Chapter 50

Cold Cat Owns the Arena

Since I'd taken so much longer than everyone to finish, Martin told a few stories he had heard about hunters and adventurers that had accidentally strayed into Snowy Mountain Prowler territory. Apparently they were known for aggressively defending their borders, but they were all Spirit Beasts, and intelligent enough to not want to attract the wrong kind of attention. If you dropped your weapons and made no aggressive actions, they would escort you out of their territory with only some frostbite to remember them by, and a stern mental warning to never return.

Once I'd eaten enough to just about satisfy my beastly appetite, and Martin had told his stories, we filed out of the guild hall. I was surprised to see that Alexander and Krassis had decided to come along as well, both of them trailed behind everyone else keeping their distance, but they seemed interested in seeing the apparently legendary beast of the deep mountains in the flesh.

While we walked to the arena Ivo asked where my staff was, I told him I'd tell him later, and left it at that.

When we got inside the building, I reset the arena to its default blank sandy floor, with its equal distribution of every mana type other than death. Pierce and Ivo entered the arena with me because they wanted to see if I'd make the air freeze like the stories said. I thought I'd probably have to channel an elemental core to have it be that bad, and said as much, they said we should try that quickly as well.

The two men with me had left their weapons and armor behind in their room. Both of them were dressed in what I assumed were fashionable light summer clothes, we would definitely not be testing my new form's combat potential.

I walked to the center of the arena, and closed my eyes. I focused intently on shifting to the form with an absolute minimum of alterations. The shift went a little slow because of my efforts, taking almost thirty seconds, but I wanted to make sure I got it right for the people who wanted to see what it looked like. The mana cost of the shift was quite high, draining my pure core almost all the way to nothing.

When the shift was done, the world around me began to feel uncomfortably hot. It had been a delightfully cool morning, but I felt like I was standing under the sun in the middle of the desert in July. I could still function, but simply standing still in the heat felt taxing.

I looked at the two men in the arena with me, trying to judge how big I was. I found that I was only looking slightly down at them. Making it quite a bit smaller than my Mana Beast form, but still exceptionally large if you compared it to any big cat from earth. I had to weigh well over a ton, my body felt heavier than usual, my densely coiled muscles were covered in a thick layer of insulation.

I watched with interest as mana reacted to my new form like it had in Belua's realm, the air mana becoming more aggressive in its play, and the water mana more clingy and sharp. The area around me mercifully began to cool after only a few seconds standing still and watching the mana act on my behalf. I heaved a sigh of relief as the feeling of oppressive heat faded.

I walked over to the men, who had been keeping their distance while I got my bearings. The mana moved with me, flowing around me like always. Only now it was actively changing my environment to better suit me, instead of just greeting me. It was as though it went from being a puppy begging me to play, to a pack member ranging around and making space for its leader.

When I was ten feet away I started seeing their breath turn to steam. When I was five feet away, I saw their muscles tensing, they weren't quite shivering, but it was very apparent that I was making the environment uncomfortable for them.

"Well, that's not as bad as advertised, I'd bet it's barely cold enough to freeze water. Actually it might be nice to have you around like that while we're kitted out for battle. That gear can be more than a little hot at the best of times." Pierce sounded mildly amused.

I huffed a laugh at him, it was interesting that my own breath didn't create any steam. I looked at Ivo.

"I'm going to back away and try my water core, I have a feeling that it will be a bit colder."

It felt like the small amount of practice I had with the Spirit Beast in Belua's realm must have helped me quite a bit, as I was fairly certain that I only sent the words.

Ivo nodded, I watched as the man rubbed his arms, trying to warm up. I doubted what was coming would be a nice experience for the two of them, so I considered telling them that they should leave.

I walked about twenty feet away from the two men before shifting my core. I made sure to keep in mind that my task was simply to see what the core's effect would be with this form, and let the concepts sort themselves naturally.

When I felt my mana saturation reach the point where my elemental form activated, frost began to form on the ground around me. I didn't physically feel any different, and my mind even felt fairly normal. I did feel a bit of a sense of ownership over the space around me, but it was nothing overwhelming.

