Dungeon of Niflheim

As the embodiment of ice, Frost had never felt the cold before, what others found to be freezing he found to be lukewarm and rather comfortable. This however was not comfortable; the cold was almost painful.

“How does it feel?” Maya asked gently with a smile on her face. Though she could from Frost’s expression that it wasn’t exactly comfortable it didn’t seem as though he was in any danger either. His ice resistance was quite something.

“.....Cold, very cold.” Frost took some deep breaths and attempted to acclimate his body to the sudden cold temperature. He scraped off the ice shards that developed over his arms and hands then allowed his body to shiver, raising his body temperature ever so slightly.

5 minutes later though it still wasn’t comfortable ice fragments where no longer forming upon him and his body no longer needed to shiver. At first he attempted to summon his ice chakra armour as protection, but Maya swiftly shot that option down.

“You need to feel it naturally otherwise you’ll never be able to improve, blocking it with your chakra would defeat the purpose.” Thus he was forced to slowly adjust, letting his natural affinity with ice catch up to the sudden change.

“I only released the first seal, yet the chill is so powerful.” Frost uttered with a mixture of fear and excitement. The world of Nova was truly massive, and he was but a small speck, a weakling.

Frost clenched his fists, his eyes glinting with passion as he stared deep into the unsealed flame sitting before him in all its glory. Without the first seal he could clearly feel it.

The biting cold, the dancing motion of a flame that sent bursts of chilling air as it moved. Its form was mystical and magical, drawing him in, stroking an instinctual part of him, as though they were in many ways akin.

.....

Frost was lost in the illusion for a second, his hand stretching forward to touch the chilling flame, like a child not knowing the danger of fire.

Maya trembled at this sight and was about to move in to stop him but stopped at the last minute, this was something he had to experience so as to truly learn.

The silver flame danced alluringly drawing Frost in, his hand etched closer before cradling the flame.

“Ahhhhh!” Frost screamed out in pain the moment his hand touched the flame, sliver ice swiftly covered his hand wherever the flame touched, and violent freezing mana invaded his veins, freezing him from the inside, resulting in intense waves of pain.

The pain brought Frost out of his daze, he immediately pulled back his hand that was now dyed silver, he could no longer feel his fingers or even his forearm.

Once again Maya started to move to aid him but once again stopped herself, Frost’s expression made her remain in place. Though shocked by the intense pain and aggressive freezing mana Frost was still calm.

A sudden burst of rivalry formed within him, he summoned his own ice aspected mana, sending the flow towards his silver dyed arm to do combat. He wanted to see who would win.

“Huuu huuuu huuuuu” Frost panted heavily as a veritable battlefield was taking place within his left arm. His own mana was fighting against the mana of the cold flame that invaded his body when he foolishly touched it. Intense waves of pain jostled through his body as the two conflicting energies battled, each vying for dominance. Frost refused to become a popsicle, he was the embodiment of ice he would not be cowed by a mere flame, especially one that was still majorly sealed.

Slowly but surely the silver colour that dyed his arm receded, eliminated step by step by his own mana, erasing its traces and bringing back feeling to his left arm.

The moment the last drop of silver was extinguished Frost fell backwards, exhausted by the ordeal. His own mana was of a lower class, he only managed to triumph because the remnant that invaded his arm couldn’t be reinforced unless he was in contact with the flame. He won through quantity not quality, a harsh reality to the young dungeon core but also one that filled his heart with determination and excitement. He bore the same look he had when Maya had broke nearly every bone in his body and he laid prone on the ground awaiting her healing spell. He could see improvement making the entire experience worth it.

Maya who witnessed the entire exchange couldn’t help her lip from twitching. Frost truly was an M type. She shook her head, Frost was supposed to have learned the danger of such a flame yet from his expression it was clear that he wanted to touch it again, to battle it again with his body on the line. Maya let out a sigh, unable to understand the feelings of her boyfriend.

Just like Maya predicted Frost chose to learn from the high rank earth cold flame by absorbing parts of it into his body, feeling its essence as it rampaged and tried to freeze him. A dangerous and rather brutal method but then again also a very natural one, akin to taking the chakra approach instead of magic spells.

Maya kept watch over her young master as he repeatedly absorbed more and more of the flame, gradually acclimating to its power and asserting dominance over it. Frost was a long way from overpowering the flame even in its sealed state, but he was certainly making progress, his wild smile growing larger after each and every attempt.

After a few hours he reached the limits of his body and literally passed out from exhaustion despite the constant flow of mana provided by the dungeon. Maya had to carry him back to the private space and place him on his bed. She of course took a few liberties with his defenceless body and was quite tempted to mark him, but the judging looks from the two phoenix kin made her too embarrassed.

After marking their work both Nanna and Loki had performed equally well therefore they both got to help in making desserts all while Frost slept like a log. His dreams filled with the high rank earth cold flame and the possibilities it could bring him. He could feel his mana slowly evolving, reaching a higher level of quality, more dense and far colder. He knew that once the evolution was complete he’d be equal to a B-rank mage, capable of using 4th circle spells and firing 3rd circle ones without pause.

There was a large gap between C-rank and B-rank, one that couldn’t be crossed by relying on equipment. The battle Frost had with Baron Adam was a prime example. Despite all his mana enhancing equipment, the Baron still couldn’t fire a high ranking 3rd circle spell without repercussions, his mana veins weren’t strong enough nor his mana dense enough to handle such a load more than once in a short time. Ryuu and that Drogan didn’t have such an issue and thus were able to literally blow apart their battlefield with powerful spells without taking a break.

Frost also inched ever closer towards his plan for a new monster species. Something that would be unique to him and suit his current and future plans well. His elder brother Yami and elder sister Aqua were already well on their way to developing their own unique race, Frost didn’t want to fall too far behind, but he also didn’t want his creation to be lacklustre, they needed to be perfect, multi-skilled with a large evolution path.

As Maya catered to the children and Frost laid passed out on his bed Findlay was left in charge of the monster waves that continued to flow into the dungeon and the well prepared kill box.

Night was drawing near, a time when monsters are generally more active and more powerful that they diurnal counterparts, the monster stampede shouldn’t be any different.

The dungeon had repelled three waves now with neither wave making it passed the half way point of the kill box, all invaders swiftly falling to the ranged onslaught that awaited them. The frost revenants that weren’t seeing any action leaned on their large great swords and closed their eyes, resting while standing but otherwise still ready to move into action at a moments notice.

The lesser yuki-onnas however had no decorum, the two on shift which were the same from the start lay down on their backs, loudly grumbling and complaining whenever they felt like it, occasionally summoning some playful ice spells and launching them at their monster colleagues.

Findlay was nearly blowing a fuse, a large protruding vein across his forehead throbbed as he held back his anger. His personality and those of the lesser yuki-onnas were so different that they couldn’t get along. They were only suffering one another due to Frost’s command and the threat of the monster stampede.

‘Hopefully once they actually see some action I’ll be relieved of this burden.’ Findlay couldn’t wait for the day when the lesser yuki-onnas actually had to work instead of play around and annoy him.