At around the same time that Akira and the rest of the scouting team were traveling south, the ships Dùghall and his allies were riding on sailed as close as it could to the eastern shore.
A large buildup of ice was blocking the path of the ships so they were forced to stop several miles away from the shore.
They had no choice but to disembark from the ships and walk on the slippery and uneven ice while they pulled their supplies and personal belongings on makeshift sleds that were a far cry from a real sled. It was really just a piece of flat wood with a rope attached to it.
Several hours of frustration passed before they reached the shore cold and tired from having to pull the heavy sleds and constantly having to make detours to get around weak ice or jagged ice protrusions.
As everyone began to sit down to take a quick rest a group of around 100 werewolf warriors who were wearing fur armor that was made from local monsters appeared.
“We do not tolerate trespassers. Leave now or we will forcibly push you out of our territory,” said a large warrior who was wearing silver furred armor.
“We are not looking to cause trouble. We are here looking for the Coldpelt clan who rules over the Bleur Shor city,” said Dùghall.
“What business do you have with the Coldpelt clan?” asked the warrior.
“I am Grand elder Dùghall. This is Grand elder...”
“I asked what business you have not your family tree.”
“...we are from the earth tribe and wish to join the city of Bleur Shor,” said Grand elder Dùghall unhappy at the rude behavior from the warrior.
“Hmph...follow us. We'll take you to see the Grand elder of Bleur Shor,” said the warrior and without another word began walking.
Another hour of frustrating travel passed before they stopped at a large campsite.
There were several thousand large tepees already erected with smoke coming out from the top as people were cooking the night's dinner.
“You, come with me,” the silver fur warrior pointed to Grand elder Dùghall. “The rest of you can make camp on the outer edges for the night.”
Dùghall was led to a large red tepee in the center of the encampment where they waited at the entrance a few minutes before being called inside.
A middle-aged man with a square jaw and a nose that looked like it had been broken a few times before greeted him.
“I welcome you fellow kin from the old continent. I am Grand Elder Brod. I am the one who is in charge of the city which we call Bleur Shor. As long as you do not cause any problems you are more than welcome to stay with us. Our clans have many different customs that you are probably not aware of so I will gladly help answer any questions that you may have,” said Brod.
“Excuse me, but when will we be able to reach the city of Bleur Shor?” asked Dùghall.
“You're standing in it right now.”
***
Tormoid and his followers had a similar reception when they reached the western shores where they found the Saberfang clan ruled over the Crowmaw city which was a large nomadic tent city.
Due to Tormoid's temper, their welcoming was less cordial than the one Dùghall had received. Although they were accepted to live along with the other clans they were not given any special treatment and had to do everything for themselves.
“This is no city! It is just a bunch of wanders going around wherever they please,” complained one Grand elder.
“There are no buildings and we still have to live in tents!” said another.
“What's worse is they treat us as a nuisance. What's with them saying that we are not allowed to join them in clan meetings. They are treating us worse than a small clan,” grumbled Tormoid.
“We can't worry about that right now. We have to gather some people to start hunting for food and large monsters so that we can create those teepees that the other clans are using. We can not stay in these flimsy tents forever.”
***
Kooter, Phobia, and Bland along with their subordinates were hunting the Razorbeak monsters that inhabited the forest near the city they had picked as their base. They had decided to grow stronger before trying to complete the assassination mission again.
“This place really is amazing,” said Phobia.
“I know right! There are so many monsters that we can get stronger really fast!” said Bland with an expressionless face that did not match the excitement in his voice.
“I bet if the other guilds found out about this they would be jealous enough to start a war over who should own the hunting grounds,” said Kooter.
“Get real they could care less about this backwater place. The only thing good about this place is the large number of monsters to hunt. Everything else sucks,” said Phobia.
“Captain! That monsters back! We better run or we'll all get killed again!” shouted a demigod as he pointed to a large round white ball that was rolling towards them.
***
Two dark-robed figures stood in a small village with the smell of fresh blood filling the air. The small village had been chosen by Tibia and Bonestringer as a source to perform the ritual for long-distance communication.
“You did well in retrieving the ancient Talisman. You both are to return immediately and receive your rewards. Bonestringer with the retrieval of your gem as well as the talisman your research should be able to advance at an even faster pace than before,” said Number One.
“It is as you say. With this, we will be able to jump the organization's plan ahead many years from the original plan. You will have to make sure everything is prepared before I complete the first stage,” said Bonestringer.
“We know what must be done. Don't get too far ahead of yourself just because you had a little success. Remember who you are talking to,” said number six.
“I am sorry, I misspoke.”
“Humph... Hurry up and return so we can start phase one. If you are not able to finish within the new deadline after boasting so much I will not be pleased,” said number three.
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***
Akira and the scouting team continued to move south using the same path they had traveled only a few days ago.
Since they had already cleared the area twice before they only encountered a few monsters.
As they reached the end of the frontier far from the Puman village of Dalry, there were no more roads or nearby villages.
“We will soon be entering Kaldrbiod,” said Burkin as they ate a quick lunch.
“I'm still surprised that Kurzlin allowed you to come on such a dangerous mission after hearing what happened on our last trip,” said Akira.
“HAH! I told her that a little danger is nothing, and if you didn't have me you wouldn't know how to survive in the dangerous Kaldrbiod lands.”
“So you're just running away...” said Akira.
Cough! “As we head south the monsters will start to get stronger with many of them running around in larger groups. We need to be on the lookout for any monsters that might take a liking to werewolf or dwarf meat,” said Burkin looking away from everyone while pretending to search for nearby monsters.
“Well I have just the right person to help with scouting,” said Akira as he summoned Nox.
“Nox, I need you to help with scouting and standing guard with the others during the night,” said Akira as soon as Nox jumped out of his shadow.
