《Astronomically Cold》 1. Run. I ran through the snowstorm as fast as I could. My heart was beating hard from fear as well as the running. The snowstorm Mom created wouldn¡¯t last forever, and if the Ice Cats caught me, I would die. Just like my father. No! Don¡¯t think about that. Just run. Worry for Mom gnawed at me. She would be fine. She had a Snow affinity. Nothing could stop her. Traitorous images of Dad pierced through with ice javelins, increasing my worry. I ran in my bear form on all four paws. I didn¡¯t look back. When I reached a gap in the ice shelf, I plunged into the icy water and swam for all I was worth, simultaneously changing direction. My thick fur coat and a generous layer of fat helped my Cold Resistance to keep me warm. The vigorous energy also helped. The water would confuse my tracks. I launched myself back up onto the ice, discovering it was just a floating section, and then plunged back into the water. I came to a rocky shore and raced up it, scattering seals and penguins. I dashed over to the snow and continued up the bank. The snowstorm stopped. It didn¡¯t slowly reduce and ease like a normal storm. It just stopped. I didn¡¯t let myself think. I just ran. If I let myself think, I would know Mom had just died, and that couldn¡¯t be. I put more effort into his running. Night came early at this time of year, and still, I ran. My running was more of a stagger by this time, but I wouldn¡¯t let myself stop. I was almost six years old now and had started my training as an Arctic Hunter with Dad. I hadn''t got very far yet. I had seen humans once, and they didn¡¯t start training until they were twelve or thirteen years old. Mom said humans were a different species, and that was normal for them. If I went to the human village and changed to my upright form, they would classify me as a teenager. Humans are weird. I found a soft snow bank and dug myself a cave. I closed the entrance after me and cried myself to sleep. I don¡¯t know how long I slept. It was dark when I woke, but the days were short this time of year. The sun didn¡¯t rise far above the horizon, and it would worsen as we moved into the long night. My stomach rumbled. I wasn¡¯t ready to leave the cave just yet. I ate some snow. It wouldn¡¯t do much for me, but it would keep my stomach quiet. Mom and Dad. I would never see them again. Especially Mom. Dad would leave for long periods, often several months at a time. Mom said it was unusual he came back. Us Bearkin were generally solitary creatures. Technically, we were Polar-Bearkin. Who bloody cares about technicalities? I am never going to see Mom again. A long time later, I dug myself out of the cave. I was cautious. I tested the scents in the wind, and nothing unusual was there. I reminded myself if anything was hunting me, they would be downwind, where I would not smell them. That was also the safest direction I should go. I am young and only half-grown. I am not a true hunter yet. Maybe three-quarters grown, but I do not have a class. Classes give attributes, and with attributes, you can develop Skills. I am nearing the end of my childhood, so the attributes that come from growing up are slowing down. I need a class, and I now have no one to teach me. I can learn a class on my own, but it takes forever, and it is only a really simple class, giving two or three attributes per level. Mom and Dad had started teaching me the Arctic Hunter Class, which had five attributes per level. They had both started with that class. I remembered their teachings, of course. Mostly. Mum had just finished teaching me the Identify Skill, and I don¡¯t think I could have learned it alone. It takes ten attributes in Mental Perception, and as a solitary species, understanding other sapients is not a strong area for us. Mom won¡¯t be able to teach me anything again. Dad said I need to get Nightsight when my Physical Perception Attribute reaches fifteen. That happened last night. This will help me see through the long night. Nightsight is good in low-light spaces, but it needs some light. I learned the Skill, and everything became marginally brighter. It would keep improving as the Skill levels. Dad also said I needed Clearsight as soon as my Physical Perception got to twenty and my Spiritual Perception got to fifteen. Clearsight will help me see through snow storms, whiteouts, and underwater, basicall anything that obscures vision. It is also good at seeing through the Camouflage Skill, which will help with my hunting and survival. The trouble is I don¡¯t know how to level those attributes now. I looked at my Status sheet.
