Since integrating both his Fragment Of Destruction and Fragment Of Heart into his Ice Mana Core, Jon found himself gradually adapting to the increased physical capabilities that his [Lamentations Of A Frozen Affection] brought him.

It took Jon the better part of three weeks to adjust to this shift in his physical strength, agility, dexterity, and endurance.

Occasionally Jon would activate [Cometh Thy Red Horse Awaits], only to crash into a nearby tree, unable to control his bursts of strength and greater physicality.

His newfound strength would result in too much force being producing in a single strike, throwing him off-kilter. His enhanced agility allowed Jon to move at speeds greater than what any mortal human was capable of, but without the control or understandings of where his limitations might lie.

Running became difficult, his feet sometimes carving deep trenches into the earth, causing him to lose his balance and tumble into a bush or a patch of shrubbery.

While Jon was still unsure of what it meant for his heart to "become a pseudo-spiritual organ", he could almost immediately feel the difference in the amount of spiritual energy his Ice Mana Core possessed over his Knowledge Mana Core or Wood Mana Core.

While he hoped this increase was spread out across the board, the effects of his Seir-Glacial Heart were limited to only his Ice Mana Core. While Jon would have preferred this option, he was increasingly finding that reality was often a cruel and terrible mistress.

'Perhaps it would have been better to integrate a Karma Mana Core, or even a Luck Mana Core,' Jon joked to himself, shaking his head while releasing a silent chuckle.

If he was to liken either the amount of spiritual energy his Knowledge Mana Core or Wood Mana Core could store to a single pail of water, then the amount of water that his Ice Mana Core could store would be at least two or three times that amount.

Jon could not be as precise as he would have liked, but he was leaning towards three times the amount.

It made Jon somewhat regretful that he did not obtain a similar ability for his Knowledge Mana Core.

'If I can obtain another Fragment Of Heart, I'll attempt to integrate it into my Wood Mana Core. Although, I don't know how it would work considering I already possess a Seir-Glacial Heart. Would the two abilities cancel each other out, or would the new ability overwrite the previous one?' More questions that Jon didn't have the answer for.

Although considering that he had obtained a Fragment of Heart from a beast and not a task reward, Jon kept his hopes up, not losing sight of one of his short-term goals.

One of which, was to learn the "Nain" language as Avahni put it. Both Wilheim and himself spent at least an hour each day practicing the various pieces of vocabulary that Avahni had given them, trying to form basic sentences while Avahni wrote out her language on the wet sands around their camp.

Nain was a language built off an alphabet consisting of seventy-seven characters. Similar to English, each word consisted of a combination of these seventy-seven letters, while certain words or phrases possessed different spellings or grammatical structures depending on the relationship between two speakers.

In English, there were multiple methods of saying, "Hello, how are you?"

Examples included, "Hi, how are you doing?" or "Good morning, what has been going on with you lately?".

All three presupposed the same thing but were simply worded differently.

In Nain, lutin were taught to use certain phrases or sentences depending on the social status and relationship between two people. Avahni divided these up into "familial", "casual", "respectful" and "honoured", at least, that was how Jon interpreted each of these categories.

There was also another category which Jon described as "derogatory", but Avahni neglected to teach either of them words regarding this topic. He remembered watching her face turn red as Wilheim mispronounced a certain word, unconsciously slapping him in the face before swiftly apologizing, offering to heal him using one of Roland's limbs.

That had been quite entertaining, at least from his perspective.

Avahni and Wilheim has also integrated a couple of new fragments each, causing Jon to raise an eyebrow whenever he observed each of their status pages. He had seen some of these abilities in action as well, causing him to unconsciously nod as they turned towards him, as if asking him to evaluate their abilities or movements.

For whatever reason, it seems that Jon had become somewhat of an arms master in their little group. There was not a shadow in either Avahni or Wilheim's mind that Jon was the strongest member of their trio. The human had almost defeated the hound-faced bear all on his own, and that was without having all his wood natured spiritual energy to rely on.

If Jon could fight an opponent while simultaneously using [Green Is The Flesh, As Red Is The Blood] to heal any injuries he sustained, he had confidence in his stamina and endurance would outlast any opponent.

