Eric savored the feel of the cooler territory air blowing against his skin as distant wolves howled but proved unable to keep up with his pace, and he wouldn’t say he was knackered, exactly. More like he was in the cardio phase of his workout after killing himself with weights and a 100 MPH max was still an excellent speed, thank you very much, and anyone who couldn’t appreciate it, or the fact that those wolves couldn’t go over 80, even with their humongous sizes, could hop off and jog themselves. Still, he wasn’t too tired to enjoy the beautiful view as he passed by groves of pine and massive herds of dear and moose that reminded him a good bit of the wildlife in the woodsier part of the northeast. Even if the New England moose of the before times rarely migrated down to New York State, nor had they displayed antler wracks quite so massive as these massive elephant-sized behemoths that were all eager to bellow and charge Eric’s veli on sight, which Eric supposed was understandable, if being short-tempered ornery bastards helped them survive the mega-wolves better. But it was certainly a pain when he just wanted to stay at a nice, comfortable 100MPH.
“Roboro ventus! Iram congel! Plures attentio!”
Eric couldn’t help but flash a fierce, satisfied smile when he finally got the latest group of bellowing moose to back the hell off when he blasted forth a massive cone of frigid icy doom that just wouldn’t stop, even if it had necessitated him cutting off all his other enchantments and slowing down to nothing, freeing himself of his harness, and going absolutely to town holding his Ice Dragon’s Breath spell. Even if it was still just a runic chant that had taken over twenty seconds of concentration to fully utter and unleash.
But the look of terror in eyes of the giant moose made it clear that this was a spell to claim when he could. Especially when the furious bellows turned to bleats, over half the herd meeting his cone of freezing ice and wind straight on took massive damage and slowed right fuck down before being frozen into moose-popsicles, and soon it was just a laughing Eric eyeing one enormous moose glaring daggers of hate Eric’s way as the rest of the herd of System-enhanced and perpetually antlered elk turned around and fled for all they were worth.
Bull Moose attempts charge!
Quickness Check made! Your opponent doesn’t come close!
You have successfully maintained concentration!
You have critically struck your target.
Your target has been slowed.
“Eric? What the hell is that?”
Eric paid an outraged Emily no mind as he continued pouring on the chill until the glaring bull moose had slowed down to a crawl… and then perfect stillness.
Critical Hit! You have successfully frozen your target solid!
You have successfully placed 1 Bull Moose and 7 Standard Megalith Moose in your ES Space!
Maximum Potency to skill-rank conversion in effect! Title Boons, Contender Status, and natural affinities noted! For successfully making use of multiple runes in and out of combat for multiple hours under extreme stress in a high-potency area, you have boosted your Runic Lore to Rank 29!
You have managed to enhance both your Strength and your Vitality with your latest exertion! (Note. You have elected NOT to show fractional point increases upon your character sheet.)
You are currently suffering: Mana Fatigue, Spiritual Energy Fatigue, Stamina Fatigue. - Power nap, anyone?
A panting Eric, more tired than he wanted to admit after pouring so much of himself into freezing an absurdly high-level moose, turned to his friends.
“Looks like it’s venison stakes for everyone tonight!” He said, earning a bemused look from Yuki even as Jack and Steve whistled and Emily crossed her arms and glared at him the moment she stepped out of the bone veli that he had stopped with hardly any jostling at all.
“Nice kill, Necro-King! You froze those bastards solid!” Steve commended.
Jack smirked. “You know we could have planned this a little bit better, right, Eric? I wouldn’t have minded tagging some game myself.”
Richard nodded his agreement. “Next time let’s come up with a plan before we hunt, Eric. That cone you were spraying wasn’t something we were eager to get caught in the AOE of, with the way your were spraying it.”
Jack and Steve nodded solemny at that, though Emily’s glare only increased as she tapped her foot.
“Anything you want to say, Eric?”
Eric, now doubled over and panting, could only chuckle softly. “Um… I got a headache like you wouldn’t believe?”
Yuki snorted. “You’re sweating, Eric. After all the shit we’ve been through, this is the first time I’ve ever seen you sweat.”
“Or be panting with exhaustion,” Jack sagely said. “I mean, look at the way he’s bent over, all depleted. Like he’s human just like the rest of us! I’ll bet I could tip him over like a cow right now if I wanted.”
“Are you actually going to?” Steve asked with morbid curiosity.
“Hell, no. I don’t want him turning me into a frozen pretzel!”
“Eric!”
Eric winced at the sound of Emily’s voice. “Let’s use our inside voices, mkay?”
“What the fuck was that?”
“What the fuck was what?”
“That!” She hissed, jabbing her magical staff at the frozen ground, sans already collected elk.
“What?”
Emily’s lips pinched, her eyes glittering with frustration like little chips of ice.
Eric blinked, took in the cooler air around them, the frozen ground, the staff in Emily’s hand, suddenly getting it.
“Oh.”
