We completed setting up camp in the dungeon and it was Sigmir’s turn to help with cooking. But I hit a bit of a snag in that chore, when I moved closer to the fire, I felt abnormally hot, as if I was standing outside during summer wearing winter clothes. I instantly started to sweat, feeling uncomfortable in my warm clothes, so I started to strip of most layers, just keeping a bare minimum so I was not bare.
“Love, what are you doing?” Sigmir asked when I stood there in little more than my unmentionables, causing Rai to turn slightly red.
“I’m feeling too warm. Not sure why, but it feels like the fire roasts me.” I grumbled in response, wondering just why I was feeling that uncomfortable. But undressing helped, the feeling went from unbearably hot to slightly uncomfortable. I was just wondering if it was a permanent change or if it was just temporary, because if I was feeling too hot in an ice-cave, just because I was close to a fire, then I did not want to find out what I would feel like in a more temperate climate or worse, in the desert. With a little thought, it became obvious that my brush with Ice Magic had shifted my thermal comfort range further, previously it had been roughly ten degrees celsius lower compared to what I would think normal for a human but now I was guessing it was about twenty degrees lower. I would have to experiment a little more but if I was right, there was one huge advantage. If I was right, I would be able to wash in any liquid water without it being painfully cold. It certainly was worth checking out.
Once Sigmir and I had finished cooking, we ate all together and decided on a night-watch, even if we all doubted that anything would happen during the night. I snuggled up together with Sigmir, enjoying the feeling of her arms around me. Curious, I asked her if I was feeling any colder than before but she claimed that there was no difference in my body temperature.
When it was my turn to keep watch, Lenore joined me and together, we tried to understand more about both, my changed condition and the changed condition of the dungeon. The change that had in occurred in the dungeon, either due to the defeat of the boss or due to the way I had used to defeat it, was fascinating. It had not only changed the physical appearance of the dungeon but also the flow of the Astral River inside. Previously, the river had been, for lack of better word, murky or maybe calling the sensation muddy would be more accurate. I had not quite understood what I had been feeling but there had been something that I failed to understand or really notice until I felt the difference. It was minute but now that it was gone, I wondered how I had failed to notice it before.
Or maybe I was now able to feel the parts of the Astral River filled with Ice better than before, that might account for my slightly changed perception. I discussed it with Lenore, who was sitting on my shoulder, lightly complaining about the fact that her Hallow was now slightly colder compared to before. Her mental voice made it clear that it was just good-natured ribbing, nothing more. But, when it came to my perception of the Astral River, she agreed with me that there had been a minute change, her perception of the change was lesser than mine but again, that might be because of her lesser affinity to the Ice-Element that dominated the Astral River in the dungeon.
Together, we pondered the changes for a long time and in the morning, we had a rough idea what the changes meant. From now on, my magic would contain a trace of Ice by default, essentially adding to every spell a bit of cold-damage. For offensive magic, that was great, especially Ice-Magic which was strengthened even further, but for supportive or even utility magic, it was rather problematic. In addition to that, my cold-resistance had been increased by quite a bit and I was able to handle the large chunk of Eternal Ice physically or with my magic. It did not mean that I dared to unleash the power within, that would almost certainly destroy me but my new resistance allowed me to study it closer.
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One part that was interesting was that I managed to add to one of the Eternal Ice slivers by packing Liquid Moonlight around it and applying pressure via Ice Magic. It took quite a bit of power for very little gain and the thin layer was slightly different, less dense and less still but it was a start. With time, I might be able to create actual weapons out of Eternal Ice, something I believed to be the pinnacle of my current understanding of Ice Magic. My pondering on the concepts that were contained in the creation of Eternal Ice paid off, as I gained two levels of Ice Rune Magic, bringing it to sixty-five and one in Astral Meditation, bringing it to forty-nine.
We all had breakfast and, after I took another look at Rai’s and Ylva’s wounds, we all started on the trek out of the dungeon. The change to the ice had spread throughout the dungeon, making it far lighter and less gloomy than before and a part of me wanted to stay, to study further. But sadly, there were problems with that idea, one was that I was lacking an idea where to start, I might stay and bang my head against that uncertainty for ages without making progress. Another was that we had no time. In just a little over a week, I would have to give back the herb-lore book or the stash of herbs we had liberated from Tegi would be lost and I would have broken my word, something I wanted to avoid.
And, the bigger one, was that the journey we were on would be rather close considering the whole two years I was spending ingame. Travelling from Siberia to South America, mostly on foot or horseback, was a long journey and I was very curious what a divine-quest would give me in bonuses for the real game. Even if it was just a title, it would be something unique that only I had. And for most gamers, the lure of having someone only they had was strong and people were willing to invest large amounts of time and effort into such perks. There had been a few grinds in Craft of War that awarded nothing but a title, took days, sometimes weeks, of ingame-time effort and had despite the pointlessness of such an endeavour, I had prevailed in them. So, there was no way that I would let the Divine-difficulty-quest I had run out of time.
When we got to the entrance, I poked my head out, just in case that the magic had unleashed more Ice-type Astral Power than I had anticipated and permanently sealed the valley. If that was the case, we would have to prepare. But my fears were unwarranted, it was a little chilly outside but not problematically cold.
I led the others out and started looking around. The snow around had been frozen into a solid mass but I noticed that something was sticking out of that mass a short distance away, closer to the walls. Walking over, I found a dead wind-raptor, frozen solid. Thinking about the quest we still had, I stretched my Ice Magic, both to sense if there were more hidden in the snow and to get it out of the snow to take the materials we needed.
“Wh…a..a...a...t a...a...a...r...r...e...e y...o...u...u...u d...o….o...ing?” Adra stammered out between clackering teeth. hugging herself against the cold.
“Mh? Oh, there are dead birds buried in the snow. I’ll dig them up so we can sell the materials. Do you need more feathers to study for your magic?” I asked, remembering how Adra had asked for some of the feathers in an attempt to imbue the arrows she was using with her bow, adding Wind Magic to their default state. I was not quite certain how exactly it worked for her, she made the arrow with her Astral Power, similar to the way I made my icicles but somehow, she was able to study some materials and add their characteristics to her repertoire. I think she was also able to directly use the materials but then they would obviously be gone, so it was just a limited resource, compared to the arrows she made from her Power.
She looked at me as if I had just suggested to jump from a bridge and then, she simply turned and walked away, muttering that she would wait outside the valley. Rai instantly followed her, while Lenore had decided that her Hallow was not as cold as the outside. Sigmir stayed with me but I noticed that she seemed to be cold as well. But with her help, I was able to focus on using magic to dig up the birds, she collected them and after maybe an hour of work, we had another twenty birds, making me quite happy.
We followed behind Rai and Adra, finding them quickly once we left the direct vicinity of the bowl-valley, waiting in a protected spot. With the dead birds, we could easily turn in the quest for hunting them, even with a bonus for overachievement. If we managed to get some extra game on the way back, especially wolves, we would have a nice chunk of change for the next part of our journey.