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Throne of the Winter King
Frostwalker Chapter 12; Newbie in the Guild

Frostwalker Chapter 12; Newbie in the Guild

Will went out of the room to find Koma luxuriating in the affection of multiple people he didn’t know. The only one he did recognise was the cloaked woman. He still didn’t get how they had gotten here so quickly, but it didn’t seem like they had spilled the beans about him being a god. Will left Koma in his bliss to look at the bounty board. There were all kinds of jobs, but none were the go find my cat kind that new adventurers were always supposed to get stuck with. There was one lost item retrieval mission, but the item was supposedly in the middle of a dangerous forest.

Will turned as the receptionist from earlier approached him and handed him a badge not unlike a police badge from earth. It had a crest of a sword and an axe overlaid on a field of red and yellow. A clear gem was mounted beneath the crest which went a swirling combination of red and blue when he picked up the badge. Will gritted his teeth. He didn’t want to wear something that would tell people his concept types just for looking.

“Do I have to wear this where people can see?” Will asked.

“No, of course not. Just keep it on you as it will gather the energies that your prey gives off and allow you to use it for cultivation.” Will put the badge in his belt pouch and retreated from the desk with a farewell. He immediately went to a large board covered in papers which he assumed was the jobs board. Each paper had a title requesting some monster be killed or task be done as he expected. However, each had a dense paragraph of information that he couldn’t make heads or tails of. He thought it was giving directions and dangers that were expected, but he couldn’t tell for sure. The dense script made his eyes cross, only compounded by the fact that he was pretty sure he couldn’t read this script until just about a week ago, and it was giving him a headache.

Sighing, Will went where he had been trying to avoid. Emerys’ face lit up as Will trudged toward him.

“Will! My friend! Come have a seat!” His voice was louder than all the conversation in the room, and it made Will cringe. Will reluctantly pulled out a stool across from Emerys and the other god and sat down. Will tried to order a beer from a passing waitress, to be informed that they were out, but that they had a nice mead he could try. Will accepted, knowing that he would need it to get through this conversation. On second thought maybe he needed something stronger. Emerys had that wicked look he had gotten when he announced Will was a god in front of the townsfolk.

“So, how was last night?” Emerys asked. Will glared at him, and asked his own question.

“What the fuck was that?” Will demanded.

“What was what?” Emerys said, his grin only growing wider. “Things not go so well with Sophia?”

“Who?” It took Will a moment to realize that Sophia must have been the woman from last night. “No, she was, that is not the point! What was with all those women?” Emerys just shrugged.

“Women like gods. It’s natural.”

“I saw several of those women with their families before that, whatever that was.” Will pointed out.

“Sure! They’re always a good pick. If they have a child then there will be someone to raise them.” Emerys snickered at Will’s look of utter shock. But then a bit of the humor fell off his face. “You really haven’t seen that before?”

“No. We don’t have gods where I come from. A woman trying to seduce a random man in front of her husband was generally frowned upon.”

“Umm, I mean yeah, if he were a normal person it would be frowned upon. But we are gods. If one of those women has one of our kids, then it would be a huge boon to the village.” Emerys took a long draw from his tankard, and Will’s tankard was delivered. “Since the kid will grow up with some of their father’s strength, it is an opportunity for the village to raise a potential god of their own. That is the way it was with me and Amalise here. A god came through, stayed a few weeks in our village, and about nine months later we were born. Both of us then went and passed the trial.”

“So you're twins?” Will asked.

“No, half siblings. From the sound of it, our father bedded every woman in the village. I get it, but I wouldn’t stay in a village long enough to accomplish the task.” Emerys’ look turned wicked again. “Though I have been trying my luck with Sophia for some time now only for her to cart you away at first sight.” His look turned aggrieved and he took a long drink from his tankard. Will was left massaging his temples as he tried to parse the explanation.

“So how did you get here ahead of me anyway?” Will asked, trying to change the subject.

“Horses. You should get one.” Then Emerys gave Koma a look. “On second thought, you will be hard pressed to find a horse that won’t run in fear when they see Koma. He will be large enough to ride soon anyway, so that should be your plan.”