I turned my head to have a look at myself, and realized that while I didn't feel any different, I had definitely undergone a fundamental change. My fur was coated in pure white snow, in complete defiance of basic physics, it was floating off me in little flakes that revealed the patterns of the air mana as it danced and swirled around me. I shook myself experimentally, and a great cloud of snow flew out from me, making it look like I was in the center of a blizzard. The quantity of snow on my fur did not seem to decrease.

When I lifted a paw, I saw that the sand underneath it was coated in a layer of ice that looked like it had been seeping slowly outward from my point of contact.

The two men, twenty feet away from me were shivering uncontrollably, it was obvious that I would not be able to use this element while working near them. I wondered exactly how cold it was immediately around me, but didn't feel the need to subject them to it. I tried to sense my Concepts, and got Freezing, Snowy, Icy, Penetrating, and Deadly.

The cold related ideas held by the Concepts were very similar, but each Concept was slightly different, and they all added to each other.

Penetrating seemed as frightening as the word sounded. The Concept directly attacked and attempted to bypass the defenses that every being with a class had to prevent infiltration from foreign mana.

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Deadly , in the form it took while attached to this Aspect worked to weaken the life force of individuals it contacted. Funny enough it wouldn't kill on its own, it just made its targets more vulnerable to literally everything else.

I really wanted to see how it would work out in combat, however, Ivo and Pierce were definitely not ready to face me without their equipment, and we had other plans for the day. I had a really hard time setting the desire aside, but I reminded myself that this was only about getting an idea of what the form would do when I used it, not an in depth test.

I wondered how this icy Aspect would fare against a fire attuned monster. Would all my snow melt? Would it boil off? Would it explode? None of those things sounded like a fun time for me, but it wasn't like it was normal ice and snow, so maybe none of those things would happen. Maybe my cold Concepts would cancel out their hot ones, and we'd have to fight in a more mundane manner.

When I thought about it, I got feedback from the System that the last idea would likely be the case if we were evenly matched. If I was weaker, I would be able to spend mana to keep my protective snow and ice but the expense would be great, depending on how outmatched I was. If I was significantly stronger, their fire would not be able to exist around me.

When I wondered what determined strength, since it felt like it was more than just levels. That mental question sent me down quite the rabbit hole.

The answer I got was complicated. It came down to mana density, a factor my mana sense could barely detect. Density was partly a factor of level, but it also could be manually increased. I'd have to ask someone how to do that because the System didn't give me any clues, and now that I knew about it, it seemed pretty important.

Density was also affected by attributes. For most sapients both intelligence and wisdom were added together with level to produce their density.

For me, and apparently every other creature who stored their mana in cores, Strength, and Constitution also played a big role. Meaning Spirit Beast mana effectively double dipped. Which, the System happily informed me, was why they were respected and feared, and why they often thought of other sapient races as inferior.

I was informed that if the formation of a core wasn't so likely to go wrong, and end up shattering, creating a monster instead of an intelligent being, they would rule the world.

The System just kept on giving out information, letting me in on how my new species worked. Creatures like Snowy Mountain Prowlers, who were known to always be spirit beasts, had a hideous infant mortality rate. Fewer than one in every two hundred cubs would successfully form a core. The others would have to be put down by their parents, as they would never be more than savage beasts. The same thing applied to every creature that achieved sapience via core creation.

It sounded horrible. I kind of wished the System had been less forthcoming. I hadn't planned on having any children, I hadn't been interested in being a mother in my first life, and I wasn't any more interested in being a father now. But the thought of any child I sired having the potential to go mana mad really put the seal on that. When I had that thought, Belua's mark lit up for a moment. I had a feeling I was going to experience a talking to from Belua that was going to make me uncomfortable. I did wonder how closely the goddess monitored my thoughts to respond like that, it was more than a little disturbing.