“Oh?!?” Emily said as glared at him while squeezing the haft of her staff. Her very expensive staff that her family had invested a hell of a lot in securing her, so she could have an Advanced class. A special class. Maybe even a unique class.
Eric winced.
“Sorry.”
“Sorry? Sorry? After all the shit I went through, busting my ass in that dungeon, trying to unleash kick-ass ice slicks since my ice spears couldn’t do anything against those fucking minotaur monstrosities and trying to be useful to the group! And here I am, thinking that I finally had some use, that we had a good complimentary power set, Fire and Ice, and who knew how far we could take it only to find...”
“That this cat can shoot out Dragon Breath tier ice attacks?” Steve helpfully cut in.
“Shut up!” Emily snapped, glaring at Steve. “Yes! That’s exactly what I mean!”
Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
Jack frowned. “I thought Fire was your thing, Eric?”
Eric sighed. “It is. It’s what I have a specific essence affinity towards that I’m trying to develop as best I can.”
Jack gave his friend a pointed look. “And you never told us you could shoot out streams of ice while we were trapped in that maze?”
Steve smirked. “Well I mean, come on. Who’s his mom, after all?”
And with those words Emily’s ire turned to a crestfallen sigh as she wilted against Richard’s arms. “Aurelia Silver. The Winter Queen.”
“Exactly!” Steve concurred. “Of course this cat’s going to know frosty magic. He’s a freekin’ dark sidhe princeling of the Winter Court! How can he not?”
Eric cleared his throat. “I mean, I sort of resent that depiction of me? Not seriously, but still. I see myself as more the easygoing type. Not the kind of person to follow right in their parents’ footsteps. Besides, I enjoy summer more than winter, and I like hiking on nice spring days.” He gazed about with a tired smile. “Much like we’ve been doing for pretty much the entire day.”
“Eric...”
Eric winced. Somehow their party leader was able to convey so much with that tired, disappointed tone.
You have successfully used your storage space!
You have summoned forth 1 complex structure – Stone & Bone tower.
Flesh Sculptor is now Rank 26!
Even Richard’s exasperated look turned to a quiet curse as he spun around before the sudden shadow, seeing a modest-sized tower very similar in shape to the one they had left behind, even if it was just a quarter of the size of the original.
“Eric, what the hell?”
Eric grinned Jack’s way. “I know, right? I can store a fuck-ton in my ES Space,” he said as he made his bone veli disappear in the blink of an eye. “Now I don’t know about you all, but I’m positively knackered. Because even if I can shoot fire arrows all day, I’m not a true Ice Princess like our awesome and utterly appreciated and valued Emily here. That single spell on top of the wind and gravity enchantments I’ve been using has pretty much tapped me out. So if you all can hold the fort for a bit, there’s a fresh cooler filled with goodies waiting for you all on the battlements, and I really need to recharge. My interface shows no reds near our current location, and the walls are nice and thick. Just come inside and wake me up if it actually gets bad out there.”
Not waiting around to argue the point, Eric quickly headed inside his tower to the bottom floor chamber before hopping onto the bone frame supporting a comfortable leather hammock, and immediately lying down to rest. His intention was a prone sort of meditation where he focused on nothing but slow and steady breathing, intending to recharge his mind and body with a perfect one hour’s stillness, and most definitely not think about the hideous torments and life-threatening peril he had been subjected to non stop for what could have been days, weeks, or forever.
On the plus side, his Cultivation foundation made it very easy for him to focus on the simple flow of spiritual energy through his major and peripheral meridian channels. Of course, with almost 250 Perception, it made it very hard not to hear every word his adventuring companions said through the narrow arrow slits evenly spaced throughout the bottom floor of his two story tower, to allow plenty of light and fresh air but absolutely no oversized wolf jaws.
“Can you believe this cat?” Yuki huffed as she cracked open a fresh brew. “He just points to his bone freezer, says ‘help yourself’ and says he’s going to crash! No debate, no conversation, and here we are in the middle of nowhere, cause I don’t know about you but I sure as fuck don’t have any conquest maps in my interface tabs and we’re basically waiting on his pleasure.”
“I know, right? If he’s going to cycle his Qi, he should at least invite his two newest disciples along to give us our first lesson,” said Jack.
Steve chuckled. “Sorry, Jack, but I think Yuki’s much more interested in dual cultivation with our boy Eric than anything else.”
“Just shut the fuck up, Steve!” Yuki huffed to Jack’s snicker. “But it would have been nice if he had offered to, you know...”
“Dual cultivate?”
“No, idiot, he could have offered to teach us the basics! At least me and Jack the basics. If he could do that? Yeah, I could forgive his oddball crap hands-down.”
“It would have been nice if we had reached a consensus before he turned in,” Richard opined. “But considering what he’s managed to accomplish today, we can’t blame him for needing to rest.”
Steve whistled. “I know, right? I don’t know about you, but racing across the plains in a bone chariot going nearly two hundred freekin’ miles an hour was topped only by the fact that that wild-card goofball was the one pulling us along! For, what, two hundred miles? More? Just how far is it between New York and Freetown anyway?”
