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Chapter 233 - Dancing Lights
🕑 Added 2025-01-30 21:34:24 +0000 UTCChris
It was over. Blissfully over. I wasn't sure how long it had been, or how many days had passed, but it was done. The mana rushing in, around, and throughout my body had finally settled into something 'normal.'
The new normal of everything was wildly different from what used to be the case, but my mana was finished arcing out erratic spurts or massive waves causing pain.
The meld between my mana channels and circulatory system was still unfinished, as that was a lengthy process and one that would take weeks to complete, but the main part of the technique was over.
A new power accompanied the beat of my heart and it sent mana cascading through my entire body. Zoning in on my heart with my mana senses made it feel like there was an eight-cylinder engine roaring constantly and peaking with the beat of my heart.
It was... wonderful.
The pain that was linked to having frigidly cold Arctic mana shooting through delicate areas was gone and now all that was left was the feeling of power.
My body used the mana coursing through it along with the oxygen my blood usually carried to become more than it once had. The two combined working together in more ways than one.
Both sides of the coin were represented. The physical and the magical both were used as fuel instead of only one. We wouldn't know the extent of the changes until I got back and tested it, but the initial discoveries were promising. It was even more of a change than getting a Body of Wood as there was more to build off of.
After the ignition was over, I took a few days of rest inside my dome and caught up on some much-needed sleep. My three-month estimate for how long it would take was wildly off and allowed me some time to rest.
Either the mana here was purer and more abundant or I could have stopped and done this much further South.
From what I could tell when I finally broke out of the dome was that around a month had passed. The darkest days were behind us and light was slowly coming back a few minutes at a time.
The Solstice had passed and Winter had begun. I could almost feel it in the air.
After giving my body enough time to rest from the built-up exhaustion, I did a deep dive into the changes. I still couldn't go full out with my infant Mana Heart, not until my Mana channels were merged, but I could still play around and feel the difference.
The first thing I tried to do was grade how well I did. The only options were Full or Perfect, but I wanted to check if I succeeded in achieving a Perfect Ignition. The differences weren't apparently large, but they were enough to be two different grades.
The problem was I had no way to tell.
The new power my body held was obvious, and it certainly felt like a Perfect Ignition from the large jump from how I used to feel, but it was also possible the jump was from a Full Ignition.
I thought that was unlikely, but it wasn't like I'd ever seen or felt one before.
The books had ways of discerning the various grades but I had none of the stuff necessary to do so with me. Rachel would be able to tell, as her senses were way better than mine when it came to mana, but she wasn't with me.
After resting and breaking out of the dome, I didn't immediately head home either.
I had allotted for three months and then a few weeks for travel back, which left me free to do... pretty much anything. Using all of the extra time wasn't a requirement, but I certainly took the chance to relax when it was offered.
It had been so long since I'd truly relaxed.
The area I set up in was completely different than how I remembered it and there were carcasses of various beasts picked clean littered around so I quickly packed up and left.
Something must have happened in the area while I was working on the technique.
Luckily, the Formations did their job and I didn't find any signs of damage on the dome. I wasn't sure what would've happened if I'd been interrupted during the time I was forcing down mana, but I imagined it wouldn't have been pretty.
Besides the bones in the area, the place was surprisingly calm. Whatever happened had run its course and was settled by the time I was finished, which was good.
I wasn't yet comfortable getting into a fight.
My heading was South, toward Frostheim, but I wasn't in any hurry to get there. My trip North was mostly on a tight schedule but now I wandered and took in the sights.
I spent one night laying in the snow watching the Northern Lights dance across the sky. The greens and teals swirling around purples and blues with a backdrop of twinkling white stars.
The sight was something that went beyond art. I doubted a photo or painting could capture everything my eyes were seeing.
It was rare for the Lights to be seen where I lived Before but they were a common occurrence now. If the clouds were scarce, they were visible nearly every night.
I'd seen them before. Frostheim was far enough North to be within range, but this was the first time I was so close and gave myself time to sit and simply gaze at them.
Lying in the snow, looking up without any pressing thoughts.
A day quickly stretched into a few more but I didn't care.
It was nearly a week before I pulled myself away. As much as I liked it up here, and the silence and ambiance it held, I had to get back. Before I did that though, there were a few things I had to do.
My trip back was going to be filled with backbreaking work of working through mana channels, but it was nice to have a destination in mind.
