Dungeon of Niflheim

Frost being of C-rank and being so well matched against the frost lizard made them very weak in his eyes. The yetis were more dangerous given their body’s robust thickness and incredible arm strength.

The moment of contact between the two was very brief. Frost held his ground to the last possible moment before side stepping, easily avoiding the thing’s lunge. Then came the glaive, empowered with his new skill, the beams of energy split into three blue claws that severed the beast in twain, resulting in minimal damage to the skin and rest of the body. Frost found that decapitation worked best for these kind of monsters not only as a weaker point to cut through but the most efficient method in persevering the corpse. Though he wasn’t actively exploring for the sake of money, he wouldn’t pass up the opportunity and if he was going to do it, he’d do it the best way possible. He’d feel ashamed to hand in subpar goods, Frost found out that he was a little bit of a perfectionist.

The poor lizard didn’t even get a chance to let out a squeal before its life faded. The death was swift and painless, quite humane. If he wasn’t using them as training materials and if he could end them swiftly he would. He wasn’t a sadist like those sanguine snakes who took pleasure in torture.

His gaze lingered on the body of the dead frost lizard for but a moment before he turned to face the remaining one, still standing near the staircase. With a sharp swing he removed the lingering blood from his glaive, leaving a line splatter on the floor before slowing walking towards his next prey. His aura naturally exuded from his body, throughout his journey it had grown more and more stable. Able to not only coat his body but emit a pressure to those around them, though it wasn’t physical like that of Ryuu’s or Bastion’s it was like fear or intimidation. Those weaker would struggle to use their full strength against him whenever it was in effect. The remaining frost lizard was paralysed for a second, fear gripped its heart in that moment. Its initial reaction to seeing its comrade die and its magic so easily blocked was anger, but the moment Frost exuded his aura it changed.

Monsters born within monster lairs were more instinctual and aggressive than their regular counterparts and this had advantages as well as disadvantages especially in the higher ranks. The yetis Frost fought the other day didn’t succumb to his pressure in the slightest, finding it more of a challenge than an overbearing threat. For this frost lizard however, it could feel the danger more and that was why it froze. Its natural warning signals conflicted with its natural duty and came out even. If this was mid battle such a situation would have easily resulted in its death, but Frost continued to simply walk slowly towards his target. As though unaware of the situation he caused within the frost lizard.

He still didn’t have full control of his aura given that he was only C-rank and not even in the upper levels. It was hard to actively manipulate but would show itself during battle, sometimes more than others. This time however was probably the strongest form it had ever taken, and it was purely because in his heart Frost felt no danger from these frost lizards. A natural suppression of a higher level being towards one of a lower rank, his aura reflected that.

Frost stepped closer and closer at a slow pace, his body melding with that of his aura, growing stronger and stronger each time his foot met the floor. He felt calm and powerful as though he was on the cusp of comprehending a worldly truth. His eyes showed a sharp glow and his body appeared as though one with nature, his every movement displaying the air of majesty.

The pressure on the poor frost lizard continued to grow and its momentarily paralysis out of conflicting confusion turned into fear suppression. Its body trembled and it instinctively felt the need to bow its head in reverence as though it met an ancestor. Only its connection to the monster lair and its built in duties prevented it from completely submitting itself before Frost.

.....

Without much thought as though it was a natural action, ice chakra started to flow from Frost’s body, quickly covering him in his glorious armour as he walked. The mana in the air seemed to be drawn in as well adding to the majesty of the armour, making it stronger, more sliver in colour and far more intimidating. Frost was in the zone, comprehending his own aura and natural disposition, like in a trance. He no longer saw the frost lizard ahead of him just a path, his path to the next level of power.

Suddenly an obstacle appeared on the path, an invisible wall that stopped his progress. His steps stopped at the same time and a frown appeared on his face. The cadence built up from his movement started to fall apart, his imposing aura began to crumple, and the ice chakra armour cracked, and the ice crown that was starting to form stopped, it began to dissipate back into mana.

Frost closed his eyes as he desperately tried to get back on the path, but the invisible wall was unflinching vehemently blocking his way to the next level of power. He was so close he could taste it, but it was not to be. Though not without trying the subtle cadence fell apart, as though a great symphony had been cut short, Frost was torn from his delicate state, the path along with the invisible wall impeding him vanished and his vision returned to normal. His aura receded back into his body and the ambient mana was no longer attracted to him. The majestic ice armour covering his body slowly started to peel away and crack, crashing to the floor in pieces before turning back into mana particles.

Frost had failed, but the event was not fruitless, his mastery over his own natural power had increased and he felt much more connected to the element that was ice. This bottleneck shouldn’t have been encountered so soon given that Frost was still in the early stages of C-rank, perhaps mid rank at best. It was the main boundary between C and B rank, the ability to utilise one’s aura outside their body as a physical manifestation. Though breaking through it would not make one B-rank, one could not achieve B-rank without first attaining this ability. Yami and Aqua both passed this hurdle already, making them a fair bit stronger than Frost and his other siblings. He also suspected that Pyro may have broke through the barrier but was still cementing his foundation to truly reach B-rank.

Instead of feeling disheartened by his failure Frost showed a joyous smile and his heart started pumping a mile a minute as excitement flew through his veins.

‘I’m so close, I can already see the boundary hahahaha.’ He laughed internally while sensing the current state of his body. Everything seemed to flow smoother from his chakra to his actual bodily movements, he was stronger by at least a small realm.

“Just a little more training and I’m sure I’ll be able to cross that wall and achieve mastery of my aura. Reaching B-rank after that will just be a matter of time.” If anyone was here to listen to Frost’s words they’d likely puke up blood. Frost didn’t struggle in the slightest to make improvements, all he needed was time. The vast majority of people would never reach B-rank even after enduring an entire lifetime of harsh training, yet all Frost needed was a little time pshuah this was what a genius was, the heavens are so cruel to the average person.

Of course, since Frost was a veritable demi-god his talents couldn’t be low. Most people would have built in limitations from birth meaning they could not reach B-rank no matter how hard they struggled. They’d need high quality medicine to break that limitation. Frost didn’t have that issue, his father gave his children no limit, they could all reach S-rank if they put in the time and effort but higher well that’d depend on their own abilities, work ethic and of course luck.

The dungeon cores like the powerful monster lineages such dragons, fenrirs, behemoths and phoenixes had powerful innate traits that allowed vast stores of mana, strong bodies and high intelligence making reaching A and possibly S-rank not that much of a difficulty, they just needed to grow and train. Comparatively though since these beings had such advantages since birth there were downsides as well. Mainly their numbers. The amount of dragons and other S-rank capable monsters in the world weren’t even a fraction of the amount of sapient races dwelling in Nova. Limiting the amount of effect, they could have on the world. Even supreme power was nothing before numbers.