Frostbitten Wayfarer

Zoe floated in the sky far above the village for a few minutes, staring down at the remnants of the celebration. A few people were still tidying up the town center near the fountain, sweeping up the burnt remains of the fire and moving the furniture back into their houses.

She turned her attention back to the south west, Cosmic Stepped through the air until she was back above the main road and started following it west. The road twisted through the forest in a westerly trend, and every so often Zoe would teleport too far that the road vanished beneath her so she’d teleport back and follow it along as it curved to the north or the south.

In another fifteen minutes of flying through the sky, Zoe saw the city after one of her teleports. The sprawling wooden city appeared, and Zoe floated back down to the road to finish off the rest of the journey by foot.

The wooden walls were imposing and beautiful, Zoe noted as she approached. Made from a dark wood free of knots and imperfections that almost glistened in the moonlight, with detailed engravings covering the outer face as far as Zoe could see. People, animals. Dragons and other mythical beasts, all carved into the beautiful wood with such great detail that they almost seemed to pop to life as Zoe looked at them.

Where the road connected with the city were two large wooden doors, each made from the same wood and two meters thick. The sides and backs of the doors were carved with a winding pattern that reminded Zoe of when she doodled on her school papers during a boring class. She assumed the pattern continued to the front, but they were open far too wide for her to see around the other side.

Two guards stood outside the gate, one at either side. Both dark green level seventy four, much lower than any of the people she’d met at the previous village. But perhaps there was just less reason to be higher level in a city, she’d begun to realize. One of the guards radiated anxiety while the other seemed interested in the lone traveller walking down the road.

Zoe walked up to the one who seemed interested, a man almost a full foot taller than her with slicked black hair and green eyes. “Hey,” she said.

“Hello, what brings you to Darpi?” The guard asked.

“Nothing, really. Do I need to sign in or something here, or am I free to just go check things out?" Zoe asked.

The man shook his head. “Nope, no sign in necessary. First time coming to Darpi?”

Zoe nodded. “Yeah. I came from Foizo, just near Flester’s ruins. Anything fun to do here?”

“What do you consider fun?” He asked.

“Anything I’ve never done before, or I dunno. Just anything exciting or interesting, really. What’s Darpi got to offer?" Zoe asked and looked over at the other guard. He looked across the forest, a hint of anxiety wafting off of him as he looked back over at Zoe every few seconds.

“Don’t mind him, he takes the job a bit too seriously.” The guard said. “I’m Horn.”

“I’m Zoe.” Zoe said. “It’s a serious job, being a guard. Maybe you don’t take it seriously enough? What if I’m just a distraction for somebody else to invade your town?" She smirked.

Horn shrugged. “We’re not here to stop people from entering anyway. If somebody wants to walk in they don’t need a distraction.”

“What do you do then, anyway?” Zoe asked.

“Make sure wild animals don’t get in, mostly. Be pretty bad if a bear got in and caused a whole mess.” Horn answered.

“Ah. That makes sense. You sure you two would be enough for a bear, though?” Zoe asked. “I just killed one recently that was level one fifty eight. Nightmare to track down, too.”

Horn’s eyebrows raised. “Never seen one that high. Where was that?"

“Out east somewhere, in the forest. A ways away, but still. They can be pretty tough.” Zoe said.

“Huh. Well, we can sound an alarm at least.” Horn said.

“So you’re decoration, then?” Zoe laughed.

Horn rolled his eyes. “Sure. If you want something interesting to do, there’s a dungeon to the north. Lots of furniture stores too, check them out if you’ve never been to Darpi before.”

“What do you do for fun here?” Zoe asked.

“Me?” Horn shrugged. “I whittle, sometimes I play some takraw.”

“Takraw?" Zoe asked.

“It’s a popular sport here. You kick a ball around on a court over a net and, well its complicated really. It’s fun though. Go to one of the fields if you wanna try it out.” Horn explained.

