t told a date for his wedding, only that he would know when the date was closer by.

  They also gave him well-wishes for a happy marriage but they were all mentally unfocused on him, hoping to rush off as quickly as possible.

  ‘A week huh, guess I can check on Hata town and get stock up on fresh coffee.’ Ebony contacted two of his clones using the Will Relay Buffers he placed on the way to Plainston to get over here to train with Na while he personally took his trailer out for a drive.

  All the while, charging Dusk in Tidal with Will and mana.