"Do you think Ovrodonos knows the Truth?" Kyron asks after we touch down.
The snow crunches under our boots, not even a slight disturbance on the surface apart from that, [Flight Wind] having already been deactivated before it couch touch.
Kyron's probably been thinking about that question for most of the flight. We don't talk much during flight because we have to alter the wind specifically to enable it and we usually don't have a reason to say anything that can't wait until we touch down.
"I don't think he knows the Truth," I tell Kyron. "I think he knows a fragment of it, but not the full thing. He is right, though – there's plenty that I don't know. Now… let's do this!"
I gesture with my right hand, and snow clears from the ground in a fifteen-foot radius around us. The ground beneath us is a floor made up of grey stones, plain and not really noteworthy. This Dungeon wasn't very popular a thousand years ago when it was only a Tier 1-3 Dungeon, so I'm not surprised it didn't get a town around it even after it started to upgrade.
We're fairly high up on the mountains north of the Winter Forest, and more than fifty miles into them. Almost no one really travels too far into the mountains because there are more suitable places to live elsewhere. Even an area with a dozen Dungeons would likely have no towns if far enough into the mountains.
"How did you even know about this one?" Kyron asks as I point at the ground, a flame forming and sticking there.
This particular fire is a spell that the Golden Knight taught me after we met. It was created using techniques from spells like [Fireball], which typically require something to actually activate them. Spells like that – especially among fire spells – typically contain extra Mana in them to continue fueling them until they're triggered or the Mana runs out.
By utilizing that same technique, we can create fire that sticks around for awhile, providing some extra warmth. The main issue with a spell like this is that it does take extra Mana, and putting too much into it can result in the spell's boundaries failing sooner.
Before our death, I could make one that lasted for almost a day. Now, however, I can only make one which lasts up to a few hours. If I wanted, I could work on my [Fire Manipulation] skills to bring up my skill with this as well.
Instead of doing that, I plop myself down onto the ground to rest and recover my Mana. Kyron takes a seat next to me, and I snuggle up against him.
"Of all the things on our list of things to do," Kyron says after a few minutes. "What are the most important ones?"
He doesn't ask this very often, and it usually means he's got something he wants to do that he didn't mention while we were making plans. While there's the possibility he came up with something after we discussed our plans, it's more likely that he already had this want, whatever it is. Kyron has a bad habit of letting me make our plans, then only later letting me know there was something he wanted to do.
One day, I'll manage to convince him that it's okay to tell me during the plan-making.
"What do you want to do?" I ask.
"Just… what are the important ones?" He asks.
"Dealing with the frauds, talking with Rezovekk, and checking out the Great Bathhouse of Ancient Memories."
"Not retrieving our weapons?" He's surprised. "I'd have thought those would be pretty important, even more than visiting the Great Bathhouse of Ancient Memories."
"We don't know where our weapons are," I tell him. "And Durazmakis is in an area that's avoided by most people, which means that we may not even be able to retrieve it anytime soon. The Temple of Mysterious things is just for fun, and the Golden Knight is something I'm sure we'll come across eventually. Tyzlevir also said we'll probably learn about the haunted ship's origins within a year, so we probably don't need to do any investigations on our own."
That's something we'll come across the information for at some point, or receive information that eventually leads us to discovering the truth of the ship.
"The Great Bathhouse of Ancient Memories… isn't just for fun?" Kyron asks. "That is literally a leisure place, Cay."
"Well, yeah," I say. "But also a place of relaxation. The Temple of Mysterious Things is just weird. So the only actually important things would be the fraud, Rezzy, and Gubam."
"And you don't really care that much about collecting on the debt from dragons?" Kyron asks. "I'm surprised that's not on your list, especially since I didn't see you take any money from Nozvinel."
"He didn't have any current funds," I wave a hand dismissively. "Just older funds, and I wasn't going to take jewels from his hoard to sell. We'll get money as we need it, don't worry."
