I woke up covered in snow with a massive headache. My body was sore like I had run a marathon the previous day as well. It took a moment to figure out why everything hurt but the events of last night came back to me... or this morning?

I wasn't quite sure.

Immediately, I pulled up my status.

Name: Christopher Zalenski

Race: Human(G)

Class: (G) Arctic Barbarian(Uncommon) – Level 23

Profession: (G) Novice Blacksmith(Common) – Level 16

Faction: Zalenski Family (Temporary)

Strength- 148

Agility- 63

Perception- 17

Fortitude- 68

Endurance- 84

Vitality - 42

Intelligence- 16

Wisdom- 22

Acumen- 18

Free Points: 0

Laws: Least Law of Ice

Class Skills: Heavy Blow(Uncommon), Fortified Body(Common), Throwing Weapon Proficiency(Beginner), Identify(Common), Penetrating Strike(Common), Sweeping Slash(Common), Ice Fortress(Uncommon), Heavy Armor Proficiency(Beginner), Heavy Weapon Proficiency(Novice), Body of a Barbarian(Uncommon), Barbarian's Rage(Common), Hail(Common), Ice Manipulation(Common), Meditation(Common), Ice Bolt(Common)

Profession Skills: Sense Metal(Common), Create Weapon(Crude), Create Armor(Crude), Metallurgy(Common)

Coins: 0

Points: 5,631

I did it!

Manic laughter echoed off of the mountainside as the fruits of my labor were realized. Accomplishment and pride filled me and I couldn't help but smile at my new status.

No more blank lines and no more pesky none's. I was ready to get my last few levels and evolve into the F-rank without worry. Gaining a law had to have given me a few good options to choose from for my class.

Maybe even a rare this time.

As all of the previous day came back to me and my high of accomplishing what I came out here for fell away, I stared at the sun and realized what time it was.

It was almost noon!

Shit, I was supposed to already be on my way back right now.

Without a second thought, I started packing up everything that I brought with me before in a hurry. As I started packing everything up, I noticed the Warhammer made of ice leaning against my chair.

The memories I had of last night were a bit fuzzy and I mistook making that as a dream. Seeing it now disillusioned me of that idea and made it real. It glistened in the morning sun and seemed to have an unnatural glow.

This was the weapon I had been dreaming about. All the plans I had of making it came to fruition, only except for wood and metal, it was ice.

It looked perfect.

I could only stare at it for a brief moment before I had to finish packing everything up. I could marvel at it more later.

Since I hadn't eaten since yesterday morning, I ran with dried meat in my mouth to get in a quick meal. It was nothing compared to the nice meals we had at camp but it had to do.

I couldn't tell the exact time it was from the position of the sun and had to pull up the tutorial timer to see how long I had.

Tutorial End: 44:03:15:21

I had 3 hours and 15 minutes to make it back to camp before the wave started. There was no time for dallying, I would have to sprint the entire way home if I wanted to make it in time.

Orienting toward the way back, I began my journey.

I ran in a straight line toward the camp with no regard for running into any animals. If any started chasing me I would have to ignore them. It took me about half a day to reach the mountains on my trip here and that was with trying to be sneaky.

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There was no stealth involved now, pure speed. I used my strength to its fullest and pushed off the ground so hard it threw up dirt. Being fast was what agility usually covered but having strength made my straight-line speed nearly as good.

Turning would be impossible and stopping would be pretty difficult, but straight away sprinting was doable.

It was a matter of pushing off the ground with all the strength I could to carry me as fast as possible.

Anxiety gripped me and I couldn't stop checking the timer.

Tutorial End: 02:04:56

To make it easier to read, I blocked out the day counter. 2:04:56 was my time to beat and an hour was already gone.

The mountainous region was left behind and I entered into rolling hills. The hills fell away for forests before turning into grassland.

Through it all I sprinted.

Tutorial End: 45:56:02

As the minutes ticked down, a familiar area came into sight. Hills that matched what I knew from around camp and forest that looked familiar. I was getting close.

The camp came into view with only 30 minutes to spare. I made it. Completely out of breath and covered in sweat, but I made it.

I would get to rest for only half an hour before the wave started but I could only blame myself. Losing track of time was my own fault.

As I entered the camp everyone started to question why I was so late. They knew I was going on a trip, but I told them I would be back earlier than now. They were probably getting worried that something happened to me or that I wouldn't make it back in time.

The verbal berating was annoying, but I dealt with it. I needed a quick rest before the fighting started. The waves lasted almost two hours now because of the amount of beasts and after running full tilt for 3 hours I needed a breather.

Austin came into my vision and gave me a questioning look. I told him what I was after and he knew it was a law I went to the mountain for. Seeing his look, I responded with a grin and a nod.

He just smirked and shook his head. Before I left, he told me I was crazy. Laws weren't a requirement for evolution and it was a fool's dream to get one now. He said it wasn't possible. Ha, that'll show him.