While Jon suspected that Wilheim obtained these through a system task reward, he had seen that the floresiensis had integrated a Fragment Of Wall into his Castle Mana Core, and a Fragment Of Pillars into his Mountain Mana Core.

Avahni on the other hand, had managed to obtain a Fragment Of Vine which she swiftly integrated into her Wood Mana Core, and a Fragment Of Fish into her Fire Mana Core.

Why she had decided to integrate the Fragment Of Fish into her Fire Mana Core over her Water Mana Core, was something that Jon thought about regularly.

Despite the fact that both abilities possessed the Summoning Trait, Avahni still seemed quite pleased with the abilities she had obtained. Jon possessed a single summoning ability himself, one which he had yet to use considering he lacked the proper materials to perform the summoning ritual.

Avahni had managed to summon Roland, or Ru Luan Di, and that strange, shrivelled fruit which after using [Eyes Through The Looking Glass] now knew was Xochitl. Having a name like Voracious Wood-Swallowing Mangrove was somewhat intimidating, until Jon realized that the summoned creature required some sort of catalyst to grow, one that Avahni did not have on hand.

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That was why she did not require a ritual material during her summoning of Xochitl. There were unstated requirements not mentioned within the effect description, ones that Avahni became aware of after summoning the mangrove seed to her current dimension.

Jon himself did not integrate any new fragments into his Wood Mana Core or Ice Mana Core, instead focusing on the current abilities he had in his possession and adapting to the increase of his physical abilities.

Smiling, Jon watched as Wilheim practiced his [Mountain Art; Weight Of The Frozen Peaks], manifesting the illusory image of a white-peaked mountain above the river beside their campsite. This imaginary representation of a frozen mountain struck the flowing river, causing fist-sized chunks of ice to appear around the point of casting, an intangible, invisible force crushing anything within with the weight of a mountaintop.

When Wilheim had attempted to use it on an empty space just up the river, he had caused an enormous squarish trench to appear beneath the location of his casting. The trench was roughly one foot deep, giving Jon a rough estimate on the amount of force this single spell produced.

Seeing the smile that threatened to exceed the limits of Wilheim's face, Jon almost felt sorry for the beasts and creatures that the floresiensis would hunt over the coming days.

Break

Despite his initial reservations regarding other people around his campsite, Jon felt that the atmosphere around the riverbank quite fun and often entertaining at times. It had been almost a month since Jon fought the hound-faced bear just a couple hundred metres upstream, and he could feel himself gradually settling into a comfortable rhythm.

Jon had spent most of his time adapting to his newfound physical enhancements, obtaining several other fragments in the process, but nothing that seemed even remotely interesting.

Fragments Of Bone found within a green squirrel looking creature.

Fragments Of Strength found within a large turtle with a surprisingly thin shell.

Fragments Of Joy found within a particularly tasty turkey, one that coincidentally, brought Jon quite a bit of joy

Having three people around the camp made it easier for Jon to obtain food, both Avahni and Wilheim possessing the capabilities to take down weaker mutated beasts on their own.

Two people would remain behind back at camp, one to protect Jon's belongings and the other to forage for firewood or dried grass. The remaining person would then go out and explore the forest and thicket around them, searching for any traces of other people or for the existence of a System generated Safe Zone.

While neither of the three knew exactly what to look for, any signs of other people, especially groups of other people, would generally indicate that there was some sort of civilization nearby.

Traces of a campsite. Tracks through patches of grass or mud. Even snapped twigs or branches from someone moving through a thicket or a patch of shrubbery. Remnants of a half-devoured carcass.

All of these would indicate that something had moved through an area, some more recently than others.

Jon, Avahni, and Wilheim would then report their findings back to the rest of the group. With the most basic level of Nain that Jon was able to understand, he was able to communicate with Avahni and Wilheim about singular concepts, although through hand gestures or intonation he was able to emphasis certain points or bridge two concepts together.

"North... water… big…" Wilheim spoke slowly but clearly. His grasp of Nain able to communicate his intentions towards both Avahni and Jon without too much difficulty.

"People… traces?" came Avahni's response, using her hands to create an outline of Wilheim's form.

The floresiensis shook his head, causing the lutin to sigh in response.

The group of three had managed to find the source of the river roughly seven kilometres upstream of their current location. The route that Wilheim had used followed the river through every bend and curve, so as the crow flies, Jon estimated it was somewhere between five and six kilometres.

