'Ting' Combat Ascendancy Trial Script 43 Threshold exceeded.'

'Ting' 'Stat - Wisdom Potential infusing…'

'Ting' 'Generating Script 44 Aggregate Trial. Adding equivalent stat gain to Aggregate Trial'

'Ting' 'Combat Ascendancy Trial Script 44 Commencing.'

"My turn to be the bully."

Ebony felt his mana chassis, even the damaged ones whirl to life. His Mireloom is fixing itself faster. His 'factories' are having trouble burning his new mana that Intelligence is affecting. It was stronger, tougher, most importantly, purer.

His Unique Skill needed to be edited to handle his new mana, he started working on it immediately.

Without his Unique Skill in full force, it didn't change that his mana regeneration was shooting through the roof as the seconds passed, and his mind was taking in the gradual changes.

Adapting.

Evolving.

He already tested, and he couldn't touch the creature while it was being generated. However, his advantage had always remained that the scripts generate in the exact same spot.

But Ebony created a Gravity Vortex where its translucent body stood. Testing whether the strength of his mind could overcome the limitations of fixed quantities of gravity mana.

As expected, the skeleton with amazing defence and resistances didn't crumple into a ball and immediately fought back with dispelling his mana, with its signature 'Mountain Rend' that could now cut all his elements. Not even lightning could stun the creature, even though he never let it build lightning resistance.

'Ting' Combat Ascendancy Trial Script 44 Threshold exceeded.'

'Ting' 'Stat – Perception Potential infusing…'

Taking it down once more and getting his Perception stat Potential rather easily, Ebony continued to get a better feel for his increasing effective stat.

Although he was used to exponential stat increments from augmentations, it was very different now that his Intelligence stat rose sharply and he had the Wisdom for his mind to handle the strain.

His balance wasn't off, but the intensity was much too different. Enough to shake his confidence in moving his body and his spells.

Too many supportive augmentations, and his Domain that could mess his body up if he failed to regulate the elements and mana flow properly.

Perception was the one that usually caused the most mental problems when increased sharply within a short period, but Ebony didn't feel that way with his Wisdom stat being as high as it was, or just his baseline mental being able to 'see' well. He didn't have many Will Relay Buffers deployed here so the mental load was small even with the rise in Perception.

'This Trial is for training and adapting to my new body as much as it is a test to see if I am indeed a 'King' of anything. Should I just crush the next few scripts with as much mana as I can muster and end it quickly? After this would likely be my Fortifications, and getting those would make it even easier,r but…when I got stats, so did the script. If I get Fortifications, I'm betting my opponent would be scripted with similar buffs. Assuming I get my Profession Fortifications first, it's a small upgrade compared to power compared to direct power enhancement from my Class's Fortifications…' Ebony was thinking faster, but didn't feel that way since it was not unlike going into his mindspace where he experienced time a bit differently.

However, he realised the scripts were getting silent for a bit longer than before, and nothing was generating immediately.

'Ting' 'Generating Script 45 Refined Trial. Adding all Skills….except Unique at equal proficiency into Refined Trial.'

'Ting' 'Combat Ascendancy Refined Trial Script 45 Commencing.'

Ebony was hit in the face with an explosive amount of mana from the translucent figure being generated. He ignored the lag when the script didn't or couldn't copy his Unique skill and placed it into his opponent.

He sensed his opponent's bones and elemental flesh carving runic Augmentations. Watched the elemental flesh cast Fabrication of Frostblaze Embodiment, although it seemed less efficient and slightly different, it was the same flames of frost.

He felt a Domain being formed to push Dusk's influence aside, but its Will wasn't as strong or abundant.

When it gained opaqueness, Ebony saw a spiny sword in front of his face.

The ghost-like Flicker didn't escape his notice.

It had a greater stat count than he did, which included its magical augmentation, but it lost in Will strength, and it was burning mana at an exorbitant rate. It didn't have Ebony's mana efficiency Fortifications or perhaps any of his Fortifications. That weakened the copied skills, even if they seemed like good copies.

Their stat difference wasn't so great that it could overcome his movement speed Fortification.

'It didn't copy my Unique Skill, I still have a lead in mana. They copied all my skills, but its base of Goa' Larg and formless spearmanship is still there. It beats me in technique and offense while also having resistance to practically all my spells. Dusk provides me with better support than its flimsy Domain and provides me with better defences. I have the edge in mana. It copied me so much, it can't kill me off immediately. But it's adapted to my defensive spells, its sand is eating through my shields like nothing, its offensive strikes can still tear my body apart, and I can't dodge all of them. I can't see their permutations fast enough, just like mother's…'

Without his Fortifications, his opponent edited his plum bombs and started to fill them with sand, water and ice mana.

Instead of a plum cover, it was using black water. Stygian filled water element.