"The last time you told me that, you killed a dragon, stole its hoard, and turned its body into food and items that you then sold."
"Most of that went to helping the town it nearly destroyed."
"True," Kyron concedes. "He did have it coming."
Though Kyron goes quiet again, I can tell he's got something on his mind. I'm also dying just sitting here, because I can't use my magic at the moment as we're recovering our Mana before going into the Dungeon, to ensure we're ready.
"Ky," I say. "You know sitting around, waiting with nothing to do, kills me. What do you want to add to our plans?"
"Nothing," he answers, and I raise an eyebrow. "Seriously, Cay. I was just curious what the most important parts were for you. And honestly… I'm pretty surprised."
"By what?" I ask.
"You wanting to go off and do Dungeons with just us," he answers. "Normally, you hate doing that because you like having other people around. You like helping others get stronger, even if it means taking a little bit longer because you don't get the kills in."
"Yeah," I rest my head against his shoulders. "If I was certain the fates flowed in our direction, I'd just go deal with those frauds now, but I don't know enough about them to know if I can pull a battle viziniaz with them."
"Aren't we only a third their power?" Kyron asks.
"A little more than, yeah," I nod.
"The least I've seen you do a battle viziniaz at is half," he says. "Do you really think you'd win against one of them at only a little more than a third?"
"I could probably win against both," I tell him. "Remember, the battle viziniaz against just one person when I was half their might also net me no injuries. I'll probably have to take some hits, especially since they're basically guaranteed to move faster than me, but yeah, I could do it. Running this Dungeon and bringing us up another 10-15 Levels, at minimum would make it more likely for me to whup their asses without an issue."
"Hold up," Kyron says. "I have no issue taking on Jacob in a battle viziniaz, if it comes down to us needing to fight them and being able to work one in, Cay. There is absolutely no reason to take on both."
"Well, yeah," I say. "If they're the type to instigate a fight, however, I'm sure they'd also boast about how they can tell we're weaker than them. That would only add to the lesson I teach them with their defeat."
Kyron sighs, then thinks for several moments.
"Without knowing their full sets of abilities," Kyron says. "What are the odds of you winning a fight against the two of them in a battle viziniaz?"
"Eighty-seven-point-four-nine percent."
"So roughly a twelve-and-a-half percent chance of defeat," Kyron mutters, then stands. "Alright."
"What?"
"Let's go to the Shrine of the Frozen Flames," Kyron tells me. "I'm going to listen to the God of Death's advice, even if it doesn't apply here, and I'll let you do the talking with them. Even if we don't know much about them and it may go against their personalities, I'm sure you'd be able to convince them to do a battle viziniaz. Just be you."
"You're okay with that?" I ask.
"Of course," Kyron smiles. "If you start getting your ass whupped, I'll step in and take them down. They may be good, but I am the Saint of Frost, Cay. Battle viziniaz for them means I'd have no issue taking them out."
Kyron extends a hand to me, and I take it and let him help me to my feet. This is a lot more exciting than taking on a Dungeon by myself. If they do try to attack us, I know tricks that will let me win. Their magic items are the biggest annoyance, and the only reason I wanted to get stronger first.
But Kyron is right – I hate getting stronger just to get stronger. The only reason the previous Dungeon run was fine was because it was shorter and I needed to get familiar with my lower level of power and weaker casting skills. This Dungeon run would last us days, and I'd get more than frustrated and bored during it.
"Also," Kyron says. "I know that head of yours well enough to know you've got something in the plans for those two, regardless of if you win or lose."
My smile in response to that probably couldn't be wider.
I activate [Flight Wind] and begin the journey to the Shrine of the Frozen Flames, Kyron following behind me with his own flight. As we near it, we slow down and fly higher to observe with less chance of being noticed.
A small town built of stone and ice has been constructed a mile and a half south of the shrine itself, the walls surrounding it a mix of the two. Braziers are spaced out evenly along the wall, each one lit. From what it looks like, those are actual flames in the braziers, not some form of magic. Several large fires burn within the village as well, providing heat to the residents. Ice magic crystals were probably used to enhance the ice to prevent it from melting due to the heat.
