Life marched on, ever forward.

Spending most of the night in fitful bouts of sleep and grogginess was not how I wanted to spend the night, but it was another thing I had to deal with.

The next morning, I finally opened up my notifications to get a look at them.

There were the normal kill notifications for the countless thralls that I killed along with the three bosses. Those were somehow labeled differently and were considered generals of some kind.

I wasn't sure how the thrall structure worked or their chain of command, but they were higher than the normal minions somehow.

Now that I had a bloodline, the points weren't as important to me as much. They still were appreciated, just not valued as much as before. Not when it had cost so much to acquire them.

There was really only one purchase left that I had to make that was planned. There would surely be some others that popped up unexpectedly or things I could buy if I thought of it, but the only big one left was the genetic material for my evolution.

Austin went with the wings and feathers of the Golden Sun Eagle for his evolution and I was still considering what I would do for mine.

There weren't even Frost Giant parts in the store to buy, not even Frostborn parts either. The only thing that was purchasable was Frost-Touched parts and those were lower-tiered than my bloodline already.

It would still work, we were certain of that from the information we bought, but it wouldn't be as good. It wouldn't add as much as using the right tiered material.

The flip side was also true. Higher-tiered material also worked and went above and beyond what would normally be possible. It was easier to fail though, which was a huge downside.

Just like with organ transplants, the body could reject the change but that only rarely happened. After assimilating the related bloodline, the body wouldn't reject genetic material of the same likeness.

The few times it happened were if the material used was too powerful, like jumping ahead a few tiers of the bloodline. Like trying to use Dragon parts when you only had a wyrmling bloodline.

I equated it to an Icarus situation. Reaching for too much and burning in the sun.

The lack of Frost Giant parts was a blow but I had plans to fix that. Every pylon upgrade came with more things that could be purchased. If I ran down south to help Tracy with hers, it would surely go smoothly.

I could fight a wave alone at this point, with the help of all of them and a majorly defended camp, the sky was the limit.

From the notifications, the biggest windfall of points was from the Mindbreaker himself. He was hoarding points and the notification for killing him proved it.

You have slain [Human – Level 65] 489,664 points earned.

We knew that the points received weren't a 100% transfer, some were lost, and we were only given a portion of the points that were held by the person at the time of death.

His level alone rewarded over 4,000 points. Seeing the over 400k points from the kill made me wonder how much he actually had. He had to have earned a stupid amount of points from his thralls.

Those wonders would remain a mystery. The man was dead and there was no coming back from the exploded brain he now had. His body was left as food for the vultures.

If I weren't capped in experience, he would have given a huge amount of levels. Other humans gave the most amount of experience per level and he was 15 levels above me.

It almost made me lament my decision to wait on my evolution until logic beat out greed. Logically, waiting to evolve was the best possible choice. It would give me the best options for a new class that would boost my power further.

Rushing ahead just because I could was short-sighted and would actively weaken me in the long run. I could always level later, I only got one shot at an evolution.

All the points I earned through the battle added up to get me over the 1 million mark once again and the wave tomorrow would only add to that. The last wave netted me 700 thousand and this one would only be higher.

After the long list of kill notifications, were the skill upgrades that I had acquired.

The Law was with this one as well and I pulled it up to look it over.

Law Upgraded:

Least Law of Ice -> Lesser Law of Ice

It said exactly what I thought it would. My Least Law was now one step higher. Lesser didn't sound like a lot but the power difference proved that it was. I wouldn't have been able to beat the Mindbreaker without the upgraded Law.

Next were the skill upgrades.

You have upgraded a skill:

Ice Fortress(Uncommon) -> Icy Bastion(Rare)

Frostbite(Uncommon) -> Pervading Cold(Rare)

Mental Walls(Common) -> Mental Freeze(Uncommon)

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Those three came during the battle with the Mindbreaker after I upgraded my Law. The new Law was perfect for [Frostbite(Un)] and combined together to upgrade the skill into [Pervading Cold(R)].

Pervading Cold(Rare) – Saturate your blows with piercing ice mana, corrupting and pervading anything hit with a debilitating cold. Adds to the penetrating power of your strikes while leaving a cold damage over time effect.

The skill was what I expected from the way it felt to use. After the upgrade, it was much more powerful and the cold effect it applied was a lot stronger. It took more mana to use, but that was an acceptable trade-off for the increased power of the skill.

[Ice Fortress(Un)] was another that upgraded during the fight. My Law pushed it into the next rarity, making the walls colder and stronger than before.

Icy Bastion(Rare) – Creates a bastion of ice at the designated area. Mana cost affects the size and shape that the bastion takes along with thickness. Maximum area and thickness are determined by mastery of the skill along with skill rarity.

The text of the skill was similar to the two skills before it. [Ice Wall(C)] and [Ice Fortress(Un)] both had similar text associated with their skills. It was still a good upgrade to have and increased my defensive capabilities tremendously.