“Sure, not that I know what we are going to do anyway. My plan had been to fight some monsters and gain a few levels, but I can’t make heads or tails of the jobs board.” Emerys’ eyes lit up as Will knew they would.

“We can help with that!” Emerys shouted. “Don’t you worry my friend, We will show you the ropes, won’t we Amalise?!” Amalise simply nodded in response, continuing to scratch Koma behind the ears. Koma’s back foot pounded the ground in response as he leaned into it. Traitor. Will simply sighed.

“Thanks, I would be very grateful for your help.”

“So, what can you do?”

“What do you mean?” Will asked.

“I mean, how do you fight, what concepts do you have, that sort of stuff. If we are going to be in a party we need to know.” Will narrowed his eyes.

“You first.”

“You know you are a bit overly suspicious of people trying to help.” Amalise said. Both Will and Emerys looked at her in surprise.

“She’s right, but it doesn’t matter. My concept is called Canyon Rockslide. It allows me to call upon the weight and hardness of stone, and is more offensive than most stone type concepts. As it sounds, it is a body concept. So I don’t have mana to actually throw around rockslides, but I am a terror with a mace.” Emerys turned to Amalise.

“I have two concepts. My first is called Hearthfire. It is also a body concept. Alone it boosts my dexterity and stamina regeneration. My other concept is called Twilight of the Crystalline Sky. It is an ice type concept with a clarity subtype. It is a mind concept so I have access to mana, and can use both ice and fire attacks at range. It also gives me some ability with low level divinations. Aside from that, I studied at Aetherglow, so I have the usual compendium of spells.” They both looked at Will expectantly.

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“So, what is the difference between mind and body concepts?” Will did not expect Emerys to pound his head against the table.

“Let's head out. I can explain on the way.” Amalise said, and they all stood up. Emerys stalked over to the board and tore off one of the notices.

“We’re taking this one!” He yelled to one of the receptionists. “It's the one for the shrikes.” and he walked out of the guild hall. Will and Amalise followed after. They saw Emerys heading for the stable to get the horses and Amalise cleared her throat to get his attention. She gestured at Koma and Emerys’ shoulders slumped.

“I am sure Koma and the horses will get along fine.” His voice had no real heat to it, and they turned toward the town gate without an argument.

They passed out of town and followed the path for a while, before breaking off and cutting through a field that seemed to have been recently planted. It wasn’t long before Amalise spoke up.

“There are three categories of concepts. Body, Mind and Soul. Body concepts give you access to stamina, as well as certain enhancements related to the concept. For example, while Emerys is big, he is far heavier than he looks because of his concept. Moreover whenever he uses any sort of downward strike, the power is multiplied. But stamina is internal. You cannot use it to manifest anything outside your body, even if it is within your aura.

“Mind Concepts give access to Mana, which is what you use to affect the world around you. As you might imagine, mind concepts also give mental enhancements. For example ice type concepts tend to clear the mind, while fire types tend to clutter it up.

“Soul Concepts are weird. They give access to soul energy, which isn’t health, but something related. I know they give enhancements like the other types, but I have no clue what those mean. Moreover, soul concepts can affect your whole worldview. Fortunately there are few outside the clergy that can manage to get a soul concept. Especially since it allows you to directly affect another person’s spirit and soul. Soul energy is powerful though, which makes soul concepts highly prized.” She paused there to wait for Will to digest what she said. Will eyed the health and mana bars in his vision. He had wondered why he couldn’t see a stamina bar.

“So then do you see the constellation with your concepts in it?”

“Constellation? Ahh. you must be talking about the spirit map. Which means you have a mental concept. In short, yes I do. But I can also perceive where my concepts enter my body, as I have a body concept. For me and Emerys, it feels like hundreds of tiny points of heat throughout our bodies, and we can feel the differences between them. But I can also see the spirit map like you can. From what I understand, those with soul concepts have yet another way of interacting with their concepts, but I don’t know how.” Amalise looked at Will. “Are you ready to share your capabilities now?”

Will sighed but nodded. They had told him quite readily, and he supposed he should return the favor.