Traveling home felt much better than leaving.
~~
Austin
"Where is he?" Austin couldn't help but ask again.
"You know, we don't have to go through this song and dance every week," Hal said dryly.
Austin wanted to snark back with something but decided against it. He was frustrated and Hal didn't deserve it getting taken out on him.
"It's been months and Winter is nearly over." exasperated, Austin lamented in boredom. "Even Abigail and the rest of them are on their way back already!"
Hal looked up from the papers on his desk, "Chris very well could be on his way back too."
Austin only grunted at that. There was no way to contact the man to find out if he was on his way back or not. Abigail could, with her Profession, but she wasn't here to do that. Even if she was here, she only used it in emergencies.
Gabriel was attempting to create a better way for communication through enchanting but hadn't had much luck. The best he could do was copy what the Fort already had with paired rocks which weren't available until after Chris left.
Chris hadn't even tried to do anything with it yet. None of the Runes he knew could be used for communicating as he focused on what he could use for Wards and equipment.
"I know, but I'm bored!" Austin flopped onto the couch on the side of the room. "This couch is uncomfortable."
"It's not supposed to be comfortable," Hal said while not paying attention to his complaining anymore.
"Do you wanna fight again?" Austin asked hopefully. They'd sparred a few times over the Winter and they were one of the few fun things to do.
"I'm busy, Austin. Is there something you need?"
"Yes, entertain me! There's nothing to do and everyone else is either gone or busy!" He said.
Austin wondered when everyone became such workaholics.
While most were gone and were down with Marcus where he just came from, those that stayed in Frostheim rarely had free time.
Vincent rarely left his forge and was pounding away constantly. Gabriel was the same in his workshop. Brayden was still fully focused on building things and Sam was buried in work. With so many new people needing winter clothes, the Leatherworker was up to her eyeballs in orders.
Connor, the bookworm, was off with Mitchell trying to make new and improved poisons or some other concoction.
"Where did your mother run off to?" Austin asked.
Rachel had left not long after Austin arrived. She was nominally in charge while both Abigail and Chris were away but now that he was back, she took off while she had the chance.
It was slightly insulting that she thought he would run off again leaving her stuck to run the city. Not that Austin did much of that anyway. Hal took care of most things, which was why he was in his office doing paperwork to begin with.
Frostheim ran smoothly now that the craziness had died down, Abigail ensured that with her strict organization, but with new people arriving every day, there was still a need to be more active occasionally.
"You know where she went and I struggle to believe you've already forgotten." Hal dismissively said without looking up.
He was right, Austin hadn't forgotten. It was annoying his Aunt got to go exploring while he didn't. It was his Profession! Not that he needed the experience.
He would reach the cap well before he was ready to evolve at the rate he was going.
"But-"
"Austin, you know I love you, but please get the hell out of my office. I can't concentrate with your yapping." Hal finally broke.
Austin had wondered how long it would take. Longer than I thought.
"Go strengthen your Bloodline, or work on your Laws, or do... anything else that's not in my office."
Part of the reason he was so bored was because what Hal listed off was so dull. The process itself was extremely repetitive but he couldn't even do that anymore to pass the time. Not because he was finished, but because for a different reason.
And not because he was slacking off.
The building Chris constructed for him worked perfectly to gather and store a mixture of Light and Fire mana close enough for his needs, but it only worked when the sun was up and there weren't any clouds.
Today wasn't one of those days. One of the frequent snowstorms common this time of year rolled in blocking the sun which left him without anything to do. He couldn't even blow off steam in the Dungeons, as both were already booked out for the day!
Austin sighed before dragging himself off the uncomfortable couch and made for the door.
"Did you ever get Sam to give you that final check-up? She was looking for you the other day." Hal suddenly remembered.
"Sam? Doesn't ring a bell. I don't remember a Sam that I know. Maybe she was looking for someone else." Austin rushed out of the room much faster than his previous sedate pace to escape questioning.
The Healer was... pushy after he went through Body Refining. She poked and prodded all over his body to make sure everything worked the way it should have. The level of... scrutiny was unnerving.
With both Abigail and Ashley gone working on Water stuff, it left Sam and his Grandmother as the de facto Healers.
Well, Sam. Grandma was still in F-rank and couldn't really do anything to heal him at this point. Especially after refining his body. He didn't have the insane fortitude Chris had that made things hard, but a Body of Wood was difficult enough even healers at his rank would struggle if they didn't know their stuff.