Ivan Medved Level Physical Mental Spiritual Totals Free
Str Agi Per Str Agi Per Str Agi Per
Base Attributes 15 12 13 13 8 10 14 9 10 104
Earned Attributes 2 1 2 2 0 0 1 0 0 8
B 0 0
Totals 17 13 15 15 8 10 15 9 10 112 0
Constitution 45 33 34
Resistances: Cold +10, Pain +3 If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Skills: Novice: General Identify 3, Fishing 1 Fighting, Senses Nightsight 1 Lore Arctic Lore 2 Apprentice: General Common 5, Arctic Camouflage 5, Transform 6, I had 104 base Attributes. Polar Bearkin average between 100-110 so I would not grow much more. I had 8 earned attributes, which I was quite proud of, but I know Mom and Dad had much more. I could earn more by pushing myself in that area, but they would also slow down as I got stronger, and they needed more and more effort. If I need Spiritual Perception for Clearsight, how do I push myself in that area? I don¡¯t know. Spiritual Perception is about seeing or sensing the spiritual. No idea. That''s why I need a class. Classes earn attributes in the areas relevant to them, and some have free attributes you can assign. I don¡¯t know what class I need to earn Spiritual Perception. What I needed now was to survive. I had no knife skills, and the knife Mom got me was left behind. Claws and teeth were what I had, so they would be what I used. I would stay full Polar Bear. I turned downwind so no regular predator could surprise me from behind and started out. I need to be careful, as the Ice Cats will still be hunting me. I know Mom had Infrared Vision, which helped her hunt by seeing heat. The Ice Cats might have similar Skills. Downwind was taking me further away from our cave, so that was good. This was not the first time I had been alone. Mom would go on extended hunts without me, and I went out alone. The longest I was hunting on my own was a week. It was only supposed to be four days. Mom found me on the eighth day. I might have got a bit turned around. Now, she wasn¡¯t there to save me anymore. I was truly alone. I stuck near the coast as the one Skill I had was fishing, which I had learned on my extended hunt. Fish had kept me fed then, and it would do so again. My favourite food was seal, and they also lived on the coast. I really like the crunch of the bones and the fat under the skin, and Mom said it was good for me. I was supposed to build my fat up for the winter. My fur and layers of fat were what helped keep the cold away, along with my growing Cold Resistance. Mom was not there to sleep next to anymore. I stayed close to the shore, occasionally venturing out onto the ice shelf. I tried sneaking up on some seals, and my white fur helped with my Arctic Camouflage. They spotted me too early and made it to the water before I could catch them. There was no way I would catch them in the water. My Arctic Camouflage was only able to be used when I was not moving. I need to get better at sneaking. I also need to get faster. I was cold, hungry, and miserable when I finally dug a snow cave to rest in. I had not even caught any fish. I did find the remains of an Arctic Hare and chased the birds away. Very little was left on the half-frozen carcass, but I ate everything I could. I spent some time working with the snow of my cave, trying to get a feel for it. I wanted a Snow affinity like Mom. Ice would be good. Wind and water were the other common affinities in the Arctic, but Mom was the only person I knew with an affinity until the Ice Cats came. I would need something if I were going to get back at them. Revenge would have to wait. First, I needed to survive. Should I try to get to the human settlement? It was on the other side of the Ice Cats, so I would have to go a long way inland to circle around. It was better to keep to the coast. Making shelters was easy. Food was going to be my problem. I needed to level Fishing and improve my hunting. That meant learning to sneak and level Arctic Camouflage and get faster. Physical Agility was the attribute that governed speed. I needed to get much faster. Even the baby seals beat me to the water. 2. Learn. I was too big, that was my problem. I was too easy to see to sneak up on my prey. Even those waddling penguins got away from me because they saw me too soon, and I couldn¡¯t run fast enough. Fortunately, that is now about the change. My parents were going to train me to be an Arctic Hunter, a class long held in esteem by our race. We are the apex hunters in this region. The class I just received is the lowest I could have gotten, but it has enabled me to increase my attributes. I am now a level 1 Scavenger. It only provides three attributes, all assigned to the Physical attributes¡ªone for each Strength, Agility and Perception. It is not much, but it is a start to getting stronger and faster. The low levels of a skill or class are the easiest to level. That means Fishing should level quickly. The trouble is the low level of a skill is also where you are least skilled. Fishing would level if I could catch anything. Grrrrrrr. And that was not just my stomach. My underlying anger fuels my frustration at fishing and hunting. The Ice Cats attacked us, and, as my mother had not found me yet, I knew she was dead. I wanted to go and get revenge so bad, but they would just kill me. That frustrated me. I need to get stronger. I know I was not in control a lot. It shows in the basic mistakes I am making. My reaction to fishing is off. I am making too much noise when trying to sneak up on my prey and I startle them. I am frustrated. I am angry, and I am powerless. I can¡¯t even feed myself. Hunger is adding to it all. I growl low and long. The tree was mutilated. I felt a little better after taking my frustrations out on it. My claws were sharp. Fighting in bear form is very different from fighting in humanoid form. In bear form, it is all strength and claws. Humanoid form is more versatile, but I am not changing to humanoid, as my fur is much less thick. Once the tree dampened my frustration, I moved to the bear fighting form my mum had taught me. The discipline of the moves helped me get my mind back into focus. The anger was there, simmering in the background. Strike, strike, move. I need to be faster. I mutilate another tree and then force myself to do sprints. I need to move this big lumbering body faster, and I need to be faster with my claws and teeth. Now that I have the basic Scavaging Class, my physical agility and strength will rise, but skills are also needed. Scavaging gives me attributes in the physical area, where we bear-kin excel, but I need more to take on the Ice Cats. I need Mental and Spiritual strength as well. If I had Arctic Hunter, I would have two free attributes to assign to get my lesser stats up for the more spiritual skills. Scavaging has no free attributes. I chose Nightsight as it helps enhance low light, and it needed Physical Perception at 15. I can get another sensory skill at 20, but if I want Clearsight, I am going to also need Spiritual Perception at 15. Clearsight will help me see through blizzards and whiteouts and use the spiritual to enhance the physical. Olfactory and Hearing Aