In the darkness of the frozen north, and with a swarm of [Razor Geese] heading straight for him, Kaden wasn’t surprised by their onslaught. Nothing suprised him or bothered him, and if this was something to fear, someone else would need to do the fearing. So while Sara drew her swords and took a defensive stance, Kaden loosed his arrow, stored Thorn Caster, and charged forward. He summoned the [Eldritch Shield] and leaped into the air over the first deadly beaks to snap at him. “Ashi!”

Ashi Rahm requests permission to use [Mana Conduit]. [Y/N]?

As he granted permission, a storm of boulders exploded outward from him, tearing through the flock. What had been a planned battle became extreme mayhem. Everywhere, [Razor Geese] buzzed with [Plague].

“[Moon Multiplier!] [Moon Fall!] [Moon Strike!]” Eve, at least, understood the shift in the battle, how it had become destroy or die, and the only way to survive the storm of bladed wings was to go all out. White beams of light lanced into the flock as a storm of meteors struck from above

Kaden couldn’t take time to focus on any one enemy.

Every second was a dodge and a blow powered by [Moment of Speed]. Razor wings sliced his arms, gashed his legs and stabbed at his chest, but the [Ulfen] armor blunted some of it. A cold fury built in Kaden as he smashed and slashed.

“Incoming AOE!” Sara called. Each pseudopod held a [Razor Goose], and she worked with brutal efficiency, slashing them with swords, but the sheer size of the flock threatened to overrun her. Both pseudopods spat out the geese they’d held and belted out [Anthem of the End].

Kaden bled.

Sara bled.

Everyone but Eve bled, no, she glowed, and if anything grew healthier. The geese, beset by an enemy that attacked from every angle gave the briefest pause to their onslaught. Arrows whistled past and single stones as Trella fired and Ashi unleashed spells, and Kaden summoned the [Falcrow], which detested all other forms of life, up to and including geese.

Instead of attacking, it landed in the middle of the carnage, cawing out a challenge that enraged the [Razor Geese]. Geese were also intelligent, but these were monsters spawned from a domain, which increased their aggression, even when they discovered that their attacks passed through the Falcrow.

“Keep them away! They have a timer debuff that inflicts [Frost],” Eve called. “If they get too close, we’ll all catch it.”

Trella’s Deception appeared directly in front of the group, clutching an [Agony Cloud] which it smashed at its feet. The acid cloud billowed out toward Eve, Ashi and Sara, but acid burns could be healed.

Kaden used the sheer confusion to press his attacks. Without a dozen [Razor Geese] attacking, he could focus them down, using [Moment of Speed] slip past their attacks and land crippling blows on them. And once one was crippled, he moved on.

The night filled with the crys of angry geese, dying geese, and angry, dying geese who couldn’t retreat to the Domain.

“Kill and harvest!” Trella shouted. “This gate’s going unstable, I don’t want to risk them disappearing with it.”

The [Levicon Blade] was perfect for cutting the head off a [Razor Goose], if one ignored the deadly wings, which Kaden did. His [Ulfen Boots] didn’t slip in the blood, theirs or his, and he moved through the wounded flock.

“My aim is terrible,” Trella said. “But both Deceptions can stand on wings.”

Sara used the same methods, pinning the wings with her horrors and slashing at the neck until the birds died, while Ashi worked with pinoint accuracy to strike wounded geese with stones.

“Is the healing working?” Eve called.

Kaden hadn’t noticed her healing. “If I’m not dead, it’s working.”

A handful of Domain geese had formed a tightly huddled flock, beaks and wings at the ready. Not ready for Kaden to fire an arrow through the entire group. Not ready for it to strike again as Chrono mana activated. Not ready for Trella to explode an [Agony Cloud] at their feet. “That was my last one.”

Rather than harvest there, Kaden gathered all the corpses into Inventory. Together, they trekked back toward the village, which lay quiet tonight, only the guards watching. Kaden dumped a mound of Domain Geese.

His frost points had dropped mightily during the battle, hovering at fifty.

