Leif trudged along a hillside, he maintained his focus on a ball of wood that was constantly being reshaped and moulded into different configurations. When the wood began to destabilise and his manipulations became too much for the object to handle, Leif would send a trickle of healing amber energy into the object.

[Wood Manipulation] wasn’t a skill he could upgrade like [Aura of Nobility] or [Tenacious Fighter], Leif knew the skill’s biggest constraints were his own expertise and his raw strength. If his [Willpower] was higher he would simply be able to do more. If he had a year to practise his proficiency would grow in leaps and bounds.

With an effort of will and a guiding gesture with a hand he reshaped the sphere into a metre long staff, then he used the staff to help navigate a particularly unstable part of the hillside. Leif turned his attention to the man he was following. Over the past few days Ram had become… more tolerable. The awakened beast had taken a keen interest in his self imposed training regime.

Leif’s staff dug into the hardened soil, breaking a chunk of it away. He stumbled but maintained his balance. Ahead of him, Ram was effortlessly walking along as if the steep slopes were a perfectly flat road.

Though the ice between beast and monster had broken, It had gotten to the point where Leif was feeling distinctly uncomfortable under the goat’s constant gaze. Fortunately the old man dressed in rags was easy to ignore once Leif became entirely focused on his advancement.

When Ram had finally stopped acting as a decrepit and mangy shadow and had approached him, the goatman had asked Leif what he was hoping to achieve by ‘flailing around'. When the spriggan had replied that he was preparing himself before leaving to gain the final two levels he needed before his class evolved at level twenty, Ram’s interest had gone from looming, to a sharp, almost overbearing obsession.

“Right then.” The awakened goat had said, standing up and placing his hands on his hips, a dangerous glint in his eyes. “Fight me.”

“No.” Leif had replied. “I know the difference in our power. I could feel it the moment we met.”

“Cmon now, I’ll hold back.” Ram said, the dangerous glint turning into a fiery gleam.

Leif had sighed, then reluctantly conjured eight golden arms and lowered himself into a combat stance. Then with a blinding flash of light the spriggan had found himself lying face up in a smoking crater, the hazy silhouette of Ram looming over him like the world’s most disapproving mountain.

“You’re too weak.” He said, his wrinkled features serving to compound his scowl.

“You suck at holding back.” Leif retorted, smoke rising from where lightning had scorched his body’s exterior. “And I did just mention being close to an evolution, how strong did you think I was?”

“Get up and try again.”

“How did your family turn out so normal when they’re related to you?”

Ram had smiled crookedly, then shook his head. “Let me show you something.”

“I really don’t-”

“Follow me or I’ll zap you.”

“Give me a minute to stop smoking, then fine.”

===

Leif and Ram overlooked a shallow, windswept valley. The old goatman took a swig from his bottle then returned it to his pocket. A cool breeze drifted up from below, causing the red leaves that sprouted from Leif’s body to rustle.

“Look.” Ram said, gesturing with a callused hand down into the valley.

“Hmm, those sure are a bunch of glowing crystals.” Leif observed, crossing his arms.

“They’re the remains of an ice elemental, in another few days it would have reached the place you made your home.”

“Very impressive.” Leif said, his tone deadpan. “I assume it was coming down from the mountains?”

Ram grunted and began walking down into the valley. Leif sighed and followed the man, he just hoped the old goat had a reason for bringing him here other than showing off his kill like a cat bringing mice to their owners. The two of them approached the nearest cluster of frozen ice. They stuck up from the ground like softly glowing stakes that had been driven into the earth.

As the pair drew near the air grew frigid, their breath coming out in billowing vapour and their footfalls cracked the thin layer of frost that clung to the ground. Ram stomped up to the pile of ice crystals, grunted, then flopped ungracefully to a sitting position, the frozen grass and dirt shattering under his weight.

“The thing with elementals.” The awakened goat said. “Is that the power that animated them in the first place is very difficult to get rid of. It isn’t unusual for them to resist being fully dispersed when they die.” As if to prove his point the nearby pile of ice shards, easily two metres high, began to shift and move. With a crack something broke away from the crystals and started moving towards them.

The elemental lurched forward, where its body met the ground it seemed to shift and morph, dozens of thin crystalline structures growing and seamlessly fusing to give the creature’s movement the illusion of gliding across the ground.

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“So.” Leif said, looking from the approaching elemental and back to Ram. “Looks like you failed to dispose of them properly.”

“By design, completely destroying powerful elementals is a waste of experience. It will eventually constitute, then return back to the mountains.” Ram said dismissively. “But you need something more productive to do than dance around atop your rock all day.”

“It’s called training Ram, I have a skill I was specifically trying to upgrade.” Leif replied, unamused.

“It’s called a waste of time. Why practise when you could be fighting?” Ram said, his predatory grin showing teeth as sparks jumped between his horns.

Leif returned his attention to the elemental. It was taller than it was wide, almost two metres high but with constantly shifting jagged protrusions its actual size was hard to identify. It certainly didn’t look overly threatening.

Combat experience: Lesser!

“You want me to fight this? Are you sure?” The spriggan asked, the being before him wasn’t all that powerful. Its aura was wild and uncontrolled, a sure sign that it lacked an aura skill.