The last skill to upgrade during the fight was [Mental Walls(C)]. It shouldn't have been a surprise that the skill upgraded and it was a nice addition to the other two.

I knew exactly when the other two had upgraded during the fight because the skills felt different to use and had increased effects. They flowed easier and did more for the same cost in mana. It was obvious when I was using them.

[Mental Walls(C)], not so much. It was already hard to tell when the skill was activated because it had no outward effect. It shielded my mind from outside influence which was hard to notice if I wasn't looking for it.

Upgrading from Common to Uncommon was easier than Uncommon to Rare but it was still a nice addition. If I ever ran into anyone else who used mental attacks, it would come in handy

Mental Freeze(Uncommon) – Using mana and mental power, strengthen your mind and freeze out any unwanted foreign intrusion. Especially effective against subtle influences. Increases mental defense against mental manipulation and most psionic-based abilities.

When I was trying to defend against the mental intrusions of the Mindbreaker, it was hard to use my Law. [Mental Walls(C)] didn't have an ice element in it that I could use the Law to strengthen which made it hard.

The way around that was to imagine my mind like the Earth of a frozen tundra. Similar to the way [Permafrost(Un)] worked. Strengthening it so that nothing could penetrate the frozen exterior.

It seemed to work as that mental picture influenced the skill's upgrade. Now it was something that I could easily bolster with my Law without having to go through any mental leaps.

While those three skills upgraded during the fight, there was one more that upgraded afterward. Having come after, the notification was separated from the rest due to the kill notifications between them.

It came later, as I watched the last moments of my father.

Righteous Fury(Rare) – Your body burns with a righteous fury as you dismantle your enemies. Temporarily increase the effect of all stats by 22.5% at the cost of increased stamina consumption. Once the effect wears off, your body enters a state of weakness based on the duration of the boost.

It was bittersweet that it upgraded at a time like that but I would take all the boost I could get. Upgrading to Rare increased the boost of the skill from 15% to 22.5%.

I hadn't had a chance to test it yet but it seemed to be a boost in strength that was always welcomed.

That was the end of the notifications though. Four skill upgrades, a Law upgrade, and countless kill confirmations.

All told, the fight was a massive boost. If only it didn't come with the cost it had.

For the wave that was coming in a few hours I wasn't that pressed. I had to spend some of my newly acquired points to purchase yet another Ice Mana stone but that was worth it. My new profession skill increased the effectiveness of the ward. With all the newly gained strength I just received, the wave would be fine. It was other things that I was planning for.

Now that my class was maxed out, my profession would get some attention that it had been missing. My profession was a great deal behind my class and it didn't have the achievements for the evolution that my class did. I hadn't had the time to do much with it with all the fighting. In the last 15 levels I needed to make something impressive to increase my chance of getting a rare profession.

Information on professions was easier to come across and I knew what was required of me to unlock the one I wanted. Upgrading from Runic Blacksmith to Runesmith wasn't that rare and there were a few books out there that detailed the process and the list of requirements that were needed.

Before that though, was a different thing that would occupy my time. I felt close to forming my Spirit Anchor during the fight and I didn't want to let that feeling slip away. I could feel that I was close and I would be spending the next few days trying to figure it out.

My status looked a lot better with the new upgrades.

Name: Christopher Zalenski

Race: (F) Human

Class: (F) Champion of Niflheim(Rare) – Level 50

Profession: (F) Runic Blacksmith(Uncommon) – Level 35

Affinity: Ice

Faction: Zalenski Family (Temporary) (Faction Head)

Strength - 398

Agility - 203

Perception - 96

Fortitude - 344

Endurance - 162

Vitality - 135

Intelligence - 67

Wisdom - 150

Acumen - 56

Free Points: 0

Laws: Lesser Law of Ice

Class Skills:

Heavy Weapon Proficiency(Journeyman)

Mighty Blow(Rare)

Glacial Presence(Rare)

Frozen Patchwork(Rare)

Frost Armor(Rare)

Momentum of the Avalanche(Rare)

Pervading Cold(Rare)

Icy Bastion(Rare)

Righteous Fury(Rare)

Heavy Armor Proficiency(Apprentice)

Throwing Weapon Proficiency(Apprentice)

Reinforced Body(Uncommon)

Ice Manipulation(Uncommon)

Cold Meditation(Uncommon)

Ice Arrow(Uncommon)

Shatter(Uncommon)

Permafrost(Uncommon)

Frozen Fortitude(Uncommon)

Body of a Barbarian(Uncommon)

Mental Freeze(Uncommon)

Hail(Common)

Sweeping Slash(Common)

Identify(Common)

Profession Skills:

Basic Runecrafting(Uncommon)

Forging Style: Rhythm Forging(Uncommon)

Warding(Uncommon)

Mana Engraving(Uncommon)

Sense Metal(Common)

Create Weapon(Common)

Create Armor(Common)

Metallurgy(Common)

Forging Proficiency(Novice)

Mana Infusion(Common)

Coins: 0

Points: 1,432,876