[Reap Materials] activated at his command, and Kaden selected a goose and began harvesting. “One essence each on most of these, seventeen dead. This was a good run.”

“Not exactly,” Sara said. “The Horror was completely immune. I wasn’t as immune to [Frost] as I expected. My [Frost] points are at forty.”

Trella accepted the essence from Kaden. “If you need me, I’ll be working in my lab. Carefully working.”

“Reserve some of that essence,” Sara said. “I’m heading to find an [Alchemist.] No offense meant, Trella, but we can’t risk it.”

“I will succeed. But I’d rather not risk you and Kaden.” Trella headed for the groundhouse where her lab waited.

Why had Sara’s [Frost] increased so quickly? Had it been the [Ulfen] armor? Or Hard to Kill? Or some mix of all of them? Regardless, it meant she wouldn’t be hunting tonight unless Trella succeeded in brewing [Fire Soul] potions.

As sunrise dawned, the Resyr emerged, looked at the mound of goose meat Kaden had harvested and went to work as though it were expected, smoking the meat, which had frozen solid. Kaden and Ashi watched them work, while Eve cooked in a groundhouse with Vip clutched in her arms.

“You grow colder,” Ashi said.

“Not as much as Sara. We need to find a way to warm her. She’s passionate about business, or she used to be. And summoning, though the Horror kind of makes that less of a goal.” Kaden couldn’t exactly fight the [Frost] inside but he could survive it. His concern was for everyone else.

A shriek of agony had Kaden on his feet and sprinting toward the ice dome where they’d arrived. He dodged the Resyr who also ran, using [Moment of Speed] to boost himself faster. Sara lay beside the FarPortal, her skin covered in blue boils.

“She tried to leave with [Frost]?” Drokor asked. “The cold here keeps it dormant. Anywhere else, it errupts. Quickly, take her out into the open. We need to chill her down.”

“How does that help?” Kaden asked as he hefted Sara and took her out. The Horror’s psuedopods whipped back and forth, filled with concern. After all, without Sara they would be reduced to eating snow and frozen earth. Eve and Ashi came close behind as he headed into the open.

“[Frost] is a living entity. Exposed to the power of the Domain, it is comforted. Slowed.” Drokor heaped snow on Sara’s body. “It will destroy her rather than be far from the Domain. Her only hope is [Fire Soul].”

“Ashi?” Kaden was reluctant to ask. “Is there anything in Vichor that could simulate [Fire Soul]?”

“I cannot go to Vichor. You are afflicted with [Frost]. If I leave and find nothing, I will return to find you reduced to a shell. I could go the Trunistan, and the Alchemists there. I will go now, that I may return with aid sooner.” Ashi sprinted for the FarPortal.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“Drokor?” Eve asked. “Do any of the other tribes have [Fire Soul] potions? I could negotiate with them. I’m comfortable making bad deals and negotiating from a place of weakness.”

“Only the Fen have them. They took the [Alchemist] who summered here,” Drokor said.

There was the answer. “Where do I find these Fen?”

“The Fen live far north,” Drokor said. “It was Kai Fen who began the discord, saying that the clans had no business fighting other people’s wars. And that if we were so hungry for battle, there was no need to sail.”

Kaden knew exactly what he wanted to do. “I’ll be back, possibly with [Fire Soul] potions. Eve, can you try to reduce her [Frost] level?”

“Why don’t we wait and see how Trella does with her new materials? Don’t you have faith in her skills?” Eve asked.

The ground shook. Trella gave a short, muffled shriek.

“Best of luck,” Eve said, pulling crab-meat soup from inventory for Kaden. “I’ll see you when you get back. You sneaking into an enemy village, stealing their captives and the treasured potions they hoard is at least possible. The sooner you set off, the sooner you arrive.”

“I just keep heading north?”

Drokor shook her head. “They aren’t peaceful like us. They are constantly under attack. You think you’ll just walk in and buy what they keep from all of us?”

Kaden shook his head and began walking north.

He had no intention of buying.