With today's cloud cover in this area, the temperature is cooler than usual for daytime right now and the light level isn't as great, even with snow and ice spreading it out more. The braziers and warming bonfires are probably helping with that.
People are moving about down there, most of them dressed in furs to keep warm. I see men, women, children, and elders alike, and a curious lack of farms within or around the village. Even in this icy area, there are still crops that can be grown and animals which can be raised. They must rely on hunting for meat and foraging for plants.
The shrine looks empty right now, so Kyron and I fly over to that. It's an area that's completely flat and roughly one thousand feet across. Only a smaller portion is actually the shrine itself – a square area that's four hundred feet on each side, at the back. A series of pillars of ice rise up, starting at the corners and spaced twenty feet apart.
Between each pair of pillars except one is a trough-like box made of stone, fire burning within all of them, yet not melting the ice. The pair of pillars without the trough between them stand fourteen feet and two inches in height and three feet and eight inches in diameter. The ones on their opposites sides from each other are twelve feet and eleven inches in height and three feet and four inches in diameter. They then alternate between the two sizes, going all the way around.
Dark grey stones make up the ground of the entire space, plain and unadorned, only a light layer of snow covering them – not enough to hide the stones completely, but enough to gather in the slight gaps between the stones, giving them a sort of outline.
Within the very center of the shrine is a ten-foot-wide 'flame' made entirely out of ice. This flame looks more realistic than other flames made of ice for one simple reason: it isn't a single piece of ice. When flame shifts and licks, there are times when portions of it are separated for a moment, before they fade. This sculpture includes those, licks of ice-flames separate from the rest, hovering in place.
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It truly looks like a giant fire was captured in a single moment in time, converted to ice all the way to its core.
The flames in the troughs are fine to provide light if you're close, but the enchantments woven into the place focus on spreading their light inside.
More specifically, the light captured by the frozen flame in the center is put back out stronger than before. Even the small bit of light that reaches it at night is enough to light up the entire inner shrine area once amplified by it.
I was going to add a similar enchantment to the pillars so that the gathering area can be well-lit, but I think I forgot to do that. It probably just adds to the mystery of the area, but it does make the rest of the area dark on nights when there's no snow on the ground and no moon to light the area. The lack of braziers or something to light the rest of the area surprises me, but it may be done out of respect for the shrine.
A pair of statues stand at the pillars that provide the entrance – the two at the center of the front, without a fire channel between them. The one on the right is Kyron, while the one on the left is me. Or if we're facing the same direction they are, Kyron is on the left and I'm on the right. That's how we normally stand, and the statues are well-sculpted.
Kyron and I land in front of the statues and examine them. These aren't the ones that were carved a thousand years ago, but it makes me happy to know that when they were replaced, it was with statues of us. As with most statues from back then, we're in the nude and hard. According to Tasha, there was a period of time where people covered bodies in art, ashamed of the human form. Now, they're back to being unashamed of the human body in art, though dicks are either flaccid or average in size, especially on statues, unless it's meant as an insult.
These ones are still our real sizes, which makes me pleased. Not just because it's what's real, but also because in our culture, a larger dick is a sign of greater natural vitality, high fertility, and mate viability. The same was true for a woman's boobs, too – larger ones represented all of that. For both, it was true up to a certain point, but Kyron and I didn't reach the monster-like sizes.
In our era, Meredith would actually be valued as a model for statues and paintings. I don't need to be straight to know that she's likely considered reasonably attractive, and her chest size would actually make her ideal for representing natural vitality in art. She's also strong, confident, and intelligent, and that would be captured by any artist worth a dragon's admiration.
Screw whatever this society's views are on that (I didn't ask Tasha about the female body in art), I'm going to ask if she's okay with me making a statue of her for the town she's running. Could even make it a fountain, with her holding a staff that's spraying water up into the air.