“No idea,” said Jack. “But there’s no way that could have been two hundred miles an hour, even when we were fleeing that fucking monster of a tyrannosaurus. The drag alone would have been monstrous. He couldn’t have even gotten traction! And we might be strong… but that would have been like sitting on the wing of a plane, the wind slamming into us like no one’s business!”
“You sure about that, Jack? Planes go a lot faster than wonder boy and his chariot here,” Yuki noted.
“Yeah, but that’s at high altitude with just a fraction of sea level air pressure. And if anything, I feel like the air down here is, well, thicker than it used to be before. Maybe it’s the mana, or added oxygen, or something? I’m just glad it isn’t causing us major grief, probably because our Vitality’s sort of inhuman at this point.”
“There’s a reason for that,” Emily said. “Eric was summoning winds that both pushed us forward and pushed him down to the ground. So wind resistance was a lot less for him that it should have been, though it was still enough for the fins of his insane bone chariot to keep us yards above the surface like we were his kite. And his anti-gravity spell helped with that as well.”
Yuki whistled. “That’s right, you have Mage Sight, don’t you, Emily? What was it like watching Eric cast his magics? We’re you able to learn anything?”
Emily barked a brittle laugh. “You mean besides learning what an insignificant joke of an ice mage I am?”
“Stop it, Emily. You’re the strongest ice mage I know. The only one, frankly. All the other idiots out there are Basic Conscripts or kids who actually managed to grab an Arcanist class, and their affinity with using their wands is nothing like your growing mastery over the secrets your staff teaches you. Not that you need to hear this from me. This is shit you yourself told me and you were a hundred present right!”
Emily sighed. “Sure, Yuki. But that was before I saw an actual Prince of Winter casually shout words of power that echo with the potency of reality itself, to the point that it gave me a fucking nose bleed, because apparently my fragile soul can’t handle whatever’s in those words, and then he’s shooting a storm of ice so fucking cold he’s freezing Orange-tier Elk into icicles! And it wasn’t a one second burst, he was unleashing that frigid hell for thirty seconds! And even if I want to cry for joy because just watching Eric in action increased my Ice and Winter affinities by one full rank...”
Steve whistled. “Seriously? That’s fucking fantastic, Emily! Let’s here it for free skill ranks!”
“Anyway, the point, Yuki, Steve-O, is that I learned damn quick that no matter how talented an Ice mage I thought I was… I’m just a girl playing with her first practice wand when the son of the bloody Winter Queen herself has probably been living and breathing elemental ice all his life!”
“Actually, no. I think he was pretty much just a casual streamer who was into HEMA… at least that’s what was on his wiki bio,” Jack said. “So… yeah, considering the ‘leet schools that you, Yuki, and Richard attended, he was a homeschooled slacker. Pretty much the same as me and Steve, really, except we went to shit public instead.”
Steve snorted. “I resemble that remark.”
“And that makes it better? So he’s just a natural and I’m a complete joke?” Emily snapped into the awkward silence.
“It’s alright, sweetheart,” Richard soothed. “You said it yourself. Eric’s a Contender and his mother’s the Winter Queen. The one Silver-tier monster that’s somehow permitted to slip her fingers in as many pies here on Earth as she wants, according to our parents. And you know how much they all despise her. Is it really any wonder that he has a gift for freezing thing solid? And you’re forgetting something very important.”
“Yeah, what’s that?”
“He cast one spell, Emily. One spell of ice and cold, and he looked exhausted. Whereas you can cast upwards of a dozen before you’re ready to throw in the towel.”
Eric sighed as he lay quietly down on his exquisitely comfortable bone and leather hammock, though his armor was of course still on, because he wasn’t an idiot. He didn’t bother trying to cultivate any longer, realizing that he just didn’t even have the mental energy for it. Even if most of the time doing an hour of that would revitalize him like no one’s business, what he really needed yet was desperately afraid of was a good eight hours of plain old sleep. He knew that like he knew the subtle ache in his bones. So many levels gained and talents unlocked in such a short period of time, and he was doing his brain and his potential no favors by not allowing it to fully recharge and process everything that had recently happened to him in the way humans had evolved to embrace for countless millennia.
Good old fashioned shuteye.
Even so, he knew he couldn’t take the risk. Deep down inside, he knew it was simple fear. He was terrified of what ugly horrific nightmares might flail at his poor psyche, so vulnerable in midnight’s restless dreams in ways he never had to fear under the gentle light of the sun. And he had every intention of getting up in just another half hour, his stamina and mana already fully regenerated, needing only to recharge his Spiritual Energy and get himself and his friends safely to Freetown after explaining to Emily that he thought she totally kicked ass and was he was her friend so would be more than happy to share his extremely limited understanding of Ice and Cold magics with her… and he really was going to give cultivation another half-hours practice because why not?
What he certainly wasn’t going to do was close his eyes, snuggle his head against the soft fluffy pillow he had pilfered from one of the goblin’s storage pouches and sink into a luscious, dreamy, wonderful sleep.