Frostbitten Wayfarer

Zoe ignored the notification for a moment as she ran around the room collecting the silver daggers the goblins wielded, and rummaging through the bear hybrids’ bodies. The owl bears had nothing on them of interest, some nice clothes that Zoe could repair with her Restoration if she cared, but if she wanted clothes then a quick trip down to Korna was a much better option than pillaging dungeons.

But the ryz bear was different. On its damaged, bloodied body was a silver staff with a purple gem embedded in the top. The throne looked ornate and expensive, but far too large to fit into Zoe’s storage items without needing to sacrifice other things she cared about much more so she decided to leave it. There were a few colourful gems embedded into the sides of the throne that she tried to rip out, but they were too well attached for her to rip them out.

When she was satisfied she’d taken everything she could, she pushed her confirmation to the system.

*Ding* You have accepted the Kliggig dungeon reward. Teleportation will begin in 60 seconds… 59… 58… 57…

The rewards appeared in front of Zoe a moment later. A small pile of silver and gold coins along with a small green bandana made from a soft, silky fabric. Zoe tossed some of the books she’d stored in her Storage items ot make space and stored away the rewards.

A minute later, the dungeon folded in on itself as space warped and twisted, sending Zoe back to the marble platform in the wooden shack outside of Darpi. Immediately, she was assaulted with all the senses she had lost in the dungeon. Her Mana Sight and Cosmic Vision smashing into her mind as she took a moment to get used to the sensations again.

She walked outside, feeling light on her feet with her stats that were all an order of magnitude higher than they were just moments prior and formed a wooden bench to sit down on as the moon set on the horizon.

The challenge dungeon was interesting, but a lot more difficult than she expected it to be. Let alone needing choke points for flooding the goblins with water, with the mana Zoe was used to having she could have flooded the entire dungeon in moments. In an instant, formed walls and barriers that blocked off her enemies or pierced through their bodies.

But in the dungeon, limited to level twenty, she was so much weaker than she expected to be. All of the skills she had were enough to beat the dungeon, but maybe putting every single one of her points into Vitality wasn’t the greatest idea. Even reset down to level twenty she still had almost enough health to just wait out the goblin’s poison — without an antidote or any additional healing. Maybe that was just enough to be happy with, maybe it would be a better idea to put some birthday points into her lower stats for a while.

What use was all the health she had if she wouldn’t even be capable of fighting back against any danger? At what point would more speed and power be a stronger defense than just more health? At what point would her Stamina be more important to her than health?

Finding some way to Enchant things even if she lost the skill would be a great help. With her Torrents skill, whatever level it was, the most mana she could push into it at once was however much her total was at the time. But with an Enchantment, she could continue feeding in more.

Or maybe developing a reliance on Enchanting wasn’t great. Maybe she needed to think of more creative uses for her skills as skills, rather than as enchantments. Earth and Torrents were her main skills for offense, but they weren’t the only ones capable of it. Wood was powerful, the owlbears proved that Gales was more than competent.

And Time, one of her newest skills had a multitude of purposes that she just ignored in the dungeon. The dungeon was a great experience to show her what she was lacking, Zoe thought. It rewarded adaptability, a versatile skill set. And right now, Zoe didn’t have that. She leaned against the wooden shack and closed her eyes. Next time, she’d do better.

———————

Hildegarde stood on the rocky gravel road as Rita rummaged through the moss covered remnants of what might have been a great alchemy shop years in the past. She looked over the ruined city, nature beginning to take back its land. Rubble covered in bright green moss, green and brown vines that stretched over and through the destroyed buildings.

Something was off about the city. Had been for a few months now. Hildegarde couldn’t quite put her finger on what was happening, but something felt strange. There was a silence to Flester’s ruins that just wasn’t there before. A weight that pressed down on her and put her on edge, a presence that she couldn’t recognize. Something lived in Flester, now. A creature, an animal. A monster, perhaps.

Hildegarde wasn’t sure what it was, but she was sure that something had taken up residence in the ruined city. The mana seemed fine, waves that ebbed and flowed over the buildings and crawled up the burnt husk of a tree in the distance, a mark of pride for the librarians of Flester at one point. But nothing more than a reminder of what once was now.

She squinted as the mana seemed to quake on the distant tree for a moment, so quick she wasn’t sure she even saw it at all. But as she looked closer, the mana seemed normal. Waves of power that washed over the city’s ruins.

An eerie feeling, welled up by Hildegarde’s subconscious. She’d grown to respect her gut feelings in her years as an explorer, but never fear them. Something was wrong in Flester, but it would do no good to ignore the wealth of resources left abandoned in the city just because of a bad feeling.

Hildegarde smiled as she glanced at her apprentice searching through the ruins with glee, keeping her head on a swivel for anything that might mean danger. She wouldn’t fear the city, but she would give it the respect it deserved. Her apprentice remained blissfully unaware of the potential dangers as she tossed rock and fauna aside for anything that may help them.

Alchemy supplies left behind in the attack, notes abandoned by the alchemist who once ran the shop. Perhaps some vials or bottles filled with potions or ingredients. They’d checked an enchanter’s shop last and found a small ring filled with crystals ripe for enchanting. Even if they found nothing else, their journey to Flester’s ruins would be a success for that alone.

“Teach!” Rita called out as she threw another rock aside. “I found something.”

Hildegarde walked over and looked at what Rita had found. A small glass vial that was trapped beneath two bricks, filled with a faint blue liquid. “Good, hand it here.” She said.

Rita took off her heavy work gloves and grabbed a delicate pair of pliers from her pocket, gripping the top of the vial and handing it to Hildegarde. “Here, teach.”

