“Our progress as a nation can be no swifter than our progress in education. The human mind is our fundamental resource.”

John F Kennedy

It had run out without me noticing; suddenly, nothing was holding me up. Failing to transition to flight from stationary with my clothes still wrapped tightly around me, I fell, landing lightly on the ice.

The moment my feet hit the ice, the Wyrm somehow sensed the source of its pains and turned to face me. It seemed so much smaller from up in the air, especially compared to the giant’s physique. Up close and from the ground, it seemed so much larger.

I could run, and I might make it to Namir in time. Then again, I might not. I had seen how fast the beasts were above and below the ground.

I might be out of psi, but I was not out of mana.

And given my traits and stats, I had time to think despite my impending doom. Seeing as they seemed to sense through vibrations and some form of heat sense, the time for deception and all of those related skills had passed.

Unarmed, my martial skills would not avail me here; going up against a Wyrm with my fists and feet alone would be futile. However, quick reflexes and Iron Man would hopefully keep me out of its maw in the first place.

It was time to focus on sheer magical might.

Boil instantly liquefied the ice in front of me with the mana I pumped into it, creating a trench of boiling water despite the ice mana fighting against the heating of the endless ice. Panicking, the Ice Wyrm pulled up sharply in its charge, hesitating to cross the uncomfortable heat which would have fiercely burned its already melted flesh.

However, I still had more to do. The worm was stopped but not defeated. Worse, it was not standing still. Hissing, the Ice Wyrm opened its maw only for ice to pour out and start cooling the boiling water.

Rather than battle a monster over mana, I switched to something else.

“Fotia.” The spellcraft called flame into existence, but rather than throwing it in a ball, I called on the skill Gale to pull air behind me, funnelling the fire directly across the boiling trench into the face of the Ice Wyrm. Too much air would put the fire out, but that meant I had to add more mana to my spellcraft. A tornado of fire drilled into the beast's open maw and killed it nearly instantly.

Exhausted by the extensive use of psi and mana, I sat heavily in the now relatively temperate endless ice. Nyx landed gently beside me before stepping forward to inhale the steam billowing up from the slowly cooling water trench. Luxuriating in the heat, I could tell she was tempted to slip into it.

“Well, that happened.” Remarked Namir, pulling up behind me. “Are you even capable of being subtle?”

“What else did you expect me to do?” I asked, torn.

“Run.” He replied.

“Would I have made it?” I asked.

His silence showed his contemplation. Before coming down with, “If you hadn’t stopped midair to watch the fight then intervene, you wouldn’t have had to find out. Bjorn threw you right at the snowbank over there. You would have been fine.”

Having dispatched their foes, the giants approached us and regarded us and the melted Ice Wyrm from the other side of the trench of bubbling water. While it had halted an Ice Wyrm in its mad dash, it would not stop them from jumping or walking around.

Looking up from the melted remains of the Ice Wyrm, “He’s a mage? At his age?” Bjorn asked in confirmation.

“Yes,” Namir replied, tense, with his hand resting on my shoulder.

“No wonder you had to run out to sea.” He commented. “You are always welcome to stay, but we won’t make you.” He tried to reassure Namir. “That being said, a little heat for the hearth at night would be appreciated.” He offered an open smile. “And according to Ragnar, you saved my son from being struck in the back, so I’m more than a little grateful to you.”

“Same terms as before then, to your Thorpe, then south to Tramontana,” Namir questioned.

“Same terms.” Bjorn answered, “Although there’s not much point to pulling the sledge now that it has been smashed to smithereens. We might as well stop here for the day to gralloch the beasts.”

“You can eat wyrm?” I asked, somewhat appalled.

“There’s not a lot to eat on the endless ice. Ice Wyrms are perfectly edible if cooked properly. Though that’s not all they get dressed for, watch.” He pulled up the half-cooked wyrm and carefully slipped his hand down its maw before pulling a gleaming white-blue beast core out from within.

“Here it’s yours.” He said, tossing it to me.

I caught it, feeling the ice aspected mana residing within. It did not take a genius to guess what skill might be trapped within it. But I looked with my skills anyway to check

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Ice Wyrm Beast Core

Tier 2

Ice Mana Aspected - Blizzard

Useless in the endless ice, I could imagine this would sell for a high price in the central desert or the Southern Kingdom of Ostro. Even nobles of temperate kingdoms would pay a pretty penny for an ice cabinet on demand.

“What’s it worth?” I asked, interested in his opinion and what they did with the cores. They were too well practised at dispatching the beasts for this to be a one-off event.

“To you, a cold resistance.” He calmly commented.

“How?” I envisioned some equipment with it used up in the making.

“Just a basic elixir, the beast core crushed mixed with ice water and swallowed should give you the basic resistance. The resistance is the only way we can face the Ice Giants and prevent them from coming further south and extending the endless ice ever outward.” He shrugged as he returned to stripping the Ice Wyrm of its guts.

The other four giants had returned to their foes and were also stripping theirs. Erik also wandered over with his own core and offered it to me.

“Thanks for watching my back.” He added as he handed it over.