Some still threw mana at the problem, like that was all that was needed.
After he made his swift exit, he was left to wander the Castle aimlessly. He had to admit, it was pretty cool living in one, but that novelty had worn off by now.
There is one thing I can still do.
Austin shook his head before he could entertain the thought. Doing it down South was fine, and Marcus didn't seem to care, but he couldn't do it here. It wouldn't be good to mix work with fun.
He also didn't want to make it awkward when he came back occasionally. Flings were fine when he was in places he wasn't planning on returning to or didn't care that much about.
They were less fine when he'd run into them after the fact.
Frostheim was big, but it wasn't big enough to eliminate that possibility.
The added fact that his mother would find out and then grill him to know everything about the girl only made his decision to not do it firmer.
Nope, not in a million years.
Just picturing it made him shudder.
Maybe Connor made what I asked already?
Comments
Penguin Glutton
Thanks!
giann flroesca
I agree that they are beefier but, considering pictures of old Indian, Carthaginian, and Greek depictions of war elephant combat, Chris would be seated on a little box on top with no way to actually melee his enemies, w/c would relegate him to using his ranged magic and defeat the purpose. IMO this would be GREAT for a glass cannon build like his brother who doesn't really have great defensive stats and fights like a typical mage/ glass cannon.
Saru Yama
Why are you guys so fixated on the rhino? :D I personally would prefer the Mammoth as a war mount for Chris. It can charge just as fine with its tusks but can swing its head from left to right in the middle of the enemy and devastate anything. And it's bigger so more imposing.
giann flroesca
Ultimately I'm not saying it's the most practical decision or the most likely, but can we all agree that seeing Chris mounted on a Giga-chad wooly rhino the size of a bus with full ice barding charging into enemy lines full tilt with a blizzard backing him is badass AF???
giann flroesca
On the issue of mana saturation, I forgot which chapter it was, but they did mention that the ambient mana was steadily increasing everywhere which is why the wildlife kept getting bigger and stronger. That and the location of Frost Heim, while not in the densest mana saturation they know of, was in a fairly dense concentration of ice mana to begin with, check out the old chapter when they were travelling to the location and the winter winds kept getting stronger and colder. Lastly, if those points are still not enough, Chris (Mr. IcyMcIcypants) can simply make a chamber/ shelter/ ice stable of sorts where the rhino can chill out in while waiting for the ambient mana levels to reach a point that can support it, see light focusing glass chamber 2 chapters prior, though I doubt he would need to resort to that.
giann flroesca
On the issue of food, according to a previous chapter while Abigail was waiting for the demon expeditionary army to return, she was bored out of her mind because there was nothing to do, even admin tasks and prepping for the future like prepping fields for planting crops after winter and the like and that was when they had a few hundred people. They can now comfortable support, according to prev. chapter around 10k-ish ppl in Frost Heim. Add to that the fact that they've been advocating for more people and are welcoming the ballooning of the population, then it's a safe bet to say they have more than enough food to support 1 extra rhino if they have enough food to support several thousand extra people. Last I checked it was gold and other forms of currency they were missing out on bec. the people who ran the dungeons went to stop the demonic invasion and even that's probably dealt with since the population boom.
Demonlord
And how would you feed such a beast with the limited supplies they have? It's not like rhinos eat like a sparrow AND the mana level is too low in Frostheim for it to feel comfortable
Demonlord
Yes but after the death of her husband in the tutorial she really distanced herself from being part of anything notable
Demonlord
Thanks for the nice chapter π Can't wait to see Austin's reaction to Chris's power up
giann flroesca
Aahh I kinda forgot about that lol. Still, would be cool to have a rhino mount tho for battles. Charge in ice armor on mount and just go wreck stuff. And since the rhino is a whooly boi he wouldn't freeze to death, which is important since chris 's ice would only get stronger and colder.
Secret Weapons
Chris has a horse. He was the biggest and baddest of the herd they tamed on their way North.... Remi, I think his name is? He couldn't come on this trip with Chris because he'd freeze to death.
Buck
A mount for whom? Chris already has a horse for a mount.
giann flroesca
please get a mount...please get a mount...please get a mount....please get a mount...please get a mount....please get a mount...please get a mount....please get a mount...please get a mount!!!!
Penguin Glutton
Btw the grandma is a healer?
Penguin Glutton
Tftc!