"Caleb," Kyron says. "What are you thinking about?"
"Meredith."
Kyron snorts.
"She'd probably be happy to let you make a statue," he tells me. "A bit confused, maybe a little modest about it, but happy nonetheless."
"I know," I tell him. "Was just thinking about the fountain's design."
I reach up and start touching the abs on Kyron's statue. Though I don't recognize the work, the sculptor definitely used another statue as a reference. One that was carved using our actual bodies for reference. The work is remarkably accurate.
Kyron and I start discussing potential looks for the fountain while continuing to examine the statues. A few minutes after we've recovered all of our Mana, the sound of footsteps on the light snow comes from behind us. We don't turn around, instead waiting for those coming to reach us. It sounds like a semi-sizable group.
"Have you come to admire the shrine to our old lives?" A voice asks from behind.
"Not really," I turn around, and note several eyes widening, many pairs of them looking between me and the statue of me behind Kyron. "I'm actually here to talk to you about pretending to be us."
Kyron turns around as well, the two of us facing the large group of people. Almost everyone hair has the white-blond hair and varying shades of blue eyes native to the region, though the young man dressed in a fire mage's robes has black hair and green eyes, and facial features similar to those I remember from the Fire Fields. Both of the frauds are fairly attractive, but neither can compare to Kyron or me.
"I'm sorry," the ice knight says. "What manner of trick are you using to look like our old lives?"
"None," I answer. "I am the real Sage of Fire, and this is my husband, Kyron, the real Saint of Frost. We've recently come back from the dead, and soon heard rumors of the two you pretending to be us."
"My name is Jacob," the ice knight says. "And this is my husband, James. We are the reincarnations of the Saint of Frost and Sage of Fire, which means that you are the frauds. Those here have already seen proof of our past lives, and-"
"I would like to test your abilities," I say.
"Our… what?" He looks confused, then laughs. "You? The Mana that I sense within you is weak. We have spent years preparing for the new Great Demon War, as the Great Demon King has reincarnated as well. The gods brought us back and blessed us with great power and Mana. You would be unable to-"
"In ancient times," I undress as I talk, sending my things into my ring. "Nudity was not as taboo as it was today. Young men would train in the nude as they learned the art of the sword of the first. Young mages would study unclothed. There was something called 'battle viziniaz' in our time, a form of naked sparring. No clothes, no items. Just us, our bodies, and our magics. It was the ultimate proof of our abilities, and in some cities, there was a group of battles every night as promising young warriors and mages proved the fruits of their training. It didn't matter if it was scorching hot, freezing cold, snowing, raining, or windy. They adapted to the situation to prove their skills. Some theories say that it is what kept a nation's military strong and prepared its young men for battle, either against other nations, monsters, or during the Great Demon War, demons."
Now naked, I hand Kyron my ring.
"If you are truly the reincarnations of my past self," I say. "Then you would have no issue fighting me together in a battle viziniaz. If you were truly blessed by the gods, then all the wealth of all the knowledge of magic I hold would not be enough to defeat you."
Jacob opens his mouth to say something.
"And if you refuse on the grounds that I am weaker than you," I say. "Then you are truly against the spirit of viziniaz. It was a way of life from our era. Battle viziniaz was but one aspect of the way of life known as 'viziniaz'. Another was tutoring those inferior to you. When there is no harm in performing a battle viziniaz, a superior warrior or mage would take on an inferior one who has challenged them and guide them during the battle, teaching them throughout the fight. Even if viziniaz has been forgotten by today's people, the principle of helping and teaching those lesser continues today. I am challenging the two of you to a battle viziniaz. Prove to me that you are my reincarnation and I am the fraud, and I will accept it. But I will not accept it from someone who is inferior to me."
Kyron puts his right foot forward, and ice shoots out of each side of it. The ice forms a one-inch-wide, three-inch tall wall that quickly spreads around, creating a circle two hundred feet in diameter.