With the Wyrms stripped of their guts and cores, Bjorn opened up their Vault to process the meat and make camp for the evening.

“Come and heat the hearth, and I will show you how to process the core.” He said. Namir was being a little more watchful now they were a little more aware of what I was capable of, but alone in the middle of nowhere, there was no point withholding the heat. Nyx, in particular, was keen for me to begin. The trench of boiling water had quickly cooled and was in the process of freezing back over without mana to maintain it. She came skimming in through the open doorway to place herself next to the stones I was heating.

They didn’t have traditional logs of fire to burn. Instead, underneath each bed were stones you could heat once the frame was raised. At the same time, I spent my time sinking my mana into the rocks underneath each bed. Bjorn was busy crushing the Ice Wyrm beast cores in a pestle and mortar. Ragnar and Ivar offered theirs in thanks for the early warning and help when the arrows failed to draw the Ice Wyrm toward him. It meant I would be gaining more than one dose, and Bjorn suggested I share one with Namir.

With the room slowly heating up, I could strip back some of the furs I was covered in and concentrate on salvaging what I could of our sledge. Part of the family, so to speak now. Namir and I had a berth to share, and our jerky, bones, furs, etc, could be piled up there. The wood, though I concentrated on melding it together, I had plans on how I could use it in my spatial vault, and if the sledge was going to draw any more Wyrms, we could do without it tomorrow.

Seeing me work with the wood, “Half-blood, indeed.” He cordially commented. “Maybe a little elf alongside the beastkin, seeing how well you work with wood.”

I didn’t disabuse him of the notion. But I would have to wait until we had somewhere private before I could place the wood with my vault. At that moment, I imagined creating a stone floor with wood panelling and shelves for the walls, leaving the vault’s roof open to the open void. A little dissimilar to the giant vault they used as a home base, I hoped to use mine for more than just a waystation.

“Elixir’s up,” Bjorn commented, bringing over what to me was a colossal flask but, to them, probably the most miniature cup they had. The Elixir glowed a pale white with hints of blue to it. Not too dissimilar to the elvish growth elixir I had been given so long ago. Had I been drinking a mixture of troll and gods, I knew what else for far longer than I realised.

“Bottoms up.”

I held the flask cautiously before following the instructions. Mana sight showed me how brightly it glowed in more than one sense. Tipping it up, the icy cold liquid ran down my throat, and I stared with fascination as the mana spread outward from my stomach. It started off freezing cold, but I watched it spread throughout my body, bringing an increasing warmth with it. Until the cold no longer felt cold at all and was pleasantly warm.

Ding! Ice resistance (Lv 1)

. . .

Ding! Ice resistance (Lv 2)

. . .

Ding! Ice resistance (Lv 3)

. . .

“It feels so warm now.” I smiled at the result and the new addition to my status.

“That’s just the first one.” He grinned at my happiness. “We’ve all had a lot over the years.” This explained why they weren’t so bothered by the cold on their trek across the endless ice or they never bothered to heat the vault to a more comfortable temperature. “Best to let it settle, though. I’ll make up another when you're ready. This one’s for Namir.” He passed over the second before he returned to butchering the Wyrm’s carcass now that they were all inside.

I was tempted to try to steal or copy the spell from one of the beast cores and add it to my own. But Blizzard was only a Tier 2 skill, and I only had four remaining slots for stealing spells. I wanted to save them for the best spell imprints I could find. At Tier 5, the spatial vault was insane. I couldn’t guarantee I would find something similar, but I was reasonably sure I could find something better than the Tier 2 blizzard. The Ice resistance would be far more helpful to me, especially as we still had a way to go.

Having heated all the stones, I went out to join Namir and see if I could tell the difference. Nyx decided to stay curled up on the heated stones. Namir had already informally started his first watch, and without a Wyrm to dismember, he was the only adult available. He stood a little distant from the entrance, and with the giants busy working on the Wyrms, they had yet to build the usual ice walls and courtyard.

“Bjorn said this one’s for you,” I said as I handed over his to his cloaked form.

“It’ll be worth it if it takes the chill of this.” He wasn’t hunched over, but it still looked like he was trying to retain warmth.

However, I noticed the difference when I stepped out onto the open ice plains. Before, the wind and ice had been bitingly cold on my extremities, particularly the top of my nose, where it was uncovered enough to allow me to see now it was only freezingly cold. That didn’t seem to be much of a difference, but it was. The pain of the ice had been removed.

“Bottom’s up.” I prompted him to get it over with and watched as he downed the elixir.

He shook and shivered, “That’s freezing.” He shuddered, and I realised I had at least taken mine inside, which was nice and warm.

“You can step inside for a moment to warm up if you would like. I can keep watch.” I suggested.

“No, it’s alright. I can feel it beginning to work.” He stoically answered. “Besides, how much mana do you have left?”

“Good point,” I replied.

“Well, now that some of your secrets have already been revealed, there’s no harm in giving you a knife for next time.” He unbuckled a belt and a knife.

“Next time?” I asked.

“I doubt there were only four Ice Wyrms on the endless ice.” He gave a catlike grin.