I decided that the test was done, I really didn't blame the water core for the somewhat upsetting revelations that the System just threw at me, but I shifted my core back to pure mana anyway. The snow evaporated quickly, turning into free water mana. The ice under my feet did the same. It was interesting to watch.

"Th-that was pretty c-cold." I heard Ivo stutter out through chattering teeth. "Th-thanks for s-staying over th-there."

I nodded, apparently while the physical substances I created had disappeared quite promptly, the temperature was still a lot lower around me than it had been. I still felt nice and warm, it made me wonder what it would take for a snowy mountain prowler to feel cold, or if that was even possible.

I took a deep breath, thinking about shifting to my air core. The air free mana that was dancing around me seemed to sense my thoughts, as it began to cluster around me, and dance its playful spirals with greater speed.

I looked at Ivo.

"Be prepared, something tells me this next one will be interesting."

Ivo looked at Pierce, and shared my warning.

"L-let's l-leave, w-we aren't d-dressed f-for th-this," Was his immediate response.

I dipped my head, there wasn't a good reason for them to stay. For some reason they seemed to be suffering in the cold, even with what I assumed was rather high Constitution stats. I remembered barely being able to hurt them when we fought before, of course neither of them was equipped for combat at the moment, so that might factor in. It could also be that they had been affected by Penetrating and Deadly all the way over there, it seemed a long distance for the Concepts to travel without me using my aura though.

I watched them walk out, and closed my eyes. When I activated my air core the response was immediate. The dancing air mana sped up, its spirals condensed around me. As the mana from my core saturated my body I began to feel a fierce confidence well up, I ruled the space around me.

I let out a roar, proclaiming my ownership to those observing. I strode around the arena, every move I made sent the air around me in a mad dash to clear my way. I was completely uncontested, and that was as it should be, but it wasn't enough.

My eyes narrowed, and I picked out Martin looking into the arena from the outside. He had wanted his turn to earn the bonus experience from helping me, and never gotten it. Now seemed like a good time, I wanted to test my new form, I needed to. I looked him dead in the eyes, and let out a howling roar. If it wasn't for the barrier around the arena he would have had to deal with being torn at by the air that followed.

I realized that I was Dominating , the influence was clear as day. I also recognized Challenging , I had felt its influence before. The wind around me was Slicing at nothing. As I strode toward the grinning Martin, I realized that I was Controlling the air with my motion. I doubted he would be smiling so wide, and running for the entrance so excitedly if he wasn't protected from my Chilling influence.

I had a predatory grin on my face as I watched him eagerly run to meet my challenge.

Martin bounced into the arena, wearing nothing but his skin tight leather pants to protect himself. He flicked his arm out, and a long metal spear seemed to unfurl out of nowhere in his grip. With my current connection to the air around me, I felt how he and his weapon disturbed it.

"Are you sure about this Angel? I'm happy to take advantage of any opportunity for free levels, but if you want me to go all out, the odds ain't in your favor."

I roared at him again in response, sending a torrent of air hurling towards him. It wasn't a true attack, I didn't put any of my own mana behind it, but I was still surprised when it did not even come close to touching the bald, extremely underdressed man.

And then it made total sense.

Level 116 Stormtouched Spearman

I watched as electricity began to visibly arc from his body and the tip of his spear to the ground around him. I could feel how the free air mana around him was being subsumed, and turned into a completely different mana type.

I was transfixed, the air mana's influence on me was overridden. I felt a tremendous greed, I wanted to taste that mana. Needed to taste it. I was distraught when I realized that it was impossible. It was fleeting, the very moment it was created, its Concepts unraveled, and it became nothing but pure mana.

It took a few seconds of watching for the System to give me the information on what I was seeing. It was a higher order of mana that could not exist in the part of the world we were in. I knew I couldn't have it, I knew that even if I managed to eat it, I wouldn't be able to make a new core out of it, not here, not now.

The greed I felt disappeared, and the air mana's influence reasserted itself. The man in front of me with his ability to disrupt the element I was channeling excited me greatly, it would be a wonderful challenge.