Chris

Frostheim

~~ Name: Christopher Zalenski Race: (D) Human* Class: (D) Warden of the North(Legendary) – Level 108 Profession: (D) Adept Runesmith(Epic) – Level 102 Affinity: Arctic Faction: Frostheim (Leader) Title: Viscount

Strength - 2630 Agility - 1119 Perception - 674 Fortitude - 2160 Endurance - 1341 Vitality - 945 Intelligence - 607 Wisdom - 969 Acumen - 566

Free Points: 156

Laws: Lesser Law of Ice(Tier 2), Lesser Law of Wind(Tier 2)

Body Stage: Body of Stone(Northern Wind Body) Mana Heart: Perfect Ignition (Stars of Primordial Frost)

Spirit Stage: Anchor Formation ~~

It felt good to see the growth over the last year. It was... refreshing to get back into the swing of things after being capped for so long. Leveling once more and gaining strength.

I wasn't even close to seeing my Second Class skill at level 120, but that didn't mean the stat growth was nothing to sneeze at. Over 400 points of Strength and Fortitude, 200 points in Endurance, and a decent smattering in the rest.

The increase in power from the stats wasn't the only thing they provided, either. I had to start considering when I would go for my Body Refining and Mana improvements.

I was getting close to the 3000 stat point recommendation for a Body of Copper, and I wasn't far off from the 1000 point recommendation of forging my first Star of my Mana Heart.

If I used my Free Points and put them into Wisdom, I would be at the level to forge my First Star, but I held off on doing so. For one, I wasn't yet prepared to go through with it, and second, I wasn't sure if that was the best use of the points.

Wisdom helped a lot with my fighting, but the ratio between my strength and Agility was getting farther from where I liked to keep it. It made my movements more clunky and less fluid, not that they could be considered fluid to begin with, but they were even less so the further the two stats diverged.

But then again, I didn't want to use the points on Agility either. I had tailored my Profession in order to compensate for my strength-heavy Class. If they were leveling equally and keeping pace with one another, the ratio between the two would be perfect.

But they weren't leveling equally.

I had been smithing for so long and barred from leveling my Class, I went a bit... stir crazy once I was able to do so again. Running both of our Dungeons twice a day while also venturing out to the few in the area when spots weren't open in our own had a way of raking in the essence.

My leveling speed, even with my two passives bringing it down, and having a Legendary Class, was even faster than what Austin had experienced after evolving. After a year of being D-rank, he had only made it to level 106.

That speed was about to increase, too.

After a year of training, getting used to my new Rank, and settling anything that cropped up from Emberhold or Frostheim, it was time to venture forth once more.

I didn't have to worry as much about being attacked, as most Faction Leaders were at the Assembly in the South. Not that my absence would leave us defenseless, but it was a factor I had to consider.

Plus, my future trip North coincided perfectly with a waiting period anyway.

We needed money.

Our best tradable goods were the mana crystals we pulled out of the mine, and now that we weren't splitting them with Ashton, our intake had only increased, but so had the number of Dungeons we had to feed.

Frostheim had two, Frostfall had one, Snowbrook had one, and Emberhold had one.

From two to five, and the percentage we got back from cutting Ashton out wasn't enough to cover it all.

Obviously, we didn't send the full amount their dungeons could handle to Frostfall and Snowbrook, but we did for Emberhold. Growing our Dungeons was a major form of wealth for the future.

The deeper they were, the rarer the resources we could pull out of them, while also growing our citizens and Order Members.

It was a win-win, but it made our budget for mana crystals dwindle dramatically.

Miles and Gabriel weren't pleased with their crystal supply for research and development being cut, but they understood the necessity for it.

During our meetings, the idea was brought up to widen the mine so that we could draw more out of it, but it was surprisingly Rachel who had said not to. She, being in Emberhold, was closer to the mine than Frostheim was, and she had visited it more times than I had.

Something about the concentration of mana was good practice for training her mana manipulation against. She likened it to weight training.

Still, during her time there and her explorations of the mine, she was able to notice some things that we had missed. Some very important things. The biggest one was that the crystals were growing. They weren't formed during the terraforming like we had assumed.

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I imagined it like an iron mine or something similar. There was a vein of resource that we mined away at until it was gone. It would take years, but we would eventually deplete it, eventually leaving the mine empty, the resource run dry.

Rachel claimed that wasn't the case. She claimed that the concentration of mana and the sheer amount of it were forcing the crystals to condense, thereby making it a renewable resource rather than a depletable one.

Somehow, from the way mana was created by the planet, that area was a confluence of enough output that it naturally formed into crystals.

If we mined them all and drained the area dry, no more would form. Or so she claimed.

Abigail, being the woman she was, instantly went off to Vulwin to get confirmation, and get it she did. Rachel was right. Unless something changed in the flows of mana or we did something to change it, that area would continue to yield crystals. And if the mana was left to concentrate, the crystals would become even more mana dense. Such a thing would take a long time, but time was what we now had. Centuries of it, in fact.

Which meant two things. We had to keep quiet about learning such a fact, and we had to discreetly come up with a reason not to grow our mining operation. Both of which Abigail was in charge of handling. It would eventually get out, as all secrets did, but we would take this time to further grow our ability to protect it.

