I stood in the wreckage of the wave's aftermath and couldn't help but grimace.

Seated on the fallen boss's corpse, my body worked to seal up the parts of it that were missing and leaking blood onto the floor.

My hammer was lost somewhere among the bodies, discarded after the fight. Empty glass bottles clinked together at my feet with only a hint of red liquid still in them. Missing chunks of my body slowly grew back and healed over.

A massive wound on my side was still leaking blood from where the boss's mandibles ripped a chunk out. I wouldn't have guessed ants to be this strong. When they first spawned in, I thought it was going to be an easy wave. Boy was I wrong. While the wave wasn't hard, the ants were deceptively strong.

If I were still the same level as when I fought the bears, it would have been a much harder fight. All the fighting with Austin had the bonus of leveling me up. My new levels and skill were what made it manageable, if only barely. This wave was easier than the last but I was more injured leaving the fight.

I had reached level 50 before the wave even started and had two new skills to use. If I hadn't had them I would most likely be dead.

[Glacial Presence(R)] made everything Cold-related stronger. My armor was stronger, my skills were stronger, and my body was stronger. My mana flowed easier and lasted longer than before. Skills cost less and my Law came a tad easier and lasted longer.

I was pretty sure that was for two reasons. One being [Glacial Presence(R)] and the second from pushing it so hard the last wave.

Just like muscles, mental strain grew easier with practice. Pushing my Law so hard last wave made it last longer and the same would be true for the next wave.

The only reason I was still standing was because of the new skill I took at level 50. [Frozen Patchwork(R)] held my body together even with chunks of it missing.

The ants had a metal affinity that made their mandibles damn near indestructible. They clamped down hard and tore me apart even through my armor.

It was a fight to remember.

How I was still standing was a mystery even to me.

Two skills upgraded during the fight.

You have upgraded a skill:

Heavy Weapon Proficiency(Apprentice) -> Heavy Weapon Proficiency(Journeyman)

Meditation(Common) -> Cold Meditation(Uncommon)

My usual tactic of smashing everything with my hammer didn't work as well for this wave. The ants had thick metal exoskeletons that were resistant to blunt damage. When I hit them it was like they were walking ingots of metal in ant form.

They made me refine my skills with the hammer and do more than just use overwhelming strength.

I could still smash them, but I couldn't obliterate them in one swing like I was used to. That was the main reason there were so many injuries I sustained.

I had to actually use the hammer with a degree of skill that I hadn't been pushed to do before. It was nice to feel that kind of pressure again. It made me adjust how I wielded the weapon and it was satisfying to see the improvement.

I was a long way from the beginner I started as.

The other skill that upgraded was meditation. That one came after the fact and was when I was recuperating from the wave.

The healing potions worked to fix me up and I used [Meditation(C)] to speed it up. On a whim, I used [Glacial Presence(R)] as well and tried to push the two together.

If [Glacial Presence(R)] made everything stronger when it was colder, [Meditation(C)], a rejuvenation skill, could use that to work better in the cold.

It worked.

Now the skill had increased efficiency the colder it was around me. It was a perfect upgrade to my recovery skill. It boosted my Vitality and my mana regeneration a significant amount in the icy landscape the camp had become.

The amount of points I got was another boon. Nearly 700k from the wave alone.

I was now closer to my bloodline and it would only be another day until I had enough to get it. I had plans riding on the next few days and I wanted to get them rolling soon. I didn't want to keep fighting all the time for points.

There were people who needed to die.

With the two days I had until the next wave, I had planned what to do about the 'Mindbreaker'. My instincts kept telling me not to leave him be and I trusted them. He was a threat I didn't want looming over me.

Convincing my family to help me attack him wasn't even that hard. They all knew what needed to be done and they would be marching up to help. All of them would be coming up here to help me after they were finished with the wave down south. They had prepared to assault his camp and we would be doing it soon.

I wanted to be as strong as possible in case something went wrong and that was where my bloodline came in. Austin received a large boost in power from his and I wanted the same.

He had most likely evolved into E-rank by now, but I would not.

That was the only downside from the wave. All the experience was wasted. I was already maxed out for the tier and I had no plans of evolving. I would stay here until I was ready.

Pulling up my status showed.

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: Least 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)

Heavy Armor Proficiency(Apprentice)

Throwing Weapon Proficiency(Apprentice)

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Reinforced Body(Uncommon)

Frostbite(Uncommon)

Ice Fortress(Uncommon)

Barbarian's Fury(Uncommon)

Ice Manipulation(Uncommon)

Cold Meditation(Uncommon)

Ice Arrow(Uncommon)

Shatter(Uncommon)

Permafrost(Uncommon)

Frozen Fortitude(Uncommon)

Body of a Barbarian(Uncommon)

Hail(Common)

Sweeping Slash(Common)

Mental Walls(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: 4,823,923

My stats wouldn't change much until I completed what I needed to before evolving. I put all of my free points from levels I received in the last couple of days into Vitality to bring it up. If I used [Frozen Patchwork(R)] for anything serious and continued to fight on, I needed to be able to heal afterward or have a healer ready for when the skill dropped. I couldn't keep it active indefinitely and I needed a plan for when my body unfroze.

