It took me a few moments to gather myself back together after logging in but once I managed to do so, I was rather surprised just where I was. I was comfortably resting on a pile of furs, my head cradled in Sigmir’s lap. It seemed I had survived my insane gambit. But what drew my eyes away from Sigmir was the cave-ceiling above me. Instead of the dark, weakly glowing ice that it had been before, it was not silvery white, shining with clear, icy light. It had been the reason for my initial disorientation, the semblance to the cave I had just made under my temple. I had been trying to get the ice I constructed it out of as close as possible to the ice I was using in my magic.

But Sigmir’s presence made it obvious that I was in Mundus, not in my home-space.

“Thank the Ancestors you are awake!” Sigmir called out the moment she realised that I was back with them.

“Yes. What happened after I passed out?” I asked, curious about the events.

“You were falling forward, whyever did you step so close to the edge? Anyway, you were falling forward and I would rather not have my partner devoured by vermin. Well, or killed by the fall more likely. So, I grabbed onto your cloak and managed to tip you the other way so you landed on your back.” Lenore started to explain, making me realise that she was sitting nearby.

“Whatever you did with your magic, it worked. The blast you summoned killed not only the Agnatha, it also destroyed most of the Querder but luckily it didn’t reach us, before it could, it spread into the walls around us, changing them.” Lenore continued, making me glimpse at the log, curious what it was saying.

Skill increased You increased your skill: Darkness Magic [44/100]

Skill increased You increased your skill: Ice Magic [75/100]

Querder-Larva died You gain 83 EXP. For killing an opponent without a Traveller in your party, you gain Bonus EXP For killing an opponent with the Dungeon Traveller-Bonus in effect, you gain Bonus EXP . . .  Agnatha died You gain 10.000 EXP. For killing an opponent without a Traveller in your party, you gain Bonus EXP For killing an opponent with the Dungeon Traveller-Bonus in effect, you gain Bonus EXP For killing a Dungeon-Boss without a full party, you gain Bonus EXP

You have cleared the Dungeon Morainian Cave. For clearing a Dungeon under the effect of the Dungeon Traveller-Buff you gain Bonus EXP. The Dungeon Traveller-Buff expires.

You reached level 56

Title strengthened Your title Dungeon Explorer has been strengthened. For clearing a Dungeon while under the effect of the Dungeon Traveller-Buff, you gain the Title Dungeon Explorer. You gain increased Experience from the Dungeon Traveller-Buff and while under its effect, skills level faster.

Title gained You gained a Title: Ice-touched. Most often, those touched by Wild Magic perish. You were touched and withstood the touch but your body, mind and soul will eternally bear the mark of the event.

The EXP-window was the most extreme. There were hundreds of entries, all but the last just for a pittance of EXP but it was one of those moments where quantity had a quality of its own.

What I noticed when while looking at the log was that my temperature-perception was off. I somehow knew that the surrounding cave was colder but I did not feel the cold as unpleasant. I tried to look around me, pushing me up and almost headbutting Sigmir. She smiled a little at my sudden proximity and I thought a kiss would be next, when she suddenly gasped.

“What’s wrong?” I asked, a little worried. That was not what I had expected.

“Your eyes. They look different than before.” Sigmir explained, looking slightly worried. Lenore, on the other hand, looked closely at me and shared the view from her point of view, showing me my face almost like a mirror. And indeed, my eyes had changed small but luminous specks of silvery-blue had intruded, adding something rather uncommon to my appearance. The specks were not limited to my formerly jade green iris, there were even specks in the sclera, making my eyes rather alien and a little eery. The overall effect was similar to the effect my Overflow had when I was use Ice-magic, only toned down a lot.

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“Well, this is new.” I chuckled, guessing that it was part of my new title. I wondered what else had changed. It sounded rather ominous making me wonder what else had changed.

“Now that you are awake, can you heal Rai and Ylva?” Adra asked from a few meters away. Nodding, I finished raising myself, feeling slightly off-balance but Sigmir steadied me and after a moment I was fine and started walking over to Rai. They had bandaged his wounds, most of them not really serious, but his leg-wound had already dyed the bandage red.

“You did well. Now, let’s take care of you, Disciple.” I said with a slight smile, as I knelt next to Rai, getting a closer look at his leg. Using my Blood Magic and appropriate Blood Runes, I stretched my senses into his leg to start repairing the damage. Just as I did, he flinched and started shivering.

