Frostbound

Chris

My fingers traced out the tiny Runes upon the Mana Crystal in yet another attempt to create our very own Message Stone. So far, my attempts had all ended in failure, but it wasn't as frustrating as one might think.

Even if every failed attempt was mightily upsetting, all I had to do was remember this wasn't life or death. A mistake didn't mean I would perish on the battlefield.

It was simply that. A mistake.

It wasted a bit of resources, but that was nothing we couldn't get back.

I did my best to throw myself into the process, but no amount of supreme effort was going to let me learn the Runes any faster. It wasn't even the learning part that I had trouble with.

It was the engraving portion.

I knew what the Runes meant. I knew what they were supposed to do. It was getting the tiny, intricate Runes carved into the Crystal without messing them up that I had trouble with.

My hands didn't shake, they just weren't precise enough. One slight twitch, one drifting wrist, and the string of Runes would end up worthless.

My strength didn't help. A mistake that wouldn't have meant anything to anyone weaker turned into either a crushed crystal or a failed piece so easily. It felt like if I breathed wrong, the Runes would mess up.

The studying part had been fun, I'll give it that, but the application part of the knowledge was not. As sad as that was. The stone itself was based on a radio, except instead of mundane radio waves being sent and received, it was magical transmissions.

Some of the Runes created the 'frequency' while others powered it and worked as amplifiers. One string was for sending while the other was for receiving.

The Runes imprinted on the mana the information you wished to send and a different string of Runes worked to decode that into something understandable once it was received.

It was quite ingenious and I could already see how it could be improved. Encrypting and encoding and all that.

I'll try again tomorrow. We were running out of the small Crystal fragments I was using and I couldn't carve into them with abandon.

I stepped out of my tent into the night's fresh air. We were nearing the Twins and Marcus was visibly pleased. He and his people were all excited to get home.

Summer had waned and it was now time for Fall. Soon, very soon, the First Snows would fall and Winter would arrive. Every day that grew colder than the last was a step in the right direction.

I wonder if they've harvested the crop yet?

My thoughts, as usual, turned to home. Sam was in charge of Frostheim in our absence. I knew she would do a good job, but I couldn't help but worry. Living with Abigail had that effect on people.

They were further North where the first frost would come sooner. We had to plant later and harvest early compared to down here. Farmers had to take a skill to speed up growth, as without it, the crop wouldn't ripen in time.

On Abigail's long list of things to do, finding Cold-friendly crops was near the top. We had Winter Wheat, but that was about it in terms of what we could grow during the other months.

She had already started discussing with the Merchants which new seeds to buy that would thrive during the Cold months. I wouldn't be surprised if entire new fields had been created and planted with what she found by the time we arrived home.

I looked up at the twinkling stars, a scene that had once brought tranquility, and sighed in frustration. I wasn't frustrated with my work or how slow the journey was taking. No matter how long I lay on the Bed or spent time immersed in books, the feeling wouldn't go away. I felt that the fresh air and being in nature would help, but it didn't seem to accomplish much.

I was just as frustrated as before.

It would occasionally go away, leaving me in peace for a day or two, but it would always come back. I would hear something or remember something, and all the tense feelings of anger would return. Especially when I had to check on the Ice coffins.

Calm down, Christopher.

Even the stars didn't bring much joy anymore.

"Chris!" Austin happily shouted out as he saw me. "Get your big lug over here. Today's the day!"

"What?" I mumbled, half confused.

"Today's the day!" He waved his newly healed arm in the air with a smile that could split the sun. His joy and excitement were clear for everyone to see if they were still up.

Ah, his evolution.

I sometimes forgot that he was already capped in both Class and Profession. He also had all of the Steps he wished to complete finished. It was easy to assume that everyone was still a bit away, like I was.

"I can't wait! You think I'll get an Epic? What about a Legendary!?" He buzzed, and then added, "I haven't done all that much, though."