“I have two concepts. My first is called Desolate Heart of the Frozen North. I got it shortly after coming to frostfell.” Emerys whistled when he heard that.

“Desolation subtype? I haven’t heard of that one before. Sounds powerful.”

“It is,” Amalise said. “One of the best for cold type concepts. It should provide most of the benefits of my clarity subtype and more. You will be a real hit at Aetherglow with that concept.” Will had been going to school before being snatched into this world, and wasn’t really excited about going back.

“Why should I go to Aetherglow?” He asked. Amalise stared at him for a moment.

“Because Aetherglow is where you learn magic. You have two mental concepts, it makes perfect sense for you to become a mage. It would be a waste for you to just become a fighter.”

“Why can’t you teach me, or some other magic user?” When Amalise spoke next her voice was a bit heated.

“I won’t break the covenant. Practicing magic without the safeguards at Aetherglow is extremely dangerous. Mages take a covenant not to teach outside Aetherglow for that reason.”

“Sure it seems a bit dangerous, but I found some magic skills on my own, so it can’t be that hard.”

“Skills aren’t magic skills just because they do something cool. Unless you have Mana Manipulation and Manasight, they're not magic skills.”

“I have both of those, But I am pretty sure Spirit Inscription is also a magic skill.” Will said.

“Well, If you have both manasight and Mana Manipulation then you are ahead of the pack. Most of the first year for non-god mages is gaining those skills with the help of dedicated soul engravers. But I have never heard of Spirit Inscription, what is it?”

“Well, if you know the inscription skill, just apply that to your spirit map. If you do it right you can enhance your strength and speed, and likely other things I haven’t tried yet.” Amalise just shook her head.

“Hedge wizardry. It’s not real magic, just an odd technique you accidentally stumbled upon. And very dangerous. You should stop doing it and go learn real magic from Aetherglow.”

“Let it go Amalise, hedge wizards can be powerful too.” Emerys said exasperated.

“Sure, and nine out of every ten blow themselves up for no good reason. Aetherglow doesn’t turn anyone away who has a mental concept. Even if you can’t pay the tuition, it is only a few years of service to pay it back.” Amalise turned back to Will. “Please go to Aetherglow, this skill you have discovered is not worth your life.”

“I will consider it,” Will said, but he had no intention of doing so. Whatever this spirit inscription was, it was powerful, and he really had no desire to go back to school.

“You said you have two concepts.” Emerys said. “What is the other one?”

“It is called Inferno of the Tumultuous Mind.” Amalise stopped dead in her tracks.

“Heat and Turmoil? How did you get an exact opposite of your first concept? That shouldn’t be possible.”

“Beast core. From the bear I killed.” Emerys whistled.

“What is your luck stat at? I have never seen someone both that lucky and unlucky at the same time.”

“Five, is that low?” Will asked, and Emerys’ face was all he needed to see to know that it was indeed very low.

“Ten is average for all stats.” Amalise said. If your strength were that low, you would be walking hunched. If your dexterity were that low you would find it hard to walk straight sober. If your intelligence were that low you wouldn’t be able to speak. Five is very low.”

“You can train your luck through gambling, but only up to level 15.” Emerys said. “But you would actually have to win to get it to raise, and I don’t think you could. The thing about luck is that it doesn’t increase as a person grows up like the other stats. A baby is usually born with an average of ten and it stays that way throughout their whole life. We would have to find a real unlucky bastard to gamble with you to give you a chance. And he would likely have a luck of seven.”

“I don’t know, I don’t feel that unlucky.” Will said. “I thought that there would be more inopportune things happening at inopportune times.”

“Yeah, no. That's a common misconception. Luck is far more subtle. A lot of people I know think they are unlucky, but they just have low dexterity or wisdom. Those are what makes up for most seemingly unlucky things.” Emerys took a deep breath before continuing. “Luck is more about opportunities. Both yours and other peoples. At five luck, I expect that you have a lot of stories about good things happening to other people, but then turning bad for you.”

“Yeah,” Will said with a snort. “My dad got rich and it ruined my life.”