Dungeon of Niflheim

After Aqua, Frost then met with two dungeon cores at once, number 004 and 005, Sylph and Terra. Sylph was short, even shorter than Maya, with bright blonde hair and pretty translucent wings. Her personality was bubbly and a little mischievous, a large counterpart to her hulking younger brother Terra. He was rather cowardly and quiet, Sylph enjoyed teasing him greatly, their relationship seemed quite good. The two of them were both on the western continent known as Muterra. Respectively she was the master of air and he the master of earth. The single digit cores tended to have their own individual element that they specialised in.

Apart from Pyro who was obviously from the southern continent: Vulcan, the furthest place from Frost, thankfully. Number 008 Damascus was also there. He was quite friendly and spoke of his fondness of alcohol and blacksmithing. He apparently took up learning under a dwarf he met in the territory adjacent to his Dungeon. Damascus’s element was metal, a perfect fit for the profession. Frost couldn’t help but be interested in the idea of learning a trade like Damascus. Taking note of it for later. He was dark skinned and quite shiny looking, his build was rather stocky, and he had a large bushy beard. Reminding him slightly of a dwarf.

Next was number 009 Gaia, the master of wood. His skin was greenish, and he appeared similar to that of wood elves in appearance. He wasn’t very sociable, speaking very few words, preferring to embrace solitude, similar to Yami yet different at the same time. Frost didn’t manage to find out where he was based but assumed given the previous trend that it was on the eastern continent. Finally, there was two more cores in their group, number 010 and 011. Twins would be the best way to describe them, they each had near identical features albeit 010 having silver hair and robes and 011 having golden hair and robes.

“I’m Void and this Chronos” Void was the silver twin and Chronos the golden. “As you can see the two of us a pretty much twins, my element is space whereas Chronos’s is time.” Void and Chronos had a very scholarly atmosphere about them, speaking eloquently and politely. Their appearances were slightly different from the rest of the group as they appeared middle aged for some reason and gave off a strong sense of magic.

“Unlike the others the two of us spawned our dungeons right next door to one another, on the eastern continent: Sekaran. Although we don’t have much in regards of specialty monsters at our current levels, we’ve been deeply studying magic together and to be honest made quite some strides.” Chronos spoke with a tinge of pride. He and his twin Void didn’t do much in terms of populating their dungeon or dealing with intruders, preferring to focus on magic studies where their talents clearly lied.

Dark had arranged for each of his children to be unique in different ways. Some like Pyro focused on physical strength and or chakra usage whereas some like Void and Chronos were all magic based with very little physical strength and no discernible weapon mastery. They even came with several known spells as a bonus.

“Hoh what sort of strides?” Frost was curious, his own magic talent wasn’t bad, but he only knew three spells. His interest in magic was quite pronounced regardless of that.

“Another magic enthusiast perfect.” Void responded with sparkling eyes before entering into a deep and complicated lecture on magic, with Chronos swiftly joining in. Frost felt his face cramp as he tried to maintain a friendly smile. The two in front of him were clearly super magic nerds, way beyond him. Thankfully he was saved before they really got started with their lecture.

.....

“Frost would you like to chat?” Dark appeared in the nick of time, placing a hand on Frost’s shoulder. Appearing like an angel, descending from heaven.

“Y...yes please father, sorry Void, Chronos, another time perhaps.” Frost quickly bade farewell to his younger brothers and ushered Dark to the side.

Dark let out a slight chuckle at his actions but made no move to stop him. He started meeting with the younger cores first, before making his way to Frost. The younger cores were all a little or a lot less confident when in his presence, similar to his previous creations. Only the upper cores seemed to treat him almost as though an equal but still with respect. It was very refreshing.

“So, Frost, how’s life been for the past month? Eventful? Fun? And how do you find Maya, a bit of handful isn’t she hehehe?” Dark acted like a concerned father, looking at his child with pride. Frost, lips twitched in response, as he was reminded of Aqua.

“Haaaaaaa, eventful is an understatement father.” He sighed before regaling Dark about his adventurers over the past month.

“....I see, I’m happy you and Maya are getting along, and that you made some friends in the nearby territory. Glad, you decided to take advantage of the 1 month insurance barrier and explored the local area. Many of your younger siblings locked themselves in their dungeons afraid to leave. Your experience however was truly more than I expected for your first month.” Dark shook his head as he found it difficult to come to terms with what happened. Frost wasn’t Yami or Aqua, his area shouldn’t have been so ‘eventful’.

“Not only have you registered as an adventurer-kudos by the way- you became a strong ally of a Viscount house after successfully preventing a coup and......” Dark’s vision darkened and his anger rose to the surface, his expression becoming serious. “I’m sorry you had to witness such a thing, but you dealt with it perfectly, I’m proud of you, my son.” Dark patted Frost’s shoulder making him feel warm, his eyes turning red. Dark was referring to Nanna and Loki being enslaved and bound by the Church of Light’s forbidden magic.

“....So?” Frost felt a tinge of hope, if his father felt this badly about it, surely, he’d have a way to remove the tattoo.

“I’m sorry Frost, I can’t intervene. It goes against the covenant that binds Light and I.” Dark didn’t sugar coat his answer, directly refusing, Frost couldn’t help but feel annoyed, frowning towards his father, the so called Dark God before eventually sighing.

‘It was worth a try.’ Frost didn’t hold onto too much hope, he knew from Maya that Dark was severely restricted in interfering with the world on a personal level. And he could understand it to an extent. If a God kept interfering and changing things, the people of Nova wouldn’t have free will, they’d be nothing but the Gods playthings. Something Dark nor Light wanted to see. It also helped to prevent bias and strong disagreement between the two creation Gods as well as the other powerful beings in existence.

“Although ‘I’ can’t remove it, that doesn’t mean there isn’t another way.” Light returned to Frost’s eyes, he listened to Dark’s next words with focus.

“The Church of Light, though very advanced in terms of magic and artificing, they’re still within the realm of mortals. if you put enough effort into it or....” Dark then looked over towards Void and Chronos. “If you enlist some help from your more magically inclined siblings, I’m sure you’ll be able to find a method to remove it.” Dark knew about Frost’s magic talent and though it was quite high it wasn’t nearly at the level of Void and Chronos. Those two were really impressive even by his standards. The two of them never left their dungeons either but spend most of their time discussing magic and the laws of the world. Making impressive strides in developing new magic, exactly what he hoped for.

Frost followed Dark’s gaze towards his younger siblings. He did his best to end their chat, feeling it was a bit much but perhaps he needed to have a long discussion with those two. He clenched his fist and made a mental note, he’d endure their ranting if it was for Loki and Nanna.

“Seems like you’ve got a goal, hopefully it works out for you and those two, say hello to Maya for me, I’m sure she’ll appreciate it.” Dark then went to talk with Indra, the next target on his list.

“Ah Father wait I have a small request?”

“Huh? Ok ask away” Frost looked side to side before whispering in his ear, he was feeling a little guilty about his request.

“Mmm mmm wait what!” Dark nodded his head to the first request more than happy to supply some special candies for the two phoenix kin however he exclaimed in shock when he heard the last request. So much so he drew the attention of everyone nearby. Exactly what Frost wanted to avoid. Instinctively he covered Dark’s mouth to stop him shouting while trying to placate the awkward looks he was getting from his siblings.