Wrapped in [Stealth Aura], Kaden began to run. Long before he’d had a class, he’d run the streets of Verona tirelessly. Now, thirty levels later, his stamina was far more capable. [Ulfen] boots made Kaden swift in the snow, sure footed.

The hours passed with ease as Kaden drove himself faster. After Omnor, he no longer questioned if violence was an acceptable solution. It wasn’t his favorite solution, but anyone who said it was never the answer had never been locked in a room while the Blight threatened to take over a city and forty people of different classes and levels waited for their chance to vote against peace.

On second thought, it made sense that many people avoided violence.

Six hours later, he slowed as the first signs of life sent warnings. [Stealth Aura] remained locked on Kaden, and his mana regen made it a minor tax at worst. In the distance, smoke rose in the growing darkness.

And then, there was the ice pillars, each with a [Beserker] man or woman’s corpse hung from them. Kaden carried corpse inventories for a reason, and didn’t even need to touch the corpses if he was close enough. The next line of corpses was closer together and more numerous, and dressed differently.

After three more lines, Kaden got the point. “We’re so tough. We hang your corpse out in the cold where it doesn’t rot. Also there aren’t any scavengers, it’s like a nap where you lose a level, but we’re so dangerous!”

A band of crimson rose into the sky ahead, from a village so much more busy than the Resyr. Fires burned everywhere and Beserkers in black [Ulfen] armor stood all around, warming themselves, like a mere fire would ever bring them warmth.

Kaden made a difficult decision, and dropped [Stealth Aura] as the light shone his way. There wasn’t a reason for anyone to be looking, unless he drew attention. Dozens of warriors, all of them shouting, drinking, eating.

“Night Watch!” A razor thin Beserker in white [Ulf] fur cried. “Move out. Let the terror of the Fen keep the peace.”

A warrior stepped away from the fire, as a group of four wolves trotted out of a snow drift.

Kaden’s breath caught in his chest as the warrior bent over. What he’d taken for furry armor became fur as he shifted, until giant [Ulf] monsters stood in a circle. One howled, and the others followed as it trecked off into the snow.

The system had told him.

[Ulf-Fen]

Beserkers who could shape-change. Could they all? Could the Resyr shift as well and just failed to mention it? His attempt to bind one had offered him the opportunity to dual-class as a [Slaver]. And Drokor must have known. Now he wore someone else’s skin.

It really was supple and warm, and if he had to cut it off one of these warriors, so be it. [Multispeak] would let him speak the language, [Relive the Moment] let him study how they acted. Some of these warriors were garroulous and loud, some joked and laughed, others barked threats that [Read Emotion] said were boasts.

Others kept quiet, their eyes on the ground, arms crossed, a brooding air of ‘someone-dropped-dead-beetles-in-my-stew-without-asking-if-I-liked-dead-beetles-and-I-do-but-it’s-the-lack-of-respect,-really.’

That was something he could handle. Study the ground like it was Trella fresh from the bath. Hunch his arms like he’d upset a priest and would have to eat two [Preserved Biscuits] tomorrow instead of one. It was a different kind of stealth, the one that said ‘You see me, but you don’t want to.’

Now, he could afford to watch and study the settlement.

Groundhouses lay in ever widening rings but these people had stone buildings as well, all thronging with people. And not just [Beserkers]. Many held crafting classes, healers, and more. One hall near the center burst at the seams with people pushing and shoving just to stand near the edges.

Kaden made his way closer.

From inside, a soft voice could barely be heard, but the moment Kaden listened, he understood. This was the voice of a man who knew authority through strength. He spoke and others cooperated to listen. “And if the Tun do not cooperate, we will teach them cooperation. Accord arrises from discord. Peace arises from war. Is it difficult to raise a blade against a brother? Yes. Is it harder to watch us starve doing the bidding of others? Yes.”

[Identify] clicked on as Kaden got a glimpse of the thin man in white fur armor.

[Kai Fen - Beserker Warlord]

Kai of the Fen was little more than a band leader when the clan elders died, but a man born to raise his voice on the battlefield will raise it elsewhere. He now fights for the reunification of the clans under an accord of his own, one that will see them feared, respected, and paid well to remain in their homelands—or sweep as a scourge across so many kingdoms his name will be written across the earth and reflected in the stars.