Ebony had already tasted these mixed elements. It blocks the perception of mana as per the 'Stygian' does. Not only that, mana that touches this black water would instantly be ground down by molecular sand particles within. It was an anti-material, anti-mana spell that was resistant to vibrations and gravity.

Still, it could be slowed and frozen to an extent. Ebony didn't know if that was because ice was his strongest element or if water was suitable for freezing. He was leaning towards the fact that his opponent wanted him to freeze their spell before they took control of the ice since it was also capable of ice magic, and the mana would have their mana signature giving them an edge for manipulation. While the water could be frozen, and its stygian element could interrupt Ebony's mana sense, its sand element doesn't freeze. Making every spell of his opponent extremely hard to guard against or resist.

Just like Ebony, who reflects damage while physically contacted, his opponent does the same, but is more effective with its mana grinding sand after a few evolutions purely to counter him.

'It's not that bad, I still have advantages over it that I can exploit, but how many more evolutions before it fully counters everything I am?' As calm as he was in his mind, reality wasn't so kind to his body.

Being beaten in pure fighting technique wasn't shocking; there were plenty of Xeng, at least, all of the Shi Clan can do that.

'As expected, it can evolve to counter my martial path because…I still have form; if I have no form, there is nothing for it to counter me. It's not like I'm losing to its calculation abilities or prediction. If that's the case, I shouldn't be disadvantaged in technique at all. What are my habits…decapitation, pushing kicks for knocking limbs or body off balance, elbows to the vitals….'

It was clear that the sword in his hand was not Icicle that he knew of. It was unbreakable and took as much mana as he could dish out.

Icicle could not. Not with its base materials being as weak as it was.

The sword brought focus to his limbs and joints as he constantly changed grips, tossing his conjured ice sword connected with a thread of gravity to swing at range when his opponent did a Flicker backwards, while his feet were too busy to Flicker as well.

'My technique needs to evolve or I'll not be able to keep up.'

Ebony didn't care that it was adapting to him faster; he dragged the battle out. The way he saw it, there wasn't much left for the script to adapt to in terms of his martial arts. It plateaued in improvements because so did Ebony.

It was a shame that every physical hit damaged his mana chassis, he couldn't just bank on regenerating limbs. But that only served to give him a sense of danger. A sense of urgency.

When it caught Ebony on the floor after a tidal spell, and was about to land a Mountain Rend.

Ebony called it quits for this script and cast something he hadn't throughtout every script.

Soul Basilisk's Pseudo-imitation roar

The essence attack stunned his opponent for a split second, enough for Ebony to work his Coreflame of Preservation. Ineffective but enough to buy more time and execute the unmoving target. A split second was usually enough to end a battle.

He didn't gain any skill levels, but he could feel himself improving noticeably once Potential was infused. Not fast, and perhaps not even a single skill level worth of improvements but mana flowed smoother, faster, tougher. Physical moves were swifter, sharper, and more forceful.

'Ting' Combat Ascendancy Refined Trial Script 45 Threshold exceeded.'

Stolen story; please report.

'Ting' 'Profession Skill - Mana Metabolismic Circulation Potential infusing…'

'Ting' 'Generating Script 46 Aggregate Refined Trial. Adding equivalent potential gain to Aggregate Trial'

'Ting' 'Combat Ascendancy Refined Trial Script 46 Commencing.'

Just because it had all his skills doesn't mean it was as proficient as Ebony was. Not to mention the lack of Fortifications.

Even so, the fact that it was interrupting all his spells better now had Ebony rethinking how he had to fight. He had to get creative, he had to adapt again and his previous simulations on how to guide the scripts had to be reworked with all the new skills his opponent just got.

'Is this already my limit? What's past it.' Ebony was pushing his limits but he wasn't going past it.

Not with these 'refined trials'. Despite how close every fight was pushing him, he still had backup, he still had a last line of defence. Dusk as his nearly indestructible shelter, his coreflame that was working surprisingly well, all things considered.

'I wonder if it copied my coreflames too. It's not a Skill, so I don't think so, but I don't see why it can't slowly gain Will strong enough to imbue into its spells.' Ebony wasn't worried that his soul attack was used against him.

With his Unique Skill, he had the advantage in mana quantity. And the Soul attack wasn't a direct soul attack, it was essence-based. As long as his essence was stronger, it would take more than just that Skill to stun him. If he were stunned, he would be dead. His opponent would not slip up, and a fraction of a second was more than enough for it to end him.

Time and time again, Ebony slipped under the clutches of death. Getting the Potential he clearly deserves to every Profession, Sub-Class and Class Skill. Then, his Unique skill before his third Core Skill slot, second, first. Then the order made him question everything when Potential was added to his fourth Core Skill before another script that unlocks his fourth Core Skill slot.