But getting back to the money issue, there were certain things that I needed to gather for my improvements. Resources I needed to buy in order to gain the full worth.

The Body Refining Technique I purchased from the store, Might of the Arctic Body Refining Technique(Copper), was filled with helpful bits and additional resources that would make the process smoother, quicker, and improve the outcome.

Most of the resources described weren't something we had on hand. Some were even things I hadn't even heard of. Luckily, the Glacial Seed had been and was growing smoothly, which could be substituted for most of the more expensive items.

The mana the treasure gave off was perfect for what I required; the only thing it was missing was the more Wind-flavored resources, as it wasn't technically an Arctic treasure, but a Glacial one.

To gain the Wind affinity resources I needed, I either had to go out and find them, which was based on chance, or I could buy them, which was guaranteed. The only problem was that we didn't have the funds.

Frostheim, at its peak, only generated a few gold coins a month in tax. Most of which went back into the city to facilitate growth or to pay for maintenance. Some was diverted to the Orders to fund their operations and pay everyone, and more still was reinvested in one thing or another.

Which didn't leave all that much for personal use.

With the treasures Vulwin quoted being near the hundred gold range, it was going to be a while before we could afford them. My delving spree helped soften the blow, but we still needed more time to accrue the funds.

That was where my trip came into play. It would kill many birds with one stone. It would give me a chance to find some of the things I needed, maybe saving me from having to buy them. I could search for Frost Essence, Ice Essence, or another such area to use for my Mana Technique, and I would be in the Arctic Circle, which was the perfect area to focus on my Law.

There was also an additional fourth benefit, but that was more personal than anything.

I wanted to fight a bear. I had run from one the last time I ventured North, and now I wanted to try my hand at fighting one. It would have to be one of the weaker ones, I knew, but I still wanted to do it.

And maybe, just maybe, the one I fought would have claimed a treasure or resource I needed, making it well worth the battle.

It had been a while since I had experienced a good fight anyway. The last was the upgrade to Viscount, but that wasn't the kind of fight I wanted now. That was a dogpile of over two dozen people pummeling a Boss.

This would be single combat, me versus the bear.

It was hard not to feel the excitement at such a prospect. My blood pumped ever faster just at the thought.

Also, there was the chance that I could evolve my bloodline, too. Previously, I had maxed out what my body could handle and could only hold off on pushing my Bloodline further, but that wasn't the case anymore. I was growing again, and I could strengthen and purify it once more.

For the last year, I had funneled mana into it and chipped away at the impurities inside the blood and strengthened what was there, and I had hit a limit.

A limit I had hoped was coming, and could only smile wildly inside now that it was here. I could purify and strengthen it no more.

Now was the chance to evolve it, stepping up a Tier into a Jotun Bloodline. The North would be the perfect place to kickstart such an evolution.

All around, venturing North into the Frozen Wastes, as some of the more dramatic of our city called it, was probably the single best thing I could do right now, and I could barely wait to get moving. The only thing keeping me was the last preparations I had to make.

The spatially expanded bags that Heath, an enchanter in the city, could make were filled with provisions and supplies. Connor had helped brew up the best healing and mana potions he had.

He also created a Stamina potion that would fill you with energy for a time before leaving you worse off after it faded. It sounded like a caffeine injection, but more magical. Just in case I went many days without the opportunity to rest, or needed stamina for some other reason.

I pounded out some tools to bring with me: a skinning knife, an extra set of armor, an icepick, hooks, and the like. I wasn't sure where my journey would take me, and I wanted to be prepared.

A normal-sized bag obviously couldn't hold all of what I sought to bring, so I had to order one custom-made, which took time. In the end, the thing looked like a giant rucksack, but it was perfect for what I needed it for.

I had ordered the leather from Vulwin myself, to make sure the straps were strong enough to hold the weight I was going to be filling it with. My strength could handle a lot, and creating a bag that could match my carry weight proved challenging.

At first, I had asked Heath to forgo the Weight Reduction enchantment, as I had more than enough strength to compensate, but we ended up adding it back on. It wasn't my strength that was the issue, but the strength of the materials involved.

Other than the bag and supplies, I had to remake my armor. With so many stats increasing, and the size of improvement not being small, an entirely new set was needed.

I had prepared ahead of time, though, and had purchased the metal years ago when I had decided to delay evolving. Ever since, it had been sitting in the forge, soaking up the mana I was giving it. [Mana Infusion] worked overtime over the years to make it the best I could.

I had spent so long nourishing it, I actually felt nervous working it out of fear of messing it up.

Luckily, I hadn't, and it turned out to be the best set of armor I had ever made.

An Epic set, and not Epic for E-rank, Epic for D-rank. It caused [Create Armor] to be the first skill I had upgraded back to its old rarity. My years spent forging had paid off.

A small part of me questioned how long this set would last, but I didn't want to think about it. I was still too attached to my creation that thinking about it getting destroyed brought a tear to my eye.

If any other blacksmith were in charge of forging my armor, they would have thrown me out by now. The number of sets I had destroyed was getting annoying, even for me, and I was the one making them.

While the wait was painful, it was worth it. It ensured that my trip had the highest chance of being successful, and that was the main thing. Preparation is half the battle, or something like that. Dad would know, and he would even know who said it, but I didn't.

The time was drawing near, and I couldn't help the childish giddiness I felt as it did.

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