Despite the confusing structure of the small realm, Jon and the others were currently positioned on the eastern side of the river. North, or upstream of them was an enormous lake often shrouded in a dense, low fog. The conditions of the terrain further north grew significantly wetter and colder, transforming the forest landscape into a more swamp-like environment.

With the introduction of his newest Mana Core, Jon found the cold significantly more pleasing than he did before, adapting to the shift in temperature with a surprising amount of comfortability. In fact, Jon no longer required his blanket or sleeping bag at night after integrating his Ice Mana Core, leaving them for Avahni and Wilheim to use.

The faint pulsing of his Seir-Glacial Heart often lulled Jon to sleep. His already low heart rate allowing for an even easier transition into deep, restful sleep.

Avahni turned towards Jon, gesturing towards downstream of the river. The direction which the three had agreed was south.

"Trees… forest… more" Jon spoke, a subtle accent evident within his voice. The human relied on his childlike understanding of Nain to communicate his intent.

"Distance?" asked Wilheim, although the translation would have been closer to kilometres or miles. The lutin race using their own unique forms of measurement independent of the metric or imperial systems.

Jon shook his hand from side to side, giving his best estimate of the distance.

"Fifteen ligne?" Jon replied, a single ligne roughly equal to about eight hundred metres. Eleven ligne would be approximately twelve kilometres, give or take a few hundred metres each way.

The distance caused all three of them to sigh, knowing that their best bet was to travel north, where the environment was colder and wetter. Sources of fresh drinkable water would attract other participants within the small realm, and in doing so might allow the three of them to discover the location of a System generated Safe Zone.

However, the downside was that this source of water would inevitably attract the attention of mutated beasts and strange creatures that existed throughout the small realm. There would be an increased danger factor when travelling towards the lake, something that the three of them would need to prepare for after deciding their next course of action.

While Wilheim and Jon were able to retreat or defend themselves, Avahni relied solely on the capabilities of her summons in order to fight, defend, heal or retreat. With nothing but Roland and Xochitl at her disposal, it made her the weakest link in their group, even though she possessed the greatest stealth-related ability amongst the three.

Jon did not know the details of [Silence Is The Verdant Flowers Daydream], but it was born from the integration of a Fragment Of Concealment. Something which Jon lacked but did not see as his priority at this moment.

If anything, he wanted to obtain a Fragment Of Movement, or a Fragment Of Acceleration to enhance his speed or agility. Despite the passive increase from [Lamentations Of A Frozen Affection], and the active increase from his Spell [Cometh Thy Red Horse Awaits], Jon felt as though his ability to "run away from danger" still wasn't fast enough.

The three of them lacked certain strengths but excelled in others.

Jon possessed extraordinary physical abilities, alongside a retinue of supportive Spells and passive abilities aimed at increasing his investigation and combat capabilities. While he possessed only a single offensive Spell, it was flexible enough for Jon to rely on it in a variety of different situations.

Wilheim had integrated the lowest number of fragments amongst the three of them, but possessed a powerful supportive Castle Mana Core, capable of buffing and even cleansing his allies. Similarly, he only possessed only a single offensive Spell, although the might of his [Mountain Art; Weight Of The Frozen Peak] was perhaps even greater than Jon's [Wrath Of Green, Piercing Wood Eruption].

And Avahni possessed numerous summoning abilities equal to the number of abilities that Wilheim had in total. Although she only had access to Ru Luan Di at the moment, if she could obtain another one of her summons, her versatility would increase significantly, only being able to heal with her current abilities.

Unless she could manage to manifest whatever catalyst Xochitl needed in order to grow, then she would only drag the group down, even if she was what held the three of them together.

Letting out a sigh and scratching the back of his head, Jon reached towards his stash of fragments, pulling out his lunchbox and opening them towards Avahni and Wilheim. He had removed the Fragment Of Extreme and the Fragment Of Myriad from the lunchbox, keeping them for himself at a later junction, but there was a total of nine fragments still remaining, a number which immediately drew the eyes of his two companions.

Jon thought about it for a moment, before peering into his of Sea Of Knowledge remembering a specific word that Avahni had taught him.

"Share".

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