I would go in-depth with him later and tell him how I did it to see if he could replicate it, but I doubted it. My feelings about what I did were instinct more than anything and I wouldn't be a very good teacher about it.

How do you instruct someone to follow their instincts and call it a day? I still knew very little about what I did and I was the one who did it. All I had were vague feelings and gut instinct to guide me.

I would still do my best to convey what I did in the most useful way I could, but he shouldn't get his expectations up.

After everyone left me alone to catch my breath, I did something I needed to do before the wave started.

I needed to test out this new law.

Calling on it wasn't difficult and it felt like it was constantly there, ready to be of use. It was like a phantom limb I didn't know I had. There was only one thing that it would work on around me and that made it easy to tell what it did.

The only ice around me at the time was my hammer.

After feeling out the law it seemed drawn to the hammer and using it was similar to [Ice Manipulation]. I could empower my ice with it and make it stronger.

It wasn't like a skill that required mana, but a purely mental aspect that I assumed ran on willpower. It was unlikely that invoking this power came without a cost and mental strain or willpower were the only things that I could think of.

Mana and the 'stamina' energy weren't depleting and nothing else seemed to be getting drained while I kept it active. I would find out after the fight, I didn't have the time to figure it out now.

I only had 30 minutes to get as familiar with this new power as I could and wasting it on testing that wasn't on my to-do list.

After using it on already conjured ice, I tried to use it in the casting of [Hail].

Instantly, I knew that the skill was stronger. The ice that formed from the skill carried with it the strength and durability of the law. Even with the ice empowered, the skill didn't upgrade.

I felt that it was a stronger skill, but it was still in the common tier. I was missing something else that was crucial to the upgrade. The skill conjured ice in the area before dropping it onto the designated spot. Having more durable ice didn't fundamentally change the skill in the way a skill upgrade required.

After using [Hail], I tried out my other skills. [Ice Fortress] felt sturdier compared to before and felt like it would hold up to more damage, but it similarly didn't increase in rarity.

I tried to use the law on [Fortified Body] but it didn't do anything. My body wasn't made of ice so there was nothing for the law to latch onto. Similar things happened with the rest of my skills that didn't utilize ice.

When [Ice Bolt] came up something new happened. My mana was still completely pure ice mana and with the law improving the skill, the bolt changed. Instead of the generic shape that it usually appeared as the ice shifted. It became more streamlined and I could feel that the ice was more powerful.

Launching the skill resulted in yet another change. It flew off into the trees with such force it shocked me. [Ice Bolt] usually shot with the force of something I could throw, this skill acted like it was getting shot out of a bow.

A chime caught my attention and I checked to see what it was.

You have upgraded a skill:

Ice Bolt(Common) -> Ice Arrow(Uncommon)

I couldn't stop the grin that formed on my face and I jumped to check the rest of my skills. [Ice Manipulation] didn't get changed that much and was kind of a letdown. It just carried the law with it to whatever I manipulated.

Without any more ice skills to test, I turned to something different.

Penetrating Strike(Common) – Enhances the next strike with mana, increasing the ability to penetrate thick hide and armor.

This was the skill that I passed on the chance to upgrade when I chose [Barbarian's Rage]. [Frostbite] was a great skill to have and now it was something that I might be able to upgrade on my own.

I drew upon the ice mana in my body and picked up my hammer to use the skill. I could use it on my fist but it wasn't as strong. My hammer was made with ice and was still saturated with the ice mana used to make it.

Walking over to a tree to use as a test dummy, I channeled the skill.

[Penetrating Strike] started to activate and I shoved all of the ice mana I could into the skill. Calling upon my law strengthened it further and I was ready to swing.

The main thing that I couldn't do to upgrade the skill was leave lasting damage. With the pure ice mana and the law to strengthen it, that shouldn't be a problem.

I swung my hammer down onto the tree and when it made contact, I shoved all of the built-up mana into the tree. I didn't swing very hard as that wasn't the point.

With my monstrous strength, I could have pulped the tree if I wanted to, but that wasn't what I was using it for. I needed a target I could eject mana into.

My mana leaped to obey and the constant practice paid off. It flowed out of my hammer and into the tree with little difficulty. At first, it didn't do anything. The mana just sat there in the bark being eroded by the wood and plant mana the tree already had.

Something was missing.

Calling out to it with [Ice Manipulation] I gave it an intent. Mana just sitting there was no good to me, I needed it to hinder the tree, I needed it to freeze.

Using my intent and my newly acquired law, I commanded the ice mana in the tree to freeze. Slight popping noises could be heard and frost started to build up on the bark. The bark was freezing.

I heard the chime and jumped to pull it up.

You have upgraded a skill:

Penetrating Strike(Common) -> Frostbite(Uncommon)

Now I was ready. Whatever the 16th wave threw at us, I would kill it.