“Listen kid. If you can defeat the baby elementals in the closest clusters I’ll be impressed. Oh, when doing this kind of training, only use skills and abilities from the class you’re trying to evolve, you’ll level up faster that way.”

Leif hesitated, then decided to at least try to follow Ram’s instructions. He needed to gain levels, and if this method worked he supposed he wouldn’t complain. But that did mean several important skills wouldn’t be available for the upcoming battle.

For the first time in what felt like forever, Leif mentally commanded [Grand Action] to deactivate. The skill was a near constant source of raw power, applying twenty percent of his [Charisma] attribute to any other attribute of his choice. Then he fully restrained [Aura of Nobility]. He felt his awareness and ability to perceive the abstract weaken, the innate sense of control he felt over his surroundings fade away.

To his side Ram grunted, then mumbled something but Leif ignored him. Under the restrictions he would be fighting with, [Under my Protection] was also unavailable, the shielding skill was a core part of his fighting style, but if it helped him advance he would do without. Finally he pushed down the enhancement components of [Tenacious Fighter], a feeling of instability coming over him.

The spriggan stepped towards the ice elemental, without his aura active [Gold Iron Physique] felt far weaker than usual. Almost instinctively Leif knew his usual number of limbs would be infeasible to control and maintain, so he only manifested a single pair. Even conjuring two amber arms felt like pushing through a wall, the skill struggling to emerge from his soul and project out into the physical world.

I never realised how much my aura did for my control, this almost feels like trying to fight and run blindfolded and with my hands tied behind my back. The spriggan mused as an icy wind began to encircle the elemental. In effect Leif was suppressing himself, even if he didn’t have an aura skill, whatever intangible presence that all beings emanated would still be present, granting a minor but still noticeable boon to his abilities.

With a grinding sound like a pile of rocks getting intimate the icy monster shifted its body, then lurched towards him. Leif could no longer sense its aura, but he could see frosted mist begin to coalesce around its ever changing form.

The mist merged into a single point before the elemental, then lanced out towards him in a finger thin beam of white light. Leif raised both conjured limbs crossed before him, the beam punched into the golden arms and immediately caused them to crack and fracture. Excess cold energy burst out from where the attack had just barely been blocked and impacted Leif’s head and upper torso.

The spriggan staggered back from the impact, letting himself fall into a roll. He stood and stepped to the side, another beam of ice and light flashing past where he had just been. Leif rushed forward, though he felt off balance and his body was acting sluggish, his more than potent attribute totals still gave him enough power and speed to reposition quickly.

He closed the gap and landed a heavy blow with his left fist, the elemental’s exterior cracked as his strike connected, the monster rocking back as its body shifted and reorientated. Leif saw the mist build up and, knowing what was likely being aimed at, stepped around the elemental and forced it to rotate to keep a bead on his location. He landed another punch, then another, followed up by a newly conjured golden fist crashing into the crack-like wounds his assault was inflicting.

Another beam flashed out but Leif stepped forward, vanishing in a blur of golden light and reappearing on the opposite side of the elemental. He hadn’t been quick enough to totally dodge the elemental’s attack, his left side was partially frozen over, icy frost making his bark-like skin brittle. Sensing the anchors left behind by [Amber Steps] felt like gazing through fogged glass, Leif could barely make out where the teleportation skill was lingering with each step he made.

A sound like gears grinding together in the wrong way emitted from the crystalline entity as it shifted and reformed. Leif noticed for the first time that the elemental was withdrawing the damaged parts of its body into deeper layers of its ever changing form. For over a minute the battle continued. The elemental’s attacks grew faster and more aggressive, the monster lashing out with jagged ice blades or preparing multiple beams to fire in rapid sequence.

But Leif, even while suppressed, was no slouch in combat. Even if he hadn’t spent the weeks since his return to consciousness familiarising himself with his abilities and expanding his capabilities with training, he doubted it would have mattered. The elemental, while sturdy and relatively powerful, was simply too low level. Leif’s attributes, even while not utilising [Grand Action] were too much. With each devastating blow he landed, its ability to shift the damaged parts of its structure lessened, and with a final series of rapid strikes followed by a roundhouse kick it simply fell apart.

Ram clapped lazily as Leif centred himself, then let his conjured arms dissipate. The spriggan stalked over to where the old man was lounging on the icy ground. “What I don’t understand,” Ram said, “is why you felt the need to fully suppress yourself.”

Leif glared at the man, though with his unmoving and flat facial features it likely didn’t come across. “You told me to only use skills that were part of the class I was trying to level up.”

“True, I did say that. But you’re too low level to have more than one class so it shouldn’t have mattered.” Ram pointed out.

Leif paused, if he were a normal monster that may have been true. What little he understood about his situation made it clear he was currently deviating from what was the norm for monsters of his level. Then he realised something, and tried to burn a hole into Ram with his eyes. “So you told me to do something I shouldn’t have been able to do? That doesn’t make sense.”

“If anything doesn’t make sense kid, it’s you.” Ram grunted, his amusement clear. “Now how the hells did you awaken before level fifty?”