This Rank increase was different than the rest. The demotion took place which would decrease the rarity of most of his skills. It was usually all, but there was a possibility of having a really powerful skill at the peak of a rarity and have it remain at that rarity, but at the bottom of the new level.

It was rare, but possible.

Questions were brought up about how it worked for Class rarity. We could only go up two ranks per evolution, and if we were 'demoted', did that mean we could only go up one?

Say you go into the evolution with a Rare Class, but after the demotion, it would be an Uncommon Class. Did that mean you could only possibly get an Epic Class?

Stolen novel; please report.

It turned out that our worries were unfounded. The demotion only took place after the evolution. If you went into it with a Rare Class, you could still pick a Legendary Class, but it was apparently much harder to receive.

How and when a specific Rarity Class or Profession was offered still didn't make sense to me. If it was based purely on Steps taken, then there would have been a book about it.

The fact that it took into consideration feats of strength and deeds accomplished made everything impossible to say anything definitively. It had to take into consideration how well you forged your core, right? If your Anchor was forced or natural? If you stayed conscious during Body Refining and came out with a better result?

How well you fought. The results of your battles.

What was taken into consideration was never specified, but it was believed that everything was. How that worked and who kept track was a mystery. It was already mentioned that the System doesn't watch our every move, that would be impossible on the scale of the Universe.

Maybe it's recorded in our Spirit or our Soul? Like a running record of who we are and what we've done?

It all boiled down to 'more is better'. More achievements, better achievements, more feats, better feats, more Steps... ad infinitum.

"Are you doing it now?" I asked and couldn't help but notice the near pitch black darkness of the night. When I started my stroll, I hadn't anticipated running into him ready to evolve.

Austin gasped, "Of course! Are you suggesting I wait?!"

"Would waiting until morning kill you?" I said, mainly in jest but with a hint of truth.

"Yes, yes it would." He nodded in complete seriousness, "My body will spontaneously explode if I don't evolve in the next ten minutes."

"Ah huh. And this is a fact? Do you mind if we test it?" I could trap him in ice for at least that long.

"It is a fact. I'm gathering the posse as we speak. Rouse Gabriel and your Mother if they wish to watch." Before I could blink, he was gone. Off to find the rest of our family if I had to guess.

Both my Mother and Gabriel were sleeping, but they were willing to take part. All we would be doing was standing around, but it was fun to watch. To be there for the moment.

Austin had prepared. During the time I was fussing with the Message Stone, he had cleared a small area not far from where we made camp and Ashley was already standing in wait as we arrived.

Gabriel, my Mother, and I were the first to arrive and then came Austin's Mother, Carrie, and Hal. Even Mitchell came. I hadn't seen much of him lately.

"Ashley, are you sure he's healed?" Carrie asked worriedly. She was the most anxious out of all of us. Being that it was her son, it was understandable.

"Oh come on, Mom, everything's fine." Austin drolled, "I'm fit as a fiddle."

Carrie looked at Ashley to confirm, "Yes, he's fine. I even had him do physical therapy for the past few days to make sure. Everything looks fine."

"See, even our great Healer says I'm good," Austin was getting impatient. He never had much of it to begin with.

"Alright then," Carrie said and took out the box she had been tightly holding. To make sure Austin didn't jump the gun, his Mom held onto the parts he bought. He saw this as an insult, but went along with it all the same. He could have stopped it if he wanted to, but didn't.

"Perfect," Austin's eyes lit up seeing the box, and he looked at Ashley, "Make with the magic!"

The Healer sighed and activated her skills. A heavily powered [Cleanse] swept through the cleared area to make sure nothing unwanted remained. It was a precaution to make sure nothing interfered with the assimilation process.

After her skill swept through, Austin ran over to the box, opened it in a flash, and removed what was inside at what looked like his top speed.

One second he was standing still, the next he was seated in the cleansed area with a feathery corpse. Well, a specific part of a corpse.

Having the Radiant Eagle Bloodline, he chose the wings for his previous evolution. There was the option to go the same route as me and choose bones, but he didn't want to do that.

