Chapter 70: Frozen

[Level Up!]

I opened my eyes to an empty white void, not a single discernible feature to be found. Turning my head made no difference and my sight stayed the same; were it not for the faint pressure on my neck and shoulders as I moved, I wouldn’t have been able to tell a difference at all. I didn’t think snow-blind was a literal term, I thought to myself, nor that it could impair speech as well, given my ineffectual attempts at it. What would I have said, were my vocal cords willing to cooperate? Disbelief, resignation, and perhaps a pinch of profanity, these were all possibilities, but what’s the point in longing for what could not be?

All of my senses bore evidence of significant degradation. Nothing to see, to hear, to smell or to taste in the vast emptiness. Only touch remained relatively unscathed, allowing me to perform basic self-examination. It was enough to know that my skin remained intact and warm, freed from the intense cold that I had been sure left a layer of ice on me. Enough to tell that I hadn’t been maimed; though anything more specific required expertise than my blind self could not provide.

[Will Swindell

Class (True): Level 4 Soldier of Fortune

Class (Public): Level 4 Soldier

Title: [Empty]

Experience: 501/750]

Not entirely blind, I amended, as the flow of System notifications continued apace. None of my previous level ups had been like this, but then I’d never lost consciousness during any of them either, so who could say whether this was normal or not? The messages seemed to lag a bit too, compared to the previous smooth delivery, which gave me more time to flail around, searching for any hint of familiarity. Nothing, no hint of Harvey or Pumpkin or any of the drivers, nor even my clothes or a bed. Even my ever reliable inventory failed me in that moment, bringing a hint of panic to the surface.

[Due to your brief exposure to The Living Storm, the parameters of your Level Up have been adjusted in accordance with the Law.]

The System helped anchor me, helped remind me that this was real and not some hallucination or lucid dream. That being said, the actual content of the message left a lot to be desired.

[You’re a very lucky young man, you realise? Even if only for a few seconds, many so exposed breathe their last shortly after. A minority, yes, but a substantial one.]

Stolen novel; please report.

Funny, I thought to myself, Harvey had made it sound so safe. A bit of pain, yes, but one with a good outcome? I’d envisioned it as something unpleasant but safe, akin to an injection or a trip to the dentist, not whatever this was.

[Turning Point: Will you accept a fragment of the Law of Winter?]

They were definitely slower than normal, and truncated too. There wasn’t even a Yes/No prompt. Had I seen one of those before? I thought so, but why then this inexplicable feeling of de javu?

[Choose one of the three following options.

* Frozen: Gain Immunity (Cold & Ice), Affinity (Winter Court) and the potential to learn spells from the Lore of Ice. Race will change from Human to Frostborn.

* Let It Go: Gain Resistance (Fire), Recognition (The Dark Below) and a random magical item suited for your Class.

* Into the Unknown: Do not choose this, only great suffering awaits you here.]

I waited again, in case there was yet more to come, but the System seemed to be done for the time being, as it waited for my decision. Similarly, whilst I didn’t have it in writing or anything, I had the distinct feeling that my present circumstances would not change until a choice was made, which wasn’t necessarily great, but it did give me time to think. At the crux of the matter, this was a choice between embracing what had brought me to this state, and defying it. The third option was never in consideration, being at best a joke choice and at worst exactly what it said on the tin, fit only for hardcore masochists. With that in mind, what would be the best in my given circumstances?

Out of the two choices, Frozen was clearly the stronger at first glance. Immunity to Cold and Ice would go a long way towards letting me to travel the North with impunity, unworried by circumstances such as the storm raging above. Likewise, I wasn’t completely clear what the Winter Court represented, besides a few old myths back on Earth, but I had my suspicions, and if their numbers included The Living Storm, then they were a significant power bloc. These benefits, in addition to outright being granted magic? It was a great sales pitch, and I know my way around a shopfront. The counteroffer of fire resistance, the recognition of an unknown party, and a spin of the roulette wheel seemed far less attractive, making the choice almost a no-brainer. I say almost, because there was one significant sticking point to the first choice: the Race change.

There was comfort to be found in familiarity; and though humans were by no means perfect, I had plenty of experience being part of and dealing with humanity. I had a backstory in this new world, an organisation, and a plan for the future, all of them contingent on being accepted in human society. Turning into a Frostborn, whatever that was, could mean significant constraints on my ability to move around; at the end of the day, it was relatively easy to conceal criminality, but far harder to deal with differences in appearance. Even worse, I had no idea if such a transformation would come with changes to my psyche, or other more dangerous obligations as part of my new existence. Accordingly, as tempting as it was (and I’d have gone for it as little as a month ago), I ultimately decided to stick with what I knew.

[Let it Go selected.

Gained Resistance (Fire), Recognition (The Dark Below).

Rolling for a magical item, please wait calmly.]