Mel felt a tug right behind her navel as she was pulled through the planar portal. Her instincts and training told her to shut her eyes and curl up into a ball as the sensation of rapid movement reached a crescendo and spat her out.

She rolled and crunched across a blanket of cold snow and fetched up against a stalagmite of blue ice.

Mel snapped her eyes open and summoned her twinblade, its swirl of silver lost in the plumes of snow thrown up by her tumble through the soft powder.

There were no threats that she could find, aside from the cold already seeping into her clothes.

She took stock, making sure nothing was broken, and tried to get her bearings.

An ice cave?

She vaguely recalled an area closer to her starting location than the stormy plateau that had been ravaged by ice storms and blizzards.

The cave glittered majestically. Sunlight was finding its way inside, but Mel couldn’t tell where from. The effect of the refracted sunlight was dazzling and disorienting. It made it difficult to make out what was a tunnel and what was a sheet of ice.

Squinting, Mel used [Gaze of the Serpent]. She wasn’t sure how useful infravision would be, but the aspect skill surprised her with its depths.

Her vision was filled with dark violets, purples, and deep blues instead of the typical oranges and greens. It was no less beautiful, and it rendered the cave in a vibrant tapestry of cool colors that allowed her to make out details the dazzling sunlight obfuscated.

With the overwhelming light no longer a factor, its heat barely registering as a blip on her infravision, Mel counted three tunnels branching off this small room filled with stalagmites and stalactites of blue ice.

New Quest: Frozen Beneath

You have been transported to a frozen cave. Survive the cold while finding a way out before the temperature drops even further, inviting in monsters from the depths that thrive in arctic conditions.

Objective: Endure the cold and escape (0/1).

Reward: [Armor Bracers (Rare)]

New quest, oh how I’ve missed you.

With no idea where she was, or how to get out, Mel made a circuit of the chamber looking for any sign of the monsters that the quest mentioned.

Nothing for now, she thought, settling down on a cushion of snow that crunched beneath her seat. She took out both aspect gems and held them each in one hand.

[Storm Aspect Gem]

(Aspect Item)

(Ancestral)

A distilled manifestation of Storm Aspect in the form of a raw gem. Storm clouds roil beneath the spherical surface, drowning a lush realm captured within crystal.

Imprint: Use to bind Storm aspect to an attribute.

[Divine Aspect Gem]

(Aspect Item)

(Ancestral)

A distilled manifestation of Divine Aspect in the form of a raw gem. Waves of golden light flow beneath the smooth surface, blessing a desert realm captured within crystal.

Imprint: Use to bind Divine aspect to an attribute.

Mel wasn’t a fan of gods. They were useful things at times, but she wasn’t big on worship or following any specific god. It was hard to believe in the gods as something greater when you’ve had a peek behind the curtain.

In her mind, they were closer to forces of nature that had been summoned up by people than anything worthy of worship. The Kindred were a little different. They were the sort of heroes to look up to. Still far from perfect. Some were pretty dark too.

Having two aspects to choose from for Mel’s last aspect wasn’t something she expected.

If she couldn’t bind both, which she wasn’t sure about, then at least she’d be able to give it to somebody else.

Both aspect gems were the same rarity, making the choice easier instead of harder. If the Divine gem had been a higher rarity, she would have been sorely tempted.

What would Divine aspect do to me anyway? Make me some kind of demigod?

Mel wasn’t sure how she felt about it. Having Divine aspect mixed with Blood, Omen, and Serpent felt a little sacrilegious.

Then again, when the hell did I ever care about gods and their rules?

It felt like a golden opportunity.

But storm…

While she didn’t know exactly what rarity did, the skills she learned from Blood and Omen were vastly better than anything she received from Mist or Serpent.

Judging by the halo of power surrounding each gem, Ancestral must be beyond Legendary in terms of strength.

Mel was about to put the Divine gem into her inventory, then stopped. Am I really doing this?

She held up the gem and stared at the sands shifting within. Hadn’t she been somewhere with black sands?

Dammit.

Mel switched up her decision last minute. It was just like her to suddenly pull a 180 about something so pivotal as her last aspect. She shoved the Storm gem into her inventory instead.

Worst-case scenario, she could barter with it if she truly needed. Anybody would want it.

Otherwise, she still hoped to find a merchant that she could sell it to. Money was clearly valuable here as a ritual component. She nearly bankrupted herself doing a few simple rituals.

What would the higher tier spells demand?

Unable to stop herself, Mel took the Storm gem back out and held both Divine and Storm in the palms of her hands. She focused, trying to send two threads of mana into each aspect gem.

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Maybe if I can bind both at the same time, they’ll change into something better. What would Divine and Storm become?

She gasped. “Zeus.”

Of course, reality rarely lives up to our expectations, and Mel was met with a cold, hard truth: she could only pick one.

“Balls.” She put away the Storm gem and went with the only option available.

Being the last aspect she had to bind, the notification was slightly different.

Do you wish to bind [Divine Aspect] to the Strength attribute?

“Yep.”

Are you sure you wish to bind [Divine Aspect] to Strength? This choice cannot be undone.

“Yes, obviously,” Mel replied quickly, eager to bind a new power. “Not a lot of waffling to be done here, system.”

You bind [Divine Aspect] to your [Strength] attribute.

Your [Strength (Divine)] advances to [Copper Rank (Grade 0)].

You awaken the [Tempest Heart] Divine aspect skill.