Hollow and light bones didn't seem like an improvement.

Instead, he went with the keel. Along with the wings, he was hoping that they would allow him to fly. Knowing what we did, self-powered flight in D-rank was incredibly rare for Humans. That just wasn't something we could do.

Those with Avian Bloodlines or a Sky-related Affinity of some kind usually only started true flight in C-rank. The rest, those who didn't have those advantages, could fly in B-rank, but through a different method.

That crushed Austin's hopes, but he was still holding out for the possibility of gliding. In his words, 'If Chris can yeet me high enough, I'll be able to glide at least.'

The keel itself was nearly as large as Austin was. He said it was from a D-rank Radiant Eagle with substantial Agility. I wasn't as well-versed in his options and I knew he wouldn't make a bad choice.

The how behind incorporating the keel and meshing it with a Human's physiology didn't make sense to me, but luckily, that was mainly taken care of by the System.

If one didn't meet the requirements and had to evolve manually, they would have to take care of everything themselves. A task I did not envy. Having the System do it for us was a lot easier and didn't lead to stupid mistakes.

The only thing that could go wrong was if he picked something his body couldn't handle, but Austin knew his limits. He'd push them, sure, but wouldn't go too far.

"Here goes nothing," Austin smiled cheekily and initiated the evolution.

Just like with the Merchants' evolutions, a great rush of mana started gathering around him and changes started to happen. The keel started to break down and dissolve into small particles that were absorbed into his body.

The gathered mana followed after the particles and he started absorbing more and more. It felt like he was igniting a Mana Heart, but I knew he wasn't. He'd already done so. Rather, forged his Core.

His Cultivation technique wasn't as difficult as mine, and he was able to forge his Core much faster than I was. The bastard bragged about it all the time. It was one of the last things he did before we left to take advantage of the growing sunlight. The Sun wasn't available in the North evenly.

The pressure grew as we stood and watched, but not much changed after the keel completely dissolved. His body didn't suddenly turn feathered or grow in odd proportions.

My aura couldn't feel anything taking place through all the interference. There was just too much of it to pick anything out. He was going for the temporary option again, which wasn't a surprise. That had been his plan all along.

We all watched in silence as the process transpired, and it wasn't until a few minutes later that Austin came back to awareness.

Seated now with nothing surrounding him, his eyes shot open and he smiled even wider. "Fuck me, that's a rush!"

His first words, while vulgar, had most of us sighing in relief. We didn't think anything would go wrong, but that was still a possibility.

His eyes were alight as he tested out his new power, shooting around the clearing like a pinball. Testing his new top speed, if I had to guess.

He finally came to a rest back where he once sat and was glowing faintly. "Hahahaha!" If everyone wasn't already up, they certainly were now. His booming laugh rang out through the forest.

Carrie couldn't hold it in anymore. "Well, what did you get?"

I knew Austin was savoring the moment, and I didn't want to be the first to ask.

"Epic, baby," He laughed again, "In both of them!"

Both Class and Profession?! That means he just gained 28 stat points in every stat. 252 points in just a few seconds.

"And they sound cool as fuck, too!" He said excitedly. "All yous have the honor of gazing upon a Herald of Dawn and Explorer under the Sun's Light. Don't all bow down at once."

He, honest to god, cackled. Well, it's good to see him so excited.

"What skill did it give?" Gabriel asked. Leave it to him to inquire about skills right away.

"It's called [Blessed by the Sun]. It replaced [Sunshine] with an Epic version of it, but even better! Instead of just a stat boost that rises and falls with the sun, it's a constant power-up while the sun shines down on me. No matter if it's the first rays of dawn or the last light of dusk.

"And, even better, it's more than just a stat increase. It's everything. Stat, Bloodline, Skills, everything." He rambled on about his new skill quickly before looking up at the sky.

"Shame the sun isn't up." He muttered.

I couldn't help myself. It was too good an opportunity to pass up.

"Someone tried to get you to wait until morning."