Chris

Further updates continued to come in on what Rachel was doing in the South, but I mainly tuned those out. It wasn't that I didn't care about them; I most certainly did, but it was that I could focus on those things later.

Even though the implications of what was going on down there were high, along with what they would lead to in the future, all of that wasn't my immediate concern. If I were honest, it felt good to be able to push things off. Being able to delay or defer wasn't something I was able to do often, and even if it was a little petty inside, it made me happy knowing I could.

The Dungeon I had set my sights on was sort of a bust. I had found it, situated along the cliff overlooking the coast, but it wasn't all that special. The monsters inside of it were certainly unique, but they were just that. Monsters inside of the dungeon. I had seen so many of them that it was starting to get a little old.

My excitement from running into them in the wild was mainly due to the unexpected and surprising nature of the encounter. After finding their origin and delving through the dungeon completely, my interest waned.

Not that I didn't get anything out of the run.

I hadn't gained another level, as I was already leveling quickly, but what I gained came from a dungeon reward.

The dungeon had 13 floors, just one below the ones Frostheim had, which meant the Bosses were technically weaker than what I was used to, but the rewards were not. I'd run Frostheim's dungeons enough times to gain a familiarity with what they would give. This one, not so much. At the end of my troubles, on the final floor, a skill shard dropped. I had seen it a few times before, but only rarely, and the skills they contained were common ones.

But this one was different. Every other skill shard I had gotten was dropped before the 10th floor, making it an E-ranked reward. This one came after and was a D-rank reward. A skill considered D-rank, even if it was Common, was a grade above all the previous drops.

The skill shard sparkled in my eyes, dazzling me with its beauty. Well, not really, in reality, it was quite a dull greyish white, but my mind exaggerated it to match my excitement for seeing it.

The name was easy to get through [Aura Detection], but the description was not. I didn't have [Appraisal], and [Aura Detection] was not meant for such tasks, but the name was enough to grasp the picture.

[Charge].

It didn't take a genius to guess what it did. It didn't sound like the most valuable skill, nor the most powerful, but it was still a skill. One I could grow. It shouldn't be forgotten that not that long ago, [Power Strike] didn't sound all that powerful. Now it was [Meteor Blow].

I had obtained similar skills before, when Vulwin first settled into Frostheim. When the merchant first arrived and we gathered the coin, I bought five skills for myself that I didn't have to use my Class slots for.

[Dash], [Wind Manipulation], [Hammer Mastery], [Taunt], and [Wind Blade].

Besides [Wind Manipulation], I hadn't used them often, as they were Common skills and not all that powerful, but now I had the time to grow them.

Adding [Charge] into that mix was perfect. Combined with [Dash], I could greatly diversify what I could do in combat. It would make it so that relying on physical strength wasn't the only thing I could do.

Not that I had any problems from doing so, as I was considerably strong, but this made it so I was more of a targeted force, rather than a bull charging straight on. I immediately absorbed the skill and started playing around with it. It was similar to [Dash], in a way, but different enough to change up its use. [Dash] was a short speed boost while going in a specific direction, while [Charge] was an entire momentum boost while moving forward.

[Dash] was more versatile and could be used in any direction, including backward, but it only boosted speed. [Charge] could only be used in one direction, but enhanced speed and force.

It wasn't life-changing, but it was a nice pickup. Unexpected, too, as skill shards didn't drop all that often. It was surprising that one run of this dungeon had dropped one, but I figured it was mainly luck. It being full to bursting with mana may have helped, but I wasn't all that knowledgeable in those matters. Instead of dwelling on it, I took it with a smile and moved on from the dungeon.

While tracking it down and running it had distracted me, running it repeatedly wasn't my goal.

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Moving on from the dungeon had me following the coast, looking for a way to cross, and it wasn't long before I found one. Glaciers dotted the Ocean in clusters, but none were large enough to be a land bridge of sorts. It took a few days, but I eventually found a way further north. During this time, the mana continually grew denser and more concentrated. The purity of the Cold aspects rose, and all others started to fall away. The only other elements represented in any great value were Wind and Light.

Everything else, even Water, was getting choked out. Even the land underneath my feet didn't feel like Earth mana anymore, as it was so tainted with Ice mana it felt like a combination, rather than a distinct mana type.

The beasts I ran into during this time also grew more powerful.

While walking along, the sun overhead gradually dimmed and became concealed behind clouds. The air carried the promise of snow, and I could feel what was coming through my connection with it.