“It’s cold, Master.” he gasped and I realised that the Astral Power I was using was no longer normal, there was a contamination in it, a trace of pure Ice Astral Power. Feeling the damage that trace was doing, I quickly withdrew my senses and power from Rai’s leg.

“That was unexpected.” I mumbled as Lenore came flying, feeling my agitation.

I mentally explained what had happened and she seemed fascinated, though we quickly agreed that I should fix Rai’s leg first, especially after the additional damage I had caused to it. Lenore entered her Hallow to help and the first thing she did was complain about the cold. It didn’t damage her, just made her warm and comfy Hallow less relaxing for her.

Her mind joined with mine and together, we managed to extract the Ice Astral Power, draining it away before we used the rest to probe and afterwards heal Rai’s leg. What I noticed was that the process was a lot more complicated and took more power compared to before.

Still, after about ten minutes, Rai’s leg was on the mend, even though I was unable to replace the lost flesh. There was no more danger of infection and it would heal in a matter of hours. Ylva needed healing as well, but before we went there, Lenore and I started a closer look at the changes within me.

I settled into a meditative trance and looked inward. The first thing I noticed was the crystal core in my chest, which I had gained when crossing the first Divide was giving off a tiny bit of silvery-white light to my mental eyes. I wondered if it did that in the physical reality as well but I was not ready to cut open my chest to find out. I looked further, mentally following the flow of Astral Power through my system and noticed that everywhere I looked, there was that slight trace of Ice-type Astral Power. I was unable to find out where it was coming from, it seemed to just be part of myself now.

“I guess, now you know why experimenting with things you don’t fully understand is dangerous.” Lenore chuckled a little. “On the other hand, I’m rather interested how your Ice-Magic has changed.”

Feeling that trying to change my current situation would be rather dangerous so I returned to reality, practising the old wisdom of accepting what you cannot change. Now, that I had a better idea what had been the problem, I went over to Ylva and tried healing her without direct help from Lenore. Ylva was at least partially a Ice-type Spiritbeast so if I made a mistake, the damage would be minor. Lenore still looked closely at my actions, ready to help at any moment. Again, it was mentally taxing and difficult but I managed without needing her to directly interfere.

When I was done, I walked a little off, planning to test my other spells, to see what had changed there. Sigmir followed behind me, apparently she had been feeling my agitation somehow. I explained the changes, especially my worry that I would be unable to heal her because of the change in me. She instantly pulled me into her arms, gently holding me while she told me that I would figure it out, that she had confidence in me. And if not, she didn’t care, even if I lost all my powers right this moment, she would still stand with me and protect me.

I had to smile a little at her words and a tension I had not noticed was lifted from me. I gave her a soft kiss and, together with Lenore started to further evaluate what the changes with me had done to my magic.

My first experiment was with pure Ice-magic and I noticed that whenever I used it, the trace that was in me made it far easier compared to before. The trace helped to form my magic according to my desire, even when I used runes it felt more responsive and comparatively more powerful. What effect that feeling of greater strength would produce when applied against someone was something we would have to find out later.

Blood Magic was a tad difficult, I noticed that when I used it on myself, there was no change, it worked just fine. On the other hand, healing Rai had shown that it was not the same as it had been and Lenore and I decided we would have to experiment on a live-subject. Later.

When I started to use Darkness-magic, I got a surprise. The Ice Astral Power merged quite well into the darkness, adding a cold impression to it, the darkness not only an absence of light but also warmth. What made me a little miffed was the effect it produced when I used shadows to cloak myself. I, myself, did not feel anything different but when Sigmir looked on from the outside, she had to suppress a giggle.

I was sparkling. Or rather, the magic I had used as stealth-tool was now sprinkled with a dusting of silvery-blue sparkles, making it looking similar to the night sky. Looking at it through Lenore’s eyes made me groan, I did not want to sparkle. In addition, the ease with which the Ice Astral Power merged with the Darkness-Magic made it hard to seperate the two, it was not impossible but it required me to focus for minutes, increasing the cast-time and the Astral Power cost by a huge amount.

Done with my preliminary experiments, I asked Sigmir if they had checked the corpse for loot why I had been out. She nodded and explained that there had been a segment that could be used by a crafter for armour and a couple of teeth that Adra had asked for. Apparently, she was able to use them to add to her own magic, allowing her to increase the penetrative power of her spear and the arrows she created with her magic.

I had no problem with that, given we didn’t need them to leave the dungeon. We moved back to the others, deciding that we would spend another night in the dungeon, leaving the next morning.