Hildegarde grabbed the vial with a white silken cloth then tied the cloth around the vial and stored it away in her storage necklace. “Good job. We’ll identify it later. Anything else here?"

Rita looked around the piles of bricks and torn apart vines, shaking her head. “No, I think that’s it. Can we check the library now? Pleaaaase?” Rita begged.

Hildegarde looked at the distant tree and watched the waves of mana flow around it for a moment before she shook her head. “No, we’re staying away from the library.”

“Pleaaase?” Rita begged. "I just wanna see it at least once. I heard it was so cool.“

Hildegarde shook her head. “No. We’re not going near the library, I already told you something’s off about it.”

Rita scoffed. “Fine. I think you’re just scared of a big dumb tree, though.”

Hildegarde rolled her eyes and directed Rita to a destroyed magic store nearby, a plot of land covered in shards of crystal and hefty lumber.

“Are you gonna help, finally? It would be so much faster if you helped.” Rita pleaded.

“This is a part of the job, Rita. You need to learn how to do this properly.” Hildegarde said.

“But I know how to do it, just help me and we can go home sooner. Come on, teach.” Rita begged.

Hildegarde shook her head. “No, you need to do this yourself. I won’t always be here to help you. Come on, get digging.”

One day, Rita would grow up and lose the naïve innocence she had now, Hildegarde thought to herself. One day in the future, Rita would look back on this moment and appreciate what was done for her. Appreciate the protection she had.

Let alone the oddness that was happening in Flester, ruins were never safe. There was no wall stopping the wild animals from running in, no guards stopping unsavoury folk from robbing you. Out in the middle of Flester’s ruins, you were on your own.

But for now, Hildegarde enjoyed seeing the ignorance in her apprentice, enjoyed seeing a perspective that hadn’t yet seen the world for what it truly was. Rita complained and pestered her, but that was part of growing up. That was what the young ones deserved. It was their right, for being brought into such a world filled with ruin and devastation without a say.

Though, nothing would happen in Flester’s ruins, even if Rita was left alone. Foizo was a short journey to the north and while they hadn’t made any efforts in building up Flester again, just having them nearby helped cull the wildlife. Let alone the effect the royal guard stationed in the city had on the local ruffians. Few would dare step near Foizo, and those that did had no interest in little Rita.

The two continued rummaging through Flester’s ruins as the night drew on, and when the sun just began to crest the horizon, began to leave.

“You sure we can’t stay any longer? Please teach. I really want to see the library.” Rita begged.

“No, we’re not seeing the library. When you’re older you can come back and visit it yourself if you so wish, but under my supervision we will not step foot in that library.” Hildegarde said.

Rita pouted and held her hand out. Hildegarde grabbed it, and the two vanished.

———————

Zoe woke as the sun beamed down on her, warming her pale skin and yawned. She hadn’t expected to fall asleep, but the dungeon was quite an exhausting experience. She smiled as she looked through the wooden shack’s walls with her Cosmic Vision at the mana that swirled around inside and the colourful markings on the marble floor.

It was nice to have all of her abilities back. The dungeon was fun, but maybe for the future she’d stick to ones that at least let her keep her Cosmic Mystic class. Cosmic Vision had become almost as important to her as her Vampyric Senses were. Losing the ability to see through walls or around corners, to no longer be able to teleport into a fight or away from danger was devastating. Fun, but devastating.

Her mind raced with how simple the dungeon would have been if her level wasn’t restricted, but that was the point of it she supposed. The rewards were much worse than Moaning Point — and for Zoe, the difficulty was even much higher. The most challenging part of Moaning Point for her was waiting in the line to fight the lich at the top. Once she was there, a simple enchanted Frost projectile was enough to take the boss out. Let alone Cosmic Rift which she still never had the chance to test the limits of.

But if she was level thirty with a small group of friends, maybe the dungeon would have a more practical purpose. She’d be able to clear a dungeon and split the modest reward among a few people. As it stood, the challenge dungeon was just that. A challenge. And one she looked forward to trying again someday.

Zoe stood up and teleported into the sky, catching herself in a suit of earth. She floated back towards Darpi and down towards the road just outside it. The two guards who stood outside looked at her with a bit of anxiety and nodded to her as she walked through the beautiful wooden gate.

Inside the walls, the well maintained gravel road wound through beautiful wooden buildings that towered over Zoe as she walked down the road. Most were three stories tall, though there were a few that stood even taller at four. And all were gorgeous. A dark wood that shone in the morning sun, with twisting patterns and designs carved into every square inch of the wood.

The signs stood out to Zoe the most, thick wooden planks that hung from decorative posts jutting out from above the ceiling. Each plank had a beautiful, colourful painting on it depicting what the business was for or perhaps a name of the business. One inn had a painting of somebody laying in a bed being served a plate of fruit that Zoe thought she could almost smell. She breathed in and her eyes widened as she realized she could smell it.A light, fruity smell with an almost acidic undertone wafted from the painting.

Zoe smiled as she looked around. Dozens of people walked down the street, making their way into buildings for work or perhaps pleasure. Many of them smiled at Zoe as they walked by, and Zoe’s empathy picked up a certain calmness that she hadn’t experienced elsewhere. There were undertones of anxiety, as there always was when Zoe walked through a crowd of people. But the dominant feeling Zoe got was a quiet acceptance that drowned out all the negative emotions.

The feeling was almost infectious, a slow comfortable pace that seemed to overtake the town as people appreciated the craftsmanship that went into everything around them. People stopped and appreciated the signs and the carvings in the walls, chatted in the street as they passed each other. There was no rush, no pressure to get to where they were going.

It was pleasant, Zoe thought.