Dungeon of Niflheim

“Ugh.....looks like I’ve been neglecting the non-battle related areas.” Frost felt quite guilty and decided to rectify the problem then and there. He brought up the dungeon menu and immediately purchased three more great frost centipedes, 3 dwarven smiths to serve as captains along with 15 regular frost dwarfs to be assigned under their command.

‘An additional 3 teams should help the situation.’ Frost nodded his head while cupping his chin.

“Be sure to let me know if you need anything else.” He looked gently towards the captains, encouraging them to be forthcoming in the future. In response the captains saluted with bright expressions before swiftly returning to their work. Their workload would only continue to increase in the coming days.

The monster’s wouldn’t only be larger and greater in number their inherent strength would be higher as well. Thus their corpses would be much harder to take apart.

‘I may have to get them better equipment.’ Frost surmised as he caught a glimpse of dismantling corps’ current equipment. Iron weapons either forged for them by the frost dwarven smiths in charge of production or repurposed weapons that appeared upon their creation. Fine for dealing with G and F-rank monsters but any higher and it’d prove to be a real struggle.

The longer this stampede went on the more Frost learned of the toll it placed upon those involved, so many areas were effected, not just the warriors.

Frost looked towards the number of dungeon points he had now that the first wave of the mid stages was over.

‘Over 150,000, the highest I’ve ever had at one time...shame that I’m about to spend it haaaaaaaaa.’ Frost sighed internally; he wouldn’t have the chance to enjoy his current wealth.

.....

“Findlay I’ll leave the clean up proceedings to you, seems as though I need to make some more substantial changes. If you need me contact me through the menu, I’ll likely either be in the private space or the training area.” Frost tapped Findlay’s shoulder as he handed over command, the enemies weren’t quite strong enough for him to enter the battlefield just yet. The large ice back boar that seemed to a match for his frost trolls fell swiftly thanks to the precise targeting of the ballista bolts as well as his newly acquired cold flames.

Frost brought his hand up in front on his face, silver like flames gently flowed out of his palm and danced around his skin. Frost was quite proud of the result these flames had against the large boar but there was certainly room for improvement.

‘The chilling factor is nowhere near the level of the high earth rank cold flame, a poor imitation.’ He clenched his hand into a fist snuffing out the silver flames, his eyes filling with determination.

His body could now endure the coldness emitted by the high earth rank cold flame without being dyed silver, no longer submitting before a higher level of ice. Though he had only unlocked the first of several layers his progress was substantial, Maya couldn’t help but praise his abilities saying that he was an absolute natural when it came to handling cold flames. Apparently his image when his body was covered in the silver flames reminded her of the primordial ice king, the Ice God, one of the highest existences within the world of Nova, below only the two creation Gods Light and Dark.

According to Maya the two creation Gods Dark and Light were at the very top of the pyramid of power, all else even other Gods were below them and that the gap between them was insurmountable.

As the story goes the world, the sun, the moons, the stars everything in existence started from the two of them. Before them was nothing, they were origins of existence, the start of everything.

Next came the primordial Gods like the ice king, born at the point of the world’s conception, each governing over a distinct element that made up the chaos and order of creation.

Below them are the Gods that achieved their ascendency by growing in power. Examples of such as the Dragon Gods, Tiamat and Midgardsormr, the Wolf God Skoll, the Fairy queen Titania as well as the Giant God Ymir. Each of these Gods started out as mortal creatures and ascended to Godhood through their own hard work and merits, the goals of many denizens within Nova.

Though there are differences in power there isn’t too much of a hierarchy between the Gods well not an official one anyway. The only official level gap is between the two creation Gods and everyone else as they are fundamentally different in origin. One side was birthed by the world whereas the other gave birth to it. No matter how powerful the ‘New Gods’ become or how developed their abilities are they can never hold a candle to Light and Dark. A fact that has driven no small amount of arrogant new Gods to madness, unable to accept the vast chasm.

Frost was initially flattered by being compared to the primordial ice king one of the oldest and most powerful of the Gods after his father and Light but then he felt a heavy weight placed upon his shoulders. Godhood, at his current level of strength and even with his shining potential such a level was so far away and the chances of him reaching it were slim to none. The amount of Gods in comparison to the number of S-rank monsters and sapients was abysmal, even the most talented can find that gap impossible to cross. Maya for example was considered a prodigy in the Fenrir tribe but would likely never reach that level. Even her grandmother who was considered even more of a prodigy couldn’t cross that gap.

Frost increased his training intensity shortly after that comparison making Maya regret her words, her young master was just too stubborn and far too greedy. He’d only been alive for a few months, yet he already had Godhood in his eyes, a normally laughable situation but Maya whenever she saw the determined look in his eyes and the refusal to give even when his body lay broken on the cold hard floor of training room couldn’t help but hold no small degree of hope. Frost was the official son of the Dark God yes, but lineage wasn’t enough to cross that gap, nor was talent. One needed unbreakable will and incessant greed if they wished to escape the shackles of mortality.

Maya couldn’t help but clench her own fists as her own passion was ignited, she’d given up on reaching such a level but after experiencing the taste of divine energy and seeing her handsome boyfriend training so desperately she couldn’t help but want to try again.

Whenever Frost was passed out resting after an intense training session she could now on occasion be found within the training room, practising on her own, trying to understand divine energy and hopefully edge ever closer to that mystical realm.

Findlay performed a perfunctory salute towards Frost, glad that he got to see his master in action. His eyes however lingered on Frost’s hands, the image of the silver flames dancing around Frost’s fingers filled Findlay with excitement. His master was so incredible, just a simple touch and he was able to almost instantly freeze a massive D-rank boar. Findlay desired strength, he needed to improve lest his master leaves him behind. He could only truly stand by Frost’s side if his own strength was comparable.

Findlay gripped his hands around the shaft of his massive axe, his desire for battle causing his heart to thumb loudly and his body to tremble in excitement. The mighty ice troll commander couldn’t wait for the next wave to appear. Regardless of what shows up he’d have to launch himself into the battlefield before he nerves drive him crazy.

“Your will be done master.” Frost nodded his head and gave one last look around the area, searching for any other places that he may have overlooked before teleporting to the private space, his war room and main hub for managing the dungeon.

“Master!”

“Master!” The moment he arrived his body was assaulted by two small figures. Nanna and Loki wrapped their arms around Frost and looked up at him with sparkling eyes, a sliver of drool could be seen at the side of their lips.

‘Haaaaaa they must have seen me use the cold flames to take care of the ice back boar.’ Phoenixes, mighty monsters that were highly attuned with mana and their inherent element. Magically gifted and known for loving the taste of magic flames. Nanna and Loki being Phoenix kin, descendants of such creatures couldn’t help their primal instincts from taking over whenever they saw cold aspected magical flames. The high earth rank cold flame was like an irresistible steak for their young bodies, but it was one that would lead to their deaths given their pitiful strength thus Frost was forced to train with the cold flame separately lest an accident happen.

His chakra born cold flames however were more than acceptable, not at level of harming them especially given that they were under his complete control. The two of them had become rather fond of eating his cold flames ever since he first showed it to them. they even preferred the taste over their favourite candies thus turning Frost into a walking snack.

“Haaaaaaa this really wasn’t what I had in mind when I chose to alter my chakra in flame form.”