Zoe nodded. “Alright, so dungeon to the north, weird ball game in the fields and check out the woodworking. Sounds fun.”

Horn nodded. “If you need an inn to stay at, I’d recommend the Chipped Stool. It’s just down the road here.”

“Alright, thanks. I’ll check it out. By the way how is flying here? Am I allowed to fly over the city?” Zoe asked.

Horn shook his head. “Nah, no flying. Not over the city. Outside the city’s fine but if you’re being weird and circling it or something then that’s not cool either.”

“Okay. Sounds good then. Thanks for the help.” Zoe said.

“No problem. Enjoy your stay.” Horn said.

Zoe covered herself in an earthen suit then floated up into the sky away from the town. The woodworking sounded nice and whatever takraw was might be fun, but the dungeon interested her the most. She floated to the north around the city and followed the gravel road that led out from a similar looking gate at the north east of the city.

It was a short flight before she found where the road terminated at — a beautiful wooden shack made from the same dark wood and covered in deep grooves that cast eerie shadows from the moonlight. Zoe floated down to the ground and opened the front door.

Inside was a near empty room with a white marble floor that was covered in colourful markings that glowed to Zoe’s vision and were flooded with mana to her Mana Sight. Even her Cosmic Vision seemed to feel a little off as she looked at it, like space was twisting around the markings, being pulled towards the center.

Zoe stared at the floor for a minute. It was a teleportation circle, if she had to guess. It could be more destructive, but it was hard to believe there would be a road leading straight to a dangerous shack filled with a murderous magic circle.

But where would it teleport her to? Would she be able to get back without clearing the dungeon, if that’s what it even was? Zoe shrugged and walked to the center of the markings.

*Ding* You have entered the Kliggig Challenge Dungeon entrance (20). Would you like to be transported?

Zoe pushed her confirmation to the system and then watched the space twist around her and felt the familiar system’s magic rushing through her soul and body. The wooden building she was in folded in on itself, and then a dim cave unfolded in front of her. Water dripped from the walls, vanishing as it touched the white marble platform Zoe appeared on.

The first thing she noticed was how weak she felt and the lack of both Mana Sight and Cosmic Vision. She checked her stat sheet.

Name: Zoe Mara

Race: Human

——

Stat Points: 0

Strength: 20

Dexterity: 20

Vitality: 283

Endurance: 25

Intelligence: 96

Wisdom: 54

Health: 5660/5660

Stamina: 500/500

Mana: 1920/1920

All of her skills remained the same, her feats and resistances were untouched. But she was limited to level twenty, and her third and fourth classes were crossed out on her stat sheet. Her Mana Sight was gone, her Cosmic Vision was gone. The glimpses of space she’d grown so used to seeing vanished. The sphere of perception she expected to have around herself was gone, and she felt naked.

Zoe looked at her mana pool, not enough for a single teleport even if she did have her class. She tried to enchant something, but it felt slow and imprecise compared to what she was used to — like when she first tried getting the skill decades earlier. The system didn’t remove her classes, they were still on her stat sheet. She just didn’t have access to them anymore, which meant that her Enchanting skill which was tied in to her class was inaccessible to her, she supposed.

The room she was in was wet. Droplets of water fell from the rocky cave ceiling and splattered on the floor, forming small streams that flowed down deeper into the tunnel that curved off to the right in front of her. She stepped off the marble platform and then back into the center just to check if she could leave.

A message appeared in her vision asking her if she wanted to leave, and she declined. If she could leave, then she’d at least try and explore a bit. The dungeon limited her to level twenty because that was all she needed to clear it. She’d be fine, she hoped.

Zoe walked into the tunnel and down the steep slope, and looked around the corner as the cave opened up towards the left. Flickering flames hung from the walls in sconces, casting eerie shadows around the large open cavern while five massive rats the size of bears — normal bears Zoe thought to herself, paced back and forth across the room. The room continued to the left around a pile of rocks and very far to the right as Zoe’s position let her see a small gap through the rocky pillars and walls that made up the cavern.

