Dungeon of Niflheim

Within the [beginner’s ice magic] monster lair Sam, Lola and Frost were likely the strongest group around and even with their abilities taking on an ice revenant was dangerous. The only reason they were was because of a dire need, therefore it was unlikely for anyone else to take it on or at least win.

While Sam got to work tidying up all of their gear, Frost relayed the range of his skills to Lola as well as his initial purpose in entering the monster lair plus what he’d encountered on his way here. Lola listened and nodded her head and did her best to keep a straight face whenever Frost said something ludicrous, keeping her opinions to herself until the end.

“After defeating the two D-rank frost lizard bosses I entered the 5th floor and spotted the great frost centipede absconding with a recent kill. Interested in its capabilities I followed it here to its lair in an attempt to fight and kill it.” Frost expression was initially positive but when he got to the part in which Lola and Sam had to intervene his face couldn’t help but heat up with shame. “At first the battle was going fine; I knew its weak points and strong points. Given that I was faster I wanted to see how my glaive would match against it carapace.”

“So, you attacked its hardest part?” Lola couldn’t help but blurt this out with a pitying gaze. ‘Who in their right mind would make a fight harder than it has to be when they already knew about their foe’s weakness?’ If Frost didn’t have knowledge from his monster encyclopaedia she wouldn’t be so puzzled, but Frost clearly did. There was a limit to one’s foolishness and arrogance. But before she could admonish him for his actions he continued.

“Yeah and I made it extra mad when my glaive made a dent almost to the point that it wanted to flee.” Frost answered back with a slight twitch knowing that what he did was foolish.

“Well of course that would happen, the carapace of the great frost centipede is equivalent to high grade iron, even high ranking weapons would struggle to leave a mark so....wait did you say you say you dented the thing? With a single strike? Did you use a skill?” Lola was suddenly in amazement. Even her husband with his great sword would find it difficult to leave much more than a mark on the hardest part of the great frost centipede yet with a casual testing slash Frost dented it. No wonder the centipede grew afraid and wanted to flee.

“Not the first time, but I did the second time since only a dent was left. With the use of my skill, I pierced its carapace and reached its flesh. After that it rapidly reeled backwards and dived back into its hole. Thinking that it had fled in fear I let down my guard.....the next second I heard the ground underneath me quake, I tried to retreat backwards but I wasn’t fast enough. A moment later the centipede burst from the ground and chomped down on my arm....the rest well you know what happened.” Frost rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment, but Lola was too amazed to register the young man’s feelings as was Sam who at some point stopped his tidying.

The husband and wife looked at one another in shock, only now did they truly understand Frost’s capabilities. He had talent in magic, chakra as well as glaive arts but his personal physical strength was enough for him to take on a great frost centipede at its hardest point and come out on top. Of course, Frost’s weapon being quasi 4th star certainly helped but that mainly prevented it from shattering, the strength of the slash all came from Frost. He was more than an unpolished gem, practically a diamond in the rough. The situation with the frost centipede was purely bad luck, his inexperience allowing him to let his guard down and being a half step too slow resulting in him being pinned in a death lock. Likely if the centipede wasn’t so angry and fearful of Frost’s weapon its determination to take his arm wouldn’t have been so fervent.

.....

‘Damn where on earth do we start with this guy, so chock full of potential.’ Lola licked her lips, eyeing Frost as some prized specimen, far different from her earlier interest in his pretty face, far more eery. Frost felt a shiver down his spine as he endured the looks from both Sam and Lola. Sam although a user of a great sword and not pole weapons could still teach Frost a lot in terms of battle giving that both were rather long and heavy two handed weapons. But Lola knew ice magic and far more than Frost, her knowledge could easily be transferred to Frost as is. Lola had never had a student before so she couldn’t help but be excited, full of enthusiasm she demanded that Frost show her his known spells at once so she could get a good reading.

Throughout their journey through the 5th floor and 6th floor they’d need to test Frost in battle so as to develop a high level of teamwork when faced against the ice revenant, knowing his skills first hand was a necessity.

Frost acquiesced to his new teacher’s instructions and performed all his spells from weakest to strongest. His 3rd circle spell [summon ice golem] was last but still the thing was only 1.3 metres tall or so, hardly battle worthy. Lola stood at the side with a contemplative look on her face as she analysed Frost’s abilities and spell repertoire.

“To be honest I hoped for a broader selection given your strength.” Lola couldn’t help but shake her head a little in disappointment. “Even if we count your [summon ice golem] spell you’ve only got four spells under your belt, technically 3 and half given that [summon ice golem] is barely at a usable level.” For a mage and one at C-rank this list of spells was really pitiful and was all of one element. Such magic was pretty much useless down here in the [beginner’s ice magic] monster lair.

Frost’s eyes twitched slightly at her response, ‘I’ve only be alive for a little over a month, I think the fact that I know four spells is pretty good, all things considered.’ Unfortunately, he couldn’t say this out loud, just had to silently accept Lola’s disappointment.

Lola cupped her chin in thought before she continued. “I don’t have any magic spell books on me for you to learn immediately and I can’t help you much with the [summon ice golem] spell since I don’t know it, but I can help with your other magic and handover some used tomes of other ice spells.” Lola sent her mana into her spatial ring to remove a few well used books. These were regular books on spells, ones that required the user to read and understand the old fashioned way. She’d already learned the spells described but kept them on hand as occasional reading material.

Lola brought out five thick books all clearly well-read but well taken care of. “Here you can have these books, consider it a gift from teacher to student, I’ll have you study and practise what’s in these books whenever we stop for a break.” Frost took these five heavy books from Lola’s arms and his heart felt warm. The books were all on ice magic, not much use for him within this monster lair but would certainly be important for him in general.

Each book explained and described a single spell, and all were at the minimum of 2nd circle with one even being 3rd circle, a very lavish gift for someone you’ve just met. Lola clearly viewed him as her student.

The spells in the books were thus:

Blizzard 2nd circle spell: summons a large ice boulder over the target area and drops it with great force.

Ice fog 2nd circle spell: generates a thick ice fog around the caster that helps to conceal oneself from view and even partially from mana sense.

Ice weapon enchantment 2nd circle spell: imbues a weapon with the power of ice, increasing its sharpness and allowing one to cause ice damage.

Ice shield, 2nd circle spell: creates a wall of ice before the caster in defence.

Ice prison 3rd circle spell: from the magic crest a large ice cage is summoned, imprisoning, and capturing the target within.

All of the spells were ones in which he didn’t know yet, effectively expanding his spell list by more than double. With such magic, Frost would be a whole different person. He could find a strong use for each and every spell, especially the [ice prison] spell. It’d be really good for separating large groups of enemies and or capturing foes instead of killing them, aiming for a different strategy from the full on brute force approach he was used to.