He was too busy to even ask his instincts how come his fourth core skill slot got potential before requiring another script to unlock the slot.

'Ting' 'Combat Ascendancy Refined Trial Script 81 Threshold exceeded'

'Ting' 'Profession Fortification - Mana Radiation - Physical Warping potency increased by 100% infusing…'

'Ting' 'Generating Script 82 Tempered Trial. Adding emulated sapience. Adding memories of all Script death to emulated sapience…Defect for Trial detected, fear and an inferiority complex. Adding Willpower and resolve to overcome the fear of failure and death. Adding reason to emulated sapience, 'The Entity-Ebony Rime, is stopping emulated sapience from receiving a true soul and body to be added into the cycle of reincarnation. Emulated Sapience designated as Script Entity - ∞∞∞∞∞'

'Ting' 'Combat Ascendancy Tempered Trial Script 82 Commencing.'

'Did it just give it a reason to kill me with extra intensity…will it really generate a soul in the real world for it if I die, or is it just false hope given? Is the cycle of reincarnation real here? ' Ebony thought of the emulated sapience as a form of advanced artificial intelligence.

It was a pity if the AI was scripted to think it had a chance to become 'real' by removing Ebony. He had no way to be sure if this scripted reason was true, if the emulated sapience succeeded, and he was not planning to experiment since that would require him to be dead.

When the new body was being generated, Ebony was ready with his spells. Having a head start was one advantage he had, while he didn't have much rest in between, and his opponent always spawned in peak condition. Since it wasn't added with stats or skill this time, Ebony didn't see how it could blitz or surprise him with pure speed and power anymore. That had been the case for the dozens of scripts before this.

"Why."

The generated being did not scream 'mountain rend' for once.

It's flesh of frost scrunched up in anger, a face. "Why won't you let me out. WHY!"

Dusk's reach was fully pushed back.

'It's Will was strengthened.' Ebony felt his Domain unable to touch his opponent. The emulated sapience had a Domain no weaker than Ebony's. Chances were, it strengthened its sand, stygian and water abilities along with all of Ebony's elements.

When he saw the emulated sapience build a Domain, conjure a tree, mould runes on the tree, and conjure walls of runic turtle shells.

Ebony…did not expect it to go for an endurance and defensive contest. That was supposed to be a him thing.

'Shouldn't it be more aggressive now? Does it not know that I still have the advantage in mana quantity?'

Ebony sensed the pockets of mana and their conjurations, and he saw more of his opponent spawning.

"Apparitions. I thought we were sticking with one-on-ones." However, the added sapience probably increased its Will and gave it a chance to compete with clones.

Yet, he didn't meet its challenge. Ebony had limited Will, he couldn't dip too low into his reserves, and his current regeneration was to maintain Dusk and his augmentations while the rest was to continue conjuring plum bombs with coreflame for a last resort. Even with resistance built up, Ebony 'solves' that problem the way he was built for. Mana so voluminous he overrides whatever resistance was built up. There was no such thing as immunity after all.

A lower water elemental could be drowned by a superior one. A great ice elemental can also be frozen by a greater ice elemental.

Ebony dodged the storm of spells rained down on him.

'I see…It knows it is reviving every time, but my resource pool doesn't get filled up like it can. Is it sacrificing a few scripts to drain me down?' Ebony quickly dove back into Dusk's encapsulation and shut off his body's augmentations for the Will and mana. He also took this opportunity to recover his weakened limbs, and when his skull and brain were sliced up. He was in poor condition.

He knew the weakness of his offence if his opponent used his defensive spells. There was little chance he could break through without using an abundance of mana that he did not have.

A Trial of endurance indeed.

Dusk alone lost to its Apparitions and flood of offensive sand-water-stygian spells that grinded mana down, and it was actively interrupting all ice, gravity and vibrational defence Dusk was pulling up.

Their Domains crushed into each other at a film, so it couldn't manually control its spells the moment it entered Dusk's range, but the same could be said for Ebony now that its Will wasn't much weaker. It combated this by maintaining a smaller and more dense Domain of Will.

Ebony received his Fortifications Potential infusion.

When he reached the Fortification where he should've gotten more than 100%, it seemed like the scripts only gave him 100% per script, and he had to exceed the threshold twice to get a Fortification from 200% to 400%.

He didn't complain.

If anything, although his fights had turned into ones of a magical nature where he held clear superiority thanks to an abundance of mana that his opponent couldn't overcome with its mana grinding sand or perception removing stygian, he felt like the fights had become easier.

Much easier compared to the Refined Trials.

The emulated sapience did not even force him to a mana-deficient state per script, and Ebony was able to prepare many more plum bombs with coreflame. Each script took a long time. A few days, compared to the previous close combat, which lasted between a few seconds to a few hours. He had all the time to fill them with Will as he'd like.