Mel let out a little whoop as the surge of power flooded her veins, filling in the last missing piece. “Strength and Divine?” She gasped. “I can smite people now!” She surged to her feet and would have done a dorky little dance if the world didn’t start to spin and twist around her.

Too late, Mel realized that she should have expected this. With all of her aspects in place, and each of her attributes at Copper, it was time for her body to advance as well.

Her excitement clouded her mind to the very real dangers of advancement in such a remote and potentially deadly location. Waves of power radiated out from her middle as her body advanced from Mundane to Copper.

She reached into her inventory as fast as she could, pulling out the campfire scroll. Before she could activate it, her muscles seized and every cell in her body screamed in pain as the ripple of change pressed onward from the inside out.

Mel collapsed to the icy floor, wracked with pain. She curled into a tight ball. Time lost all meaning. She blacked out numerous times, each time coming back to consciousness more confused and disoriented than before, until darkness fully consumed her.

Shivering and fatigued beyond her worst nightmares, Mel struggled to open her eyes.

She groaned pitifully, though it was meant to be a scream of defiance, forcing her glued eyelids open. Frost dazzled her blurry vision. It took her a moment to realize that her eyelashes were decked in shimmering ice.

Heat.

It was the only word that she had room for in her wool-stuffed brain. She had done something to do with heat, right? She had something . But what was it?

Struggling to remember, Mel groaned again and tried to get into a sitting position. A dark vile goo froze her to the ground like black glue.

Mel squinted, squeezing her eyes shut. The only thing she wanted to do was go back to sleep. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she screamed at herself to get up. This wasn’t school. She wouldn’t just be late to class if she succumbed, she wouldn’t ever wake up again.

Even with that fatal threat looming, Mel couldn’t muster up much concern. The painful, bone-deep cold was slowly vanishing, replaced by a sense of calm.

Screw this!

Mel lifted her head, the only part able to still move freely, and slammed her head into the ice. The sharp crack of pain woke her up briefly, returning some of her senses. She struggled to push mana through her body in an attempt to warm it, but it seemed this world didn’t work like that. Nothing happened, and she didn’t have the luxury of time to keep trying.

She was already being lulled again by the siren song of hypothermic sleep.

Looking around the room, Mel found no help forthcoming. She was all alone. As usual.

I’m not going out like a bitch, she promised herself. Getting all of my attributes, advancing to Copper just to die? No way.

She only vaguely realized how cold it must be for a Copper to be so close to death. The light in the room was dim, barely enough for her to see by, but as she struggled against the frozen goo sticking her to the floor, she worked some feeling back into her right hand.

Paper?

Mel craned her neck to look at her hand. In its claw-like grasp was a scroll. She barely had enough strength in her limb to squeeze it until the wax seal broke.

Nothing happened.

Mel focused, examining the scroll.

[Campfire Instant Scroll]

(Copper Rank, Item)

(Common)

A furled bundle of parchment inked with the imagery of a campfire ringed with stones merrily burning beneath a bubbling pot.

Imprint: Spend (2) [Copper Rune Coins] to instantly conjure a campfire bordered by stones with a pot accessory. This item has a chance to be consumed with each use.

“Oh, come on!” she raged at the ice.

Mel summoned her inventory. A blue line of light split the air and rotated sideways to reveal her inventory subspace cubby. Unfortunately, she couldn’t move either hand. Her fingers were numb and barely twitched despite the screaming commands she sent to them.

“I can see it!” she yelled, though her voice came out as a faint whisper. “All my Talespin memorabilia for two friggin’ coins!” She could see her pouch of [Copper Rune Coins] no more than a few inches away.

It might as well have been a mile for all the difference it made.

Something thumped heavily nearby. The muffled sound was followed by a slow, scraping sound.

A monster!? How bad can my luck be?

The wet, hacking coughing painted a very different picture in Mel’s mind. It was hard to see in the encroaching darkness, but she was sure somebody else was there.

“H-here…” a young man’s voice rasped.

A trembling, half-frostbitten hand slid two [Copper Rune Coins] toward her.

“The scroll,” she instructed.

His bleeding hand shifted and touched the coins to the scroll.

A beam of light radiated out from the magical scroll, disintegrating it in her hand. For a moment, she held a beam of pure heat and life, then it fountained up and landed in the middle of the icy room.

Glorious heat sparked to life as a tiny flame appeared and grew steadily. A bed of black ash appeared beneath the strengthening flame until the ice was covered completely.

Stones conjured out of blue vaporous mana, flying into place around a campfire that surged with tremendous heat. An iron pot unfurled like a piece of paper above the crackling, popping flames, bubbling with an unknown concoction.

Huh, it actually made the pot too, Mel thought to herself as the heat washed over her. On the other side of the fire, something heavy fell to the ground, but Mel couldn’t see what was going on.

“You okay over there?” Mel called.

There was no response.

“Rude.”

The fire’s heat thawed her inch by inch, returning precious feeling and life back to her frozen limbs. Mel could see no source of fuel that the fire was burning, and yet it blazed with a welcome intensity.

By the time the sun fully set and the cave was a series of flickering reflected campfires, Mel had been freed of the black muck and was able to sit in front of the flames.

The cloaked, scrawny figure lying face down wasn’t so lucky.

Despite her weariness, she grabbed a fistful of the figure’s cloak and dragged him dangerously close to the fire.

As far as Mel could see, without a fuel source, there was nothing to create embers. The risk of the man catching fire was minimal. And she’d rather repay the kindness of a stranger now rather than later.

Mel cleaned herself up and settled in next to the fire to wait.