“Cowards never won heaven. Do not claim that you are begotten of God and you have His royal blood running in your veins unless you can prove your lineage by His heroic spirit: to dare to be holy in spite of men and devils.”

William Gurnall

“What new ridiculous did you manage this time?” Namir quizzed me when I emerged from my spatial vault.

“Why do you think I did something?” I asked defensively, still smirking a little at my success. Those were some fine new skills at significantly high tiers, and I would never be cold again!

“The grin plastered across your face. You are hardly subtle when you have succeeded at something,” he pointed out, already resigned to the results even before hearing them.

“Well, if you must know . . .” I started before being interrupted.

“And what’s happened to Nyx?” He had noticed the sleeping dragonling seemingly steaming as I carried her in my arms. She was not steaming precisely, but some mix of the temperatures within the vault seemed to be creating a flow of vapours from her slumbering form. It was either that, or it was somehow caused by some weird interaction with my own newly acquired aura skill.

“She may have bitten off more than she could chew.” I chuckled at my own joke and shrugged, shifting the sleeping dragonling within my arms. She was definitely getting bigger and heavier since she first hatched. However, Lady Acacia had assured me that she would remain relatively small and similar in size to a cat or small dog. “I’m sure she will be fine once she has slept it off.” The small cores she had been crunching on before seemed to help rather than hinder her growth. Hopefully, this one would do the same.

“Kai? Why is she steaming? No . . . Why are you?” Namir, sensitive to changes, had already noticed the differences. “Your cold. What did you do?” he asked, concerned. I did not feel cold at all, warm even. At what point did my warmth end and my aura begin? That could be troublesome. I attempted to turn the skill off and thought myself successful. Again it was difficult to tell when the ice and cold no longer affected me.

“Well . . .” I paused before explaining, “You know how I replicated the Spatial Vault Skill by copying the imprint left on the remnants of the Lodestone Wyrm’s core? Something similar happened with the Ice Giant’s core.” I calmly commented on my cool new ice powers.

“What skill did you get this time?” he asked with long-suffering patience. He could see where this was going.

“Well . . .” Ripping the band-aid off, I started to answer all three. “Ice Immunity . . .” but found myself being interrupted once more.

“That’s not a skill, Kai,” he accused. “It's bloody useful but not a skill,” he muttered, shuddering as if still cold.

“No, it's not, but touching the core caused my Cold and Ice resistances to be merged into the new Ice Immunity. But I did get a skill . . . or rather two as well.” I was still grinning. I couldn’t wait to play with my new skills. Besides, it was always fun to shock him into silence. It had become a fun habit.

“ . . . ”

But we had things to do, so I didn’t wait too long. “I gained the skills Ice Aura and Ice Creation,” I said, flexing the new skills, sending ice skittering across the room from me and forming a ball within my hand. It was much easier than spellcraft and spellsong, the ice forming for much less effort and mana than usual.

After shivering at the wave of cold, Namir closed his eyes, kneading his temples with the pads of his paws. It looked like I had given him a headache. Eventually, he spoke snappily, “You idiot, Kai. That’s a Royal Talent.”

“A what?” I asked, confused for a second before I made the link, but he was already lecturing.

“Elemental creation is seen as a sign of royal blood. If your skill is ever known, you will be considered an illegitimate royal bastard.” He complained.

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“But I could already form ice using mana,” I complained. “Lady Acacia taught us all how to create water from the air with Mana.” But even as I argued, I had already felt the difference, one he now elaborated on in detail.

“There is a qualitative and quantitative difference between manipulating mana to create similar effects to the Royal Families and actually being able to do the same. They all have a Kingly skill, a Tier 5 skill, a royal talent, and an element's creation and or manipulation. You effectively declare yourself a Royal if you use the skill openly.”

“But you know. . .” I started.

“It won’t matter. With Ice creation care to think what the other Ponentian noble families will think?” he continued further expanding the problem.

“Not really . . .” Annoyed he was spoiling my moment of success.