"This will be the arena," Kyron states as he pulls his foot back, the small gap quickly closing. "Stay within it. The rules of the match are simple: you must participate nude and without any items. You are allowed to use any skills and spells you know. All attacks and spells must remain within the borders of the arena. Lethal attacks are permitted. To win, you must either knock out, disable, kill, or draw a yield from the opposing team. You may not receive outside assistance."
I don't think he expected me to just directly challenge them to a battle viziniaz, but I thought about things and came to the decision to just do this. While I would prefer to avoid fighting them, my estimations say that this is the best choice we have.
Fortunately, Kyron has my back on this because he trusts my judgment here.
"Very well, then," James begins undressing.
"Are you certain?" Jacob asks.
"Yes," James answers. "We knew we might have to deal with imitators, though I didn't expect to come across any who managed to find a way to look like our past selves. I would like to see what kind of skill our imitators have."
Jacob nods, then begins undressing. The frauds hand their clothes off to others, both of them hesitant to remove their amulets. Since they can tell I have a significantly lower amount of Mana than they do, however, they give them up just for this fight.
It's not like an ordinary person would know what those amulets can do – you'd have to either know their descriptions don't mention they're magical and what they can do, or discover their purposes by accident. The chances of the person they handed their clothes off to actually discovering this during the fight is slime.
The two of them are fairly attractive even while naked, though Jacob is a little more muscular than Kyron is. He's definitely more for size than anything. James has a proper mage's build – slender and not very toned.
Both of them look a little cold, and that's already a sign that I've won this match. They don't know even a basic spell that was common among adventurers who knew fire or ice magics (or both). It speaks to a knowledge of magic that normal people don't have, and them knowing it would make it impossible for me to win.
Everyone except the three of us moves out of the arena, and Jacob gives me a cruel grin.
"You know you're going to lose, right?" He asks. "You're significantly weaker than I am, and I'm a warrior. And you're taking us both on."
"Not to sound like a protagonist of some story," I stretch for a moment. "But that's what makes this fair."
[Fire Step] learned!
Flames burst out from under my feet as I'm propelled forward at high speed. More burst from under my left foot as it touches down in front of James, sending me into a flip. My knee impacts his jaw, giving him some left before more flames burst out, allowing my body to twist.
Jacob manages to catch my foot before I can kick him, and for a moment, he's holding me up in the air (well, I'm also using some of my own strength to keep my body aloft).
"Acting first doesn't always-" he begins.
"Act before your opponent and interrupt their spells," I say as more fire bursts, twisting my body.
Jacob loses his grip with the sudden jerking of my body. As he moves to block the other kick, a dozen bolts of compressed flames shoot at me from James. Fire bursts from my feet to shoot me backwards, and Jacob slashes the air with two fingers several times. He's casting [Ice Arc] that way, and creating a large zone of blades. A normal person would find it difficult to avoid that.
At the same time, James sends more of his powerful [Fire Bolt]s my way. As if those will bother me!
I twist in the air, using [Fire Step] from various parts of my body to adjust my position properly. Thrusting a hand down, I strike the top of an [Ice Arc] and send it downwards as I fly up a little more, using the ice spell to push myself up. With two fingers, I push another [Ice Arc], redirecting it to the side before thrusting myself through the gap created.
As I move through that gap, I flick my right hand toward James's [Fire Bolt]s, sending weaker ones in a swarm to meet them.
"Never try to stop a superior spell with an inferior version of the same element!" James calls out to me as I land on the ground.
Our bolts connect… and while mine are destroyed, his suddenly become weaker, slower, and off-course.
"What?"
"Always know how to counter your own element," I step to the side to avoid an [Ice Spear] launched at me by Jacob, grabbing the shaft as it goes by. "And how to redirect your energies into victory."
I twist my body and aim the spear at James as I let go of it. Fire bursts out as I kick, enhancing the speed of my kick. My heel hurts a little from the impact, but the spear is sent flying at James much faster than it was shot at me.