Yeah, Kaden wanted nothing to do with the man. He left Kai to his speech and fell into line with others moving through the village. Was it really a village this large? Hard to say, but Kaden liked the numbers because it made hiding in plain sight easier.

Ahead, a brawl broke out between two groups, first fists, then knifes as the shouting over who had, in fact, killed more [Ice Trolls] grew louder and louder. Steel flashed in the torchlight, and red blood stained fresh snow as the shouts and cheers grew louder and louder until one [Beserker} pickeed up the other and threw him to the ground, where the man lay, senseless.

The victor glowed with red energy the same way Cutter Karn did when she was fully buffed, and he kneeled, shaking with Rage for several moments—then stood, wiping sweat and blood from his eyes. Once more, cheers rose up around him and people raised mugs.

Kaden’s focus was on the loser.

He’d crawled to his knees, and now left a trail of bloodstains as he crawled through the village.

No doubt, seeking healing. And where there was healing, there would be cleansing potions like [Fire Soul]. It was an easy thing to stare at the ground and move slowly, fifty paces from the wounded beserker, who crawled to a groundhouse door and pounded with all his strength.

The doors burst open, hitting the wounded man in the face and rendering him unconscious. “Oh, for Frey’s sake!” A woman in a heavy gray fur tunic stepped out and studied him. “Like I don’t have enough work already. Like there’s not enough blood spilled every day.”

Kaden shifted demeanor, standing tall, shoulders back, head up. “Do you need a hand with him?”

The healer woman glance up. “Yes, if you’ve time. Take his feet.”

Together they carried the man down into the groundhouse, which was line with rows and rows of stone beds with [Makur] fur on them. She heaved the wounded man onto one. “Not wasting a potion on a drunken brawl. I’ve got precious few of them, so it’s salve and a lesson.”

“Sensible. The [Alchemist] can brew new potions but that takes time and ingredients,” Kaden said.

“Sure he can. We’ll just turn that ash back into flesh and pack it onto his bones,” she said. “Sorry, that was harsh. We have what we have.” With brutal efficiency, she worked, applying thick green salve to the man’s slashes and stab wounds, then with a clap, the fairy lights blazed brighter so she could inspect for more wounds.

Her hair was golden where it didn’t have specks of blood, her skin pale and covered in scars, one eye slightly misshapen, and her features sharp as any Resyr.

[Basu Fen - Battle Healer]

Basu Fen was daughter to the leader of the Fen before he—and the other clan leaders—met an unfortunate end at the claws of an Ice Dragon. Now she delivers injuries and heals them as she sees fit, the senior healer for the Fen clan, and waits to see when the Discord will settle.

Basu glanced his way, her eyes narrowing. “Don’t go getting ideas. I’ve got a sister-child by Kai himself. I can hold my own against you.”

“Apologies,” Kaden said, stepping back. “I have ideas but I promise they don’t involve you.”

“What, I’m not good enough?” Basu put her hands on her hips. “You want someone dainty to break under your hips? Ha! Look at you blush!”

Kadens’ cheeks were not hot. None of him was hot, ever since [Frost]. He helped her lift the wounded Beserker and drag him to the doorway.

“Face up in the snow,” she said. “He’ll never learn if he suffocates.”

Kaden dropped the man there. “I have a request, ma’am.”

Basu wasn’t paying attention, she’d headed back into the Groundhouse, waving for him to come. On one thigh, a short mace glistened, and her hand, relaxed, rested close to it. “Shut the doors. We’ll have to do something about that [Frost].”

Kaden shut them, letting them latch. “You can tell I have [Frost]?”

“That, yes. I have a record of everyone I’ve healed. Which is why I know you aren’t Fen. You’re wearing the skin of Kai’s brother, and walked right into our settlement. You look a lot like a warrior, and it’s dark.” Basa drew her mace and leaned against a stone table. “So tell me why I shouldn’t cry for help and bring them all down on you.”