The injuries were still there, only iced over momentarily. If there was anything serious I could still die, it would only be delayed. Increasing my Vitality was my plan to stop that along with the recent [Meditation(C)] upgrade.

With my evolution on the horizon, I created a list to keep track of the things I needed to do before I evolved.

1. Form my Spirit Anchor

2. Get a Body of Wood

3. Upgrade my Law to Lesser

Those were the three things I wanted to do before I evolved. There was supposedly another path of power I was missing but I had no idea what to do about that.

I couldn't wait around forever in the hopes I might eventually find out. I would have to make do with those three for now.

I spent the next few hours in [Cold Meditation(Un)], taking a health potion when the last wore off. You couldn't take them too fast or your body would reject the healing, or something like that.

Abigail cautioned me on their use but I hadn't particularly cared about the why at the time. All I needed to know was what the cooldown was, not why there was a cooldown. I would have to ask her again.

My family wasn't due to come up until tomorrow so that gave me the rest of the day to get enough points for my bloodline.

I would have to travel down to Tracy's pylon to buy it but that wasn't that big of a deal. It would allow me to help carry things back and make sure all the preparations for battle were ready.

Abigail would make sure everything was prepped and I had no doubt she was fussing over things right now, but checking myself wouldn't hurt.

After hitting level 50 and my new skills, fighting the pylons was laughably easy. Even easier than fighting with Austin the other day.

I would flood the area with [Permafrost(Un)] and [Hail(C)] then [Glacial Presence(R)] would activate. After that, I started marching to the center. [Momentum of the Avalanche(R)] would build up and the boss would die to a few [Mighty Blows(R)].

My fighting style was down to a science by now. Even the rare time I got an injury, [Frozen Patchwork(R)] fixed it up enough for me to ignore it until after the fight when I could pop a healing potion.

The points I needed were easy to acquire after that. I was able to go to sleep well in time to get some quality rest with a satisfied smile on my face. I finally had enough for the purchase.

----------------------------------------

The run down south didn't take long and I was soon looking over Tracy's camp. She had taken in a few more people after us and it was even more crowded than before.

A few of the camps that were still independent had fallen and she ended up picking up the stragglers. They were able to hold their own in a fight and would help during the waves.

All of the weak had died off already.

From the snippets of information I had gotten from Abigail, Tracy had one of the last camps left. All the others had fallen.

Tracy's, the Mindbreaker's, Mine, and one more down south were all that were left. I didn't really consider ours a camp though, it was only me that stayed.

Tracy was in contact with the camp down south and I was pretty sure they were going to work something out like they had for us. The amount of people in the tutorial that would make it to the E-rank compared to the monsters of the last wave wasn't high. There would be hundreds of E-rank monsters to contend with and not enough people to fight them.

That was odd to me. I had noticed the difference with what other people were able to do and what I was able to do before and that was another thing that stuck out. I didn't really have a sense for what normal was. Normal was the average capability my family members had that I had fought with. Learning that they were some of the strongest was a surprise.

Learning I was the strongest even more so. Tracy didn't have all the information, but from what she did have, I was at the top. The only person that she thought came close, outside my own family, was the man down south.

People were insanely worried about the final wave and I could feel the tension in the air just a few feet into Tracy's camp. We were 77 days into a 90-day tutorial and all we had left was the home stretch.

4 waves.

Every wave closer to the end had people fretting more.

From talks that I had relayed to me, I didn't want to remain out of the loop anymore, people were coming together to do everything they could to survive. The camp down south juggled people around to different camps to stay ahead of the penalty of having more people.

They survived the waves by making sure that all non-combatants were outside the camp when the wave hit.

It was a risky move that I didn't know I would have taken. If the camp fell, the people were screwed. Plus, they needed to leave fighters with them to help defend them from the roaming beasts while they were in the wild waiting out the wave.

It wasn't a sustainable solution though and the only reason they were able to do it was because they regularly cleared the nearby pylons and area of monsters. Without culling all nearby monsters constantly, it would have failed.

It became an ever-increasing time sink during their days off to keep everything clear so the non-combatants wouldn't be in danger while the warriors were fighting off the wave.

From Tracy's intel, they used to have numerous pylons but they had slowly been whittled down to one. Focusing on more than one was a waste.