"Never let go of a spell that an opponent can grab," I say. "Unless you intend for them to steal it from you, even when they don't have that element in their set."
James dodges that spell as Jacbo sends several more [Ice Arc]s and [Ice Spear]s my way. The Magic he's putting into the spears is too much for me to melt them and render them ineffective, so I instead jump onto the spears. As I jump from spear to spear, Jacob tries redirecting the two he's kept control of. The frustration on his face as I manage to either jump onto them or avoid his attacks entirely is amusing.
I send a [Fireball] towards James, using that to deal with the swarm of [Fire Bolt]s he sent my way.
"When you have a target too agile to hit directly," I send a [Fireball] at Jacob. "Don't send individual, focused attacks their way. Instead, cast a spell that hits an area for an easier time taking them on!"
He gestures upwards with his hands, creating an [Ice Wall] in front of him. I flick upwards with my right index finger, and the [Fireball] shifts to fly over the [Ice Wall]. Jacob notices it a moment too late, and I snap. The spell detonates, and I twist and use [Fire Step]s to avoid a trio of [Fireball]s sent by James.
"And remember," I say as I continue my movements. "Don't cluster your area spells together! Overlapping can help take out a group of tough opponents faster, but it's much less useful against a single target that can move quickly. Spread out your area spells to cover more grounds, to make it more difficult for them to dodge."
I continue evading or redirecting their attacks, occasionally giving them advice as they screw up more. These two have raw talent, but they're no heroes of old. Many times, I have to remind them of something I'd already suggested, and I even have to tell them to coordinate their attacks better.
"Simply working together isn't enough," I say. "When fighting monsters, it can be easier to predict their movements. Given time, even the dumbest of monsters will learn from your attacks. An intelligent opponent will adapt more quickly. Keep your opponent from doing so. Don't just work together, coordinate. Attack from multiple angles to minimize the odds of them escaping the attacks."
After that one, they do actually manage to hit me – the edge of an [Ice Arc] slices my left forearm.
"Good job," I call out to Jacob as I dodge a few [Fire Bolt]s from James, sending just a couple of my own to redirect those I need to redirect. "But don't ever get overconfident after landing a blow. Many monsters are able to persist regardless the amount of pain you put them in. Thinking you've won just because you've drawn the first blood can kill you in a fight, especially if in a Dungeon."
Honestly, I think my comments and lessons are aggravating them. The more I make, the more aggressive they become. They're even straight-up trying to kill me now, and their movements are starting to become more predictable. The cockiness they began this fight with has completely disappeared as they take me more seriously than they have ever taken anything in their life.
Now that they're acting more aggressively, the frauds are starting to hit me more often. I'm able to avoid most attacks, but there are some which I simply can't avoid or redirect. Thankfully, I'm able to weaken them enough with my fire magics that I can deal with the bruising or light cuts I receive. None of the attacks from James I let strike me burn me at all, despite the heat from them not being reduced enough for that in normal circumstances.
Then, at long last, comes the moment I've been waiting for: they realize they're about to burn out of Mana and use some even more lethal spells than they have so far.
Jacob thrusts both hands to the ground, and a wave of ice forms, pushing forward at a high speed. At the same time, James conjures a pair of thirty-foot-tall [Flame Vortex]es that are five feet in width at their bases. One vortex spins to either side of the ice wave, and all three attacks come straight for me.
The size of the ice wave is over thirty feet in width, and it only builds up in height as it flashes toward me. Both attacks are too fast for me to dodge, but it's telling me that they don't care if I live or die, they know they've won.
I bring both of my hands up from the sides, over my head, and then down in front of me, tips of my fingers touching those of the other hand for a moment. Then, I push my hands forward, then make as if grabbing something and pulling backwards. The moment my elbows are back at my sides, my fists facing upwards… the wave of ice stops and the fiery vortexes vanish.