However, Ebony didn't think his opponent was acting out of fear. It was rational.

It was banking on its possibly unlimited lives. To evolve, to get even better as a counter to him.

It wasn't able to copy Ebony's Unique Skill, and its stats also didn't rise exponentially to give it more Wisdom or mana. Ebony got creative with weapon conjuration and how to counter its evolving mana and spells.

The emulated sapience had been sending its Apparitions that continue to invade his Domain by tearing it up with its Mountain Rend that could cut through Will, making it such that certain spots in his Domain couldn't be repaired and couldn't fill back up with Will. It was some sort of Intent, life force application. Ebony was guessing it was based on the Troll Shaman's vitality-based sorcery.

The Tempered Trials doesn't get any infusion of new skills anymore. Even when Ebony got Fortification Potential infusions, he slowly adapted to the increased mana density, compressibility and so forth.

Once he got to his Class Fortification, the 'battles' only got easier. Easy enough for him to hold back plenty of mana storage.

Yet, his opponent didn't change its tactics.

He was sure it probably stockpiled its version of plum bombs just like Ebony. Its Domain wasn't dispelled after every script, and its Will was surely building up along with its stockpile of bombs.

But Ebony didn't see what its plan was. In terms of bombs, he had no doubt even if the bombs were evolved to tackle his mana, his defence and his body, his plum bombs would simply overpower it through sheer volume of mana. He also hasn't seen any flames from his opponent that has Will imbued. Its Will was spent on its Apparitions and Domain, whereas Ebony foregone his Numbers completely.

Will wasn't something that could be copied as easily as skill, not when his opponent was scripted with a specific reason, a specific cause, unknown memories.

When his Will was strengthened and he got his Synergy with Frost Flame Fortification, he was even more certain that he couldn't lose when his opponent was stagnating in skills and stats.

'What is the reason? What are its plans?' Since the start, the scripts had been evolving to overcome him. Yet from the start of the Tempered Trials, nothing else was added into his opponent except the standard evolution to counteract what Ebony tossed at it or how he defended against its attacks.

He did not believe the script ran out of ways to evolve; that was simply unimaginable. There were always ways to improve and counter him. Did the Trial reach some sort of plateau? Some sort of limit that a 'King' needed to surpass.

'I hope that's not the case. That would be boring."

'Ting' 'Combat Ascendancy Tempered Trial Script 129 Threshold exceeded.'

'Ting' Fortification – Base Mana and Stamina regeneration increased by 750% ➡ 1000% Potential infusing…'

'Ting' Generating Unscripted Perfected Trial. Temporarily bringing Entity ∞∞∞∞∞ into existence. Entity ∞∞∞∞∞ infused with Entity Ebony Rime's Baseline Potential.'

'Ting' Entity ∞∞∞∞∞ may take over Entity Ebony Rime's soul. Entity Ebony Rime may take over Entity ∞∞∞∞∞'s baseline Potential.'

'Ting' Combat Ascendancy Perfected Trial and Existential Birth Trial Commencing.'

'It's real? This emulated sapience will actually be brought to life because of my evolution?' It's gonna recycle all my Potential by letting this AI take over me?' It wasn't quite the time to complain about how it took his Potential, and Ebony was only taking back what should be his while the emulated sapience could take over his existence.

"Ebony. Give me a chance. Let me live. I've never taken your life, and you've taken hundreds of mine. Equivalent exchange, no? I just need one of yours…." Unscripted...no longer had any semblance of Gao' Larg's voice. It was a unique blend of an Elemental, Jetfin and a Troll's voice.

"You were less pathetic when you screamed Mountain Rend every script. Let's try that again." Ebony rolled his ankles and shoulders to warm them up once again.

"You fool. Don't you remember what trait you unlocked? I've been growing my Will over my past lives, you can't kill me anymore."

"You got emotionally attached to life? I want to see if that helps you beat me." Ebony ignored the probe. Sure, if his opponent could now transfer its physical body with Will carrying its fake soul, killing it would be a lot tougher, but he didn't think there was an issue.

This meadow plain was wide, he didn't know how wide, but there was nowhere to run.

What use would it be?

It could transmit itself back to its Domain to heal and recover.

A battle of attrition was one that Ebony feared the least.

'I see. I have to prove that I am indeed a 'King' of battles of attrition. That would make sense with my skill set. It was using the past few scripts to evolve into attrition battles. But Unscripted huh…'

It mattered not whether his opponent was scripted or not.

He wasn't attached to life as much as his opponent was, but there were things he was attached to. Ebony did not believe his emotional attachments were false, subconsciously projected by his father's physiological cues. It didn't matter; it was real to him.

What he knew was that there were things worth living for. Strength worth training for. Magic worth discovering and creating.

His path has barely begun.

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