There was a Snowstorm coming, and not just any snowstorm, one backed by a Law.

I could feel it softly resonating with my own Law, both of them, Wind and Ice, which made detecting it quite easy. Law storms were rare and only happened under set conditions that were hard to manufacture. Of the few that I had seen, nearly all of them had been massive Blizzards during my first trip north.

There had been tales in the areas known as Tornado Valley of massive tornadoes carrying Wind Laws causing wide swaths of destruction, but those were few and far between. The very nature of tornadoes made their appearance swift and short. Usually, before magic was a thing, they wouldn't have been able to sustain themselves for long. Magic lengthened that time, somewhat, but they were still relatively brief.

They were fueled by more than just pressure differences in the air and could feed on the Wind mana of the area, but even with that increased fuel, they consumed that fuel at a greater pace, causing them to become more destructive.

If humans were still without the system, it would be disastrous, as there would be no way to defend against it, but that wasn't the case. While they were increasingly deadly, with every level, humans were increasingly hearty.

There hadn't been much news from the Gulf Coast that reached Frostheim, but I suspected that Hurricanes followed the same pattern. Earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, too. Thunderstorms as well, but storms backed by a Law were exceedingly rare. While I'd heard of other Law storms, I'd only personally witnessed one type.

The Snowstorm brewing above me was putting me slightly on edge, which meant that it wouldn't be just a regular Law storm. It would be something that posed a threat to me. I was equal parts shocked and excited. Shocked, because I had seen Law Snowstorms before, and they had never carried this faint threat in them. Especially now that I was considerably stronger than the last time I had seen one, yet I still felt the sense of danger.

Excited, because this was bound to be something interesting. While Austin had the heart of an adventurer more than I did, that didn't mean I was immune to the charm of seeing new things. Trusting my senses, I didn't go into this without any preparation. I smashed the ground apart with my hammer and dug deep into the earth in order to store my things safely.

Not only was my pack filled with provisions and resources I would continue to need, but it also held the accumulated resources I had already gathered. Beast parts from the ones I'd killed so far, their cores especially, plants with strong mana I'd encountered, and other things I'd picked up along the way. Connor would lose his mind if he saw how I was treating some of the plants, but I did the best I could.

I didn't want to see my stuff destroyed.

While my pack was rugged and built to withstand some damage, I'd also seen what happened when a Spatial enchantment failed. It wasn't pretty, and I didn't want to chance it. My many failures while trying to create one gave me a deep understanding of what would happen.

After burying my pack, I also changed out of my armor and clothes.

You would think that with the sense of threat I was feeling that keeping my armor on was the obvious choice, but I took it off for a few reasons. One, I didn't want to break it. I had worked hard creating it, and it was a piece I took pride in. I wasn't sure what this Storm would do, and I didn't want to risk it.

Another was that I wanted a deeper immersion.

My Law was finally unshackled. Before, when trying to advance it, it felt like I was trying to move a mountain just for the smallest gains. I just didn't have the mental power to peer deeper and understand more, and trying felt futile. Now, after undergoing the D-rank evolution, that mountain didn't feel so heavy anymore. I could peer deeper and understand more without that weight pressing down on me.

With the opportunity appearing before me, I didn't want to waste it.

That being said, I wasn't careless. I had [Jotun's Resistance] at the ready. While it wasn't at the Legendary grade anymore, its defensive powers hadn't diminished in the slightest.

It gave me insane amounts of resistance for what I was about to face. While it boosted my overall defense, it was even better with cold and piercing defense, which was perfect to face off against the Storm.

I was also prepared to bury myself in layers of ice should I need it. [Icy Bastion] was perfect for separating me from whatever it was I was about to face, not to mention the amount of snow I could gather in my surroundings with [Ice Manipulation].

With both my defensive skill at the ready and a suitable escape method to bury myself deep, I felt confident in facing whatever it was.

Naked except for a pair of shorts I didn't care to lose, I sat atop the snow and watched the storm build. My blood held a faint excitement as I observed. The clouds deepened, and the resonance of both my Laws grew. If it first started as a slight vibration, it was building into a grand crescendo.

Seeing it form, I watched with rapt attention and turned all of my senses to feel what was happening. Even my Aura swept out and tried to add whatever it could gather.

Snow began to fall, and it fluttered down from above, and I knew it was only the beginning. The precursor. The warning.

Even though the storm behind it was still far away, building up, I could feel something inside me shifting already.

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