At first, when I heard of people owning multiple pylons, it confused me. Why would someone want to own more than one when defending was so hard? It became clear after thinking about the points they would rake in.

The more pylons one held, the more points they would earn every wave. If you had the people to defend them, owning pylons was the fastest way to gain points. Plus, the bonus at the end of the wave was boosted from them. Every wave there was reward for successfully defending a pylon and that bonus was multiplied by the number of pylons a faction held. The bonus for the 27th wave was over 17,000 points.

If our faction had 2 pylons, that would be over 34,000 points. The motive was clear.

After finding out that the leader down south was close to me in strength, I asked Tracy for all the information she had on him. I wanted to find out what he was like and if he was similar to me or not. Sadly, she only had sparse information on the guy. They had only corresponded a few times and the Beast lady's birds didn't do well in the desert.

Apparently, he was the first to discover the body-refining method of using poison and skyrocketed in strength from there, using that boost in body to his advantage. Well, he used venom but same difference.

He had a powerful body and used a shield and sword during battle. His affinity wasn't known and neither was his level. It was approximated to be near the cap of F-rank and maybe into the E-rank. She did have a name though. Kurt Lockwood.

Hearing about Kurt made me think of fighting him. He sounded like a worthy foe.

I trusted in Tracy's decision to see if the man was open to merging together but I wasn't holding out hope. Basing any decisions on hope was asking to be let down. He either would or wouldn't and I needed to be prepared for both outcomes.

After walking into Tracy's camp, I couldn't help but pick up my pace toward where Jonathan was so I could finally make my purchase. I didn't have to go through him but it was stupid not to.

He would gain experience from the purchase and he usually got a discount on items from the store. He didn't get one this time though, bloodlines weren't able to be discounted. He had looked into it when we first considered them and thought about buying them.

I wasn't sure why, but he didn't get any discount on them. It was why Austin bought his directly without going through a Merchant. They missed out on some experience but my giant purchase would cap him anyway. He wasn't far from level 50 and would get there after today.

Everything we bought went through him and we spent a lot of points.

"Jonathan," I said walking up to him. He looked up from what he was doing and must have noted my eagerness.

"Is it time?" He asked. Austin hadn't exactly been subtle with his purchase which made it easy to guess what I was here for.

"Yes,"

Jonathan just shook his head and sighed, "Like you need to get any stronger." He got up and started heading toward the pylon before adding, "And here I thought getting my Spirit Anchor would close the gap somewhat."

I decided not to answer him. I didn't know what to say really, it wasn't like I was doing it on purpose.

It didn't take long to reach the pylon and we were let through. Tracy had weird restrictions on it and had put a guard outside to keep people from using it.

We were let in without resistance. When Abigail and I negotiated our merging I made it clear that we were not to be barred from the pylon.

"Are you sure about this?" Jonathan asked with a hint of concern on his face. It was a lot of points I was spending and I wouldn't be getting them back if I didn't like it.

"I am," I said as I transferred him the points.

His eyes went wide as the numbers ticked over and only sighed ruefully.

He touched the pylon and a few seconds later a small vial appeared in his hand.

We stared at the small treasure, both thinking the same thing. So small and it had cost so many points.

The vial in his hand cost more points than we had spent on our camp for the entirety of the tutorial.

With a small amount of trepidation, he handed over the extremely expensive vial.

It wasn't even the red color blood usually had. Austin's bloodline vial was a golden color but mine was something else. It had hues of blue in it that pushed it closer to purple than to red. It felt like a trick of the eyes, but I would have sworn it glowed an icy blue for a second when Jonathan handed it over.

Frost started to coalesce on the surface of the glass, drawing in the moisture of the air.

Taking it in my hand made it feel real. Like it was all a dream before but now that I had it, physically had it, made it real. It was cold to the touch which wasn't surprising. It was an Arctic Bloodline.

I used a quick [Identify] just because.

[Bloodline Essence of The Frostborn]

Frostborn was the first step on the Frost Giant Bloodline. Just like Frost Wyrm evolved into Frost Dragon, Frostborn evolved into Frost Giant.

It wasn't even the lowest tier either. Frost-Touched was lower but I saved up to buy the better one. Frostborn gave an increase in strength, fortitude, endurance, and all ice related powers.

It was the perfect package.

The only issue was that it was... frowned upon to use enlightened race bloodlines. Titan races and Giant races didn't like others using their bloodline along with all the other enlightened races like elves and dwarves.

It was a con I was willing to deal with.

It was the best bloodline for me and I would use it. I didn't care all that much about the consequences.

If they had a problem with it, I would deal with it then. If they wanted me to get rid of it, my response was already prepared.

Make me.