Footsteps echoed through the cavern as the rats claws rapped and scraped across the stone floor, but even deeper into the cavern were dull distant thuds as something heavy walked out of sight.

Zoe summoned a dozen projectiles of Frost, and aimed them at the five rats that wandered through the room. Without a powerful enchantment, Zoe wasn’t sure how effective they would be but she had few other options without approaching. She hoped the Adaptive Elements would slow the rats enough by the time they reached her that she could pick them off with the more destructive cinders.

She fired the projectiles off, pushing at them with her Frost skill with as much mana as she could and they smashed into the rats, sending small shards of ice clattering against the ground. The rats screeched and ran at Zoe’s position, and Zoe covered herself in an Elemental Arsenal. Cinders and frost wrapped around her body as heavy gales rushed around her arms and legs and a mass of water swirled around her.

She pushed as much mana as she could into her Aura of Seasons, creating a devastating storm of ash and frost that buffeted the rats once they were close enough. Zoe leapt over the first rat and landed on the second, smashing her heavy fist into its back as the elements seeped into its body to burn and slow it. Another rat was close behind, biting at Zoe’s legs but the powerful gales pushed it off course and the storm of power swirling around her singed its furs and froze the slobber dripping from its mouth.

The fourth and fifth rats didn’t even make it to Zoe, slowed by the first three rats just enough that Zoe’s aura immobilized them before they could climb over the pile of burning fur and make it to her. She waited over the pile of rats, letting her Aura pummel the rats with elements for a minute until they stopped breathing and then disabled her Aura and continued on.

First she checked around the left corner, which led to more of the dim cavern with a pile of rotting food and excrement in the corner. To the right the cavern opened up much more in both directions. Zoe could see far down the left path as it continued deeper into the earth on a gentle slope, but to her right she could see a large rocky pillar fifty feet wide holding up the ceiling far above, with a path leading around on either side.

A dull, rhythmic thumping echoed from behind the pillar and Zoe continued hugging the wall to her right as she peered around the large pillar. A towering bipedal bear with an owl’s head stood behind the pillar, slamming its fists into the bloody corpse of a goblin. Its head spun around and looked at Zoe as she watched. The bear owl hybrid screeched and charged at Zoe, gusts of wind pushing it from behind as it accelerated with each step.

Zoe pushed mana into her Aura and summoned a spire of Earth in its path, impaling one of its legs and sending it flailing to the ground. Another gust of wind pushed the creature back to its feet as it fell, and it continued sprinting at Zoe. She summoned another spire of Earth, trying to impale its other leg but a gust of wind pushed its leg just out of the way and it instead scraped down the side of the spike Zoe created.

The creature’s fur singed as it entered Zoe’s Aura, and with another screech the creature created a violent gust of wind that pushed back at Zoe’s Aura. The violent storm struggled to reach the creature as it approached and slammed its fist at Zoe who stepped out of the way and summoned a shield and dagger of solid ash from her Elemental Arsenal.

A gust of wind rushed at Zoe, and she pushed back at it with her own Gales skill, creating a small twister in the middle of her violent Aura. Zoe slashed her dagger across the creature’s torso and it stepped back just as the dagger reached it, leaving a small trail of blood that was picked up and thrown about in the storm.

The creature stepped forward and Zoe pulled away at the earth below its foot so it fell forward. It tried to correct itself with another gust of wind, but Zoe pushed at the creature from behind with both Gales and Frost, overwhelming its attempt to keep its balance. It slammed onto the ground in a screeching mess, and Zoe pressed her dagger into its back until it too stopped breathing.

Zoe stepped back and leaned against the wall, breathing heavy as she checked her vitals.

Health: 5454/5660

Stamina: 376/500

Mana: 1585/1920