'Fine, but I don't like having to babysit everyone,' grumbled Nox as he stretched and wiggled to wake up from his long nap that had been interrupted.
'Where are we?' asked Nox, as he lazily yawned and looked over the large group of warriors that were traveling with Akira.
“Kaldrbiod. I'm told there will be far more monsters and snow the farther we head south, so I need you to stay on full alert,” said Akira.
Nox's gaze stopped on Fluffball who was peacefully sleeping inside several bundles of blankets on Akira's sled.
He looked away without saying a word and walked to the front of the scouting group where he waited for the others to get ready to continue south.
Nox was a great help to the scouting team as he did not need to sleep nor did he need to eat. But that did not stop Nox from doing both of them as they were his hobbies. If he could he would sleep all day and eat Delicious food whenever he woke up.
As Burkin predicted their travel south grew more dangerous the next day as they continued south towards the unfreezing river.
Akira had leveled up a few times as the days passed. But the experience points he gained from fighting monsters was now split between three people, Nox, Fluffball, and himself.
The only ones fighting out of the three were Akira and Nox. Akira kept Fluffball safe by keeping him on his sled wrapped up under many blankets to make sure he was never cold.
A fortnight passed before they reached the Unfreezing river, a major point in their travel south.
It was now night and the scouting expedition was now setting up a temporary camp that they had become quite skilled at after doing it every night over the past weeks.
“Look at this big fish I caught! This river is filled with them!” said a warrior as he walked back to the camp that had several fires burning.
“Ha! You only caught 1? I caught 3!” said another showing three fish cooking over the fire on wooden sticks.
Akira stood at the shore of the unfreezing river watching the flowing water which had numerous large fish swimming in every direction. It was amazing that such a large river would not freeze even this far south.
A slight warm mist hung over the river as the freezing air touched the warm water.
“Yap!” Fluffball, who was being held in Akira's arms, squirmed out of the blanket and hopped out of his arms. The small snow wolf started to wander around sniffing the ground.
Akira had to keep a close eye on him as he was constantly wandering off whenever he looked away.
While he was watching Fluffball two of his new bodyguards were watching him and scanning the surroundings to make sure nothing happened to him.
It was a bit uncomfortable to have someone follow you everywhere you went even when you had to take care of bodily functions. But he was getting used to ignoring them.
Akira opened the status window for Fluffball to check on his progress:
Fluffball: Level: 5
Race: Mutated Snow wolf pup
Title: Naive explorer
Personality: Inquisitive
Hunger: 100%
No special stats or skills have been received yet.
Due to mutation more Xp is needed for each level.
Fluffball was leveling up far slower than Akira or Nox had when they were at the same level and it seemed due to their level differences Fluffball was only receiving 1% of the total experience points.
Even with those restrictions, he was still leveling at a decent pace due to his low level as well as the large number of monsters that Akira and Nox killed every day.
“Hey Fluffball, come over here,” said Akira trying to get the little wolf's attention.
Fluffball didn't hear him since he was in a trance watching the large silverfish swimming by in the river.
Before Akira could react Fluffball jumped into the shallow water trying to catch one of the fish.
Akira cursed a few times as he waded into the lukewarm water to rescue the floundering wolf pup his boots became heavy as water flooded into them.
Akira exited the river holding Fluffball who was now soaking wet. With the freezing temperature, the water trapped in Fluffball's fur began to freeze immediately.
Akira rushed back towards the fire he had started earlier and laid down a blanket near the fire. He placed the shivering Fluffball on the blanket and started to vigorously rub him down with a towel to remove the melting ice and water out of his fur.
Several minutes passed before he could let out a sigh of relief when Fluffball's shivering stopped and his body temperature returned to normal.
“Chief, you need to take off your boots, and make sure to dry your feet and the boots before we start again tomorrow,” said Audun the lead shaman that the Grand elders had chosen to accompany the scouting expedition.
“Here let me help,” said Dolph as he grabbed onto the frozen boots. The now stiff ice-covered boots came off with a loud squelch.
The freezing water inside of the boots was dumped out to the side away from the fire.
Now that Akira was not so worried about Fluffball he noticed that his feet felt like ice blocks.
He could barely feel his toes as he moved them. After removing his soaked socks he could see that his feet were a light purple color.
“You need to warm your feet up now or you will receive permanent damage to them,” said Audun as he started taking herbs out of his side pouch and added them to a small metal cup of boiling water.
Akira took his advice seriously and placed them as near to the fire as he could without touching it even this close he could not feel the heat from the fire.
His boots and socks were also placed on sticks near the fire so they could dry out as well.
Akira watched as Audun went through several steps and finally finished brewing a herbal remedy that Akira had not seen before.
“Here drink this. It will help regulate your temperature in your body as well as helping prevent frostbite,” said Audun as he passed the steaming cup wrapped in a small cloth over to Akira.
He sipped the drink and made a face as the bitter flavor washed over his taste buds.
“Don't mess around and drink it while it is still warm,” ordered Audun.
Akira held his breath and took several gulps of the herbal drink. There was still a small amount of the drink left when he reached over and had Fluffball drink the rest before handing the cup back to Audun.
“Keep your feet near the fire for another hour,” ordered Audun as he started to cook a fish he had caught earlier.
As Akira's feet began to warm up and regain a rosy red color he could feel a sharp prickly pain poking every nerve of both of his feet.
Seeing Akira's discomfort, Fluffball tiredly crawled over to Akira's feet and laid next to them. He licked it once and looked at Akira as if to say sorry.
“If you're really sorry, don't go wandering around like that and we won't have something like this happen again. It's too dangerous for you to do stuff like that until you get bigger and stronger,” said Akira as he picked up Fluffball and wrapped a blanket around him before placing him on his lap.