“That you are a bastard of the Libeccio Royal Family.” He said this, as always, without tact or subtlety.

“That doesn’t seem too bad,” I said, remembering we had links with Libeccio through the Caliph who had gifted me Nyx’s egg.

“Why do you think such enmity exists between Ponente and Libeccio?” he added, unrelenting in his deflating of my moment.

“Competition over resources and the raiding their ships do to get them.” This summarised my understanding of the Cold War-style conflict currently being played out by their merchants, brigands, privateers and pirates.

“Yes . . . but look, they effectively have the same element: water or Ice. It sounds pointless, but half of the conflict is over which application of it is the best. Using ice with such ease and skill will not go down well in Ponente.”

“I won’t show it then,” I argued.

He rolled his eyes in exaggeration, “Let’s stop for a second and see how many secrets you have managed to keep hidden over our time on the endless ice shall we?”

“Well, we don’t need to go into detail.” I looked everywhere but at his piercing blue eyes.

“You hardly have a spotless record, and can you honestly say you will live your life with one hand tied behind your back? When you need it, you will use it. I’m just trying to impress on you the consequences.” He settled into silence as we contemplated the changes.

. . .

“I already live like that in the hopes of not upsetting the apple cart, and this will be no different. But thank you, for your honesty about what we will have to face.” I said my mood was moderated by the breaking of another social barrier.

“The skills are fantastic,” he commiserated. Just take some time to grow into them, your stats and your traits. There is no rush.” And we left it at that.

. . .

There was no rush other than the deadline the Goddess Fortuna had given us. It was time to head south, and with my immunity to the ice, it was no longer impossible to fly. The only limit was the extent of my mana, which was just as well, considering the destruction of my second vehicle on the endless ice by the Ice Giant left us without swift transportation once more. I had even convinced Namir that it would be a fair trade if I carried him and Nyx in my spatial vault for a short flight, and then he returned the favour by carrying me. In this manner, I hoped to make impressive speed south when we left.

Fully provisioned and with plenty of goods to sell on the way we were finally ready to leave.

. . .

“We’ll miss you,” Eryk said, giving me a hug before stepping back to join the village that had gathered to see us off.

“It’s been exciting.” I grinned in return. The endless ice had been perilously dangerous, but the system had rewarded me equally in return for the danger. I was leaving with several new skills, levels and resistances. “We might not have planned our visit but I’m happy we came,” I added, referring to our shipwreck of an arrival.

“You will always be welcome to return and continue your training. We cannot thank you enough for defending our home. Farvel and godspeed.”

With a wave and his warm words echoing in my ears, I leapt into the air, climbing as Nyx circled around me as I rose. No longer affected by the ice, she had gained the same immunity as me. I turned south and headed for the horizon with the sun high above I watched with excitement as our shadows raced across the ice below me following the footsteps of the former exodus of giants. Startled by a screech, I saw Stamfar’s shadow join ours as he escorted us ever southward. It seemed Volur would accompany us further south in the shape of his Gyrfalcon before truly saying farewell through the runed stone I could see it still carrying.

. . .

We flew south until my mana reached a third, and then I skipped across the sky with Psi to reach the ground and the next ridgeline. The Thorpe had long been left behind us, and it was time to switch over.

“A word before you release Namir, Kai.” Volur’s voice from the runed stone stopped me from opening the vault immediately as we landed. “I know Namir hopes to return you both home safe and sound, but if, for whatever reason, the journey proves impossible or you need a safe haven, you are always welcome to return. I know humans are not always kind to half-bloods. You will always be welcome here.”

I felt suddenly guilty about the story we had weaved when we first arrived. Now, the lies stood between us. I stumbled over my tongue before answering. “I know I’ll be safe with him, and we will make it home.” I hedged. “We’ll send word one day of our safe arrival.”

“I’m sure we will hear from you again, Kai. You are already a little legend in our humble Thorpe. Farvel and Godspeed.” He said through the runed stone once more before Stamfar took flight returning north to home.

I opened my spatial vault for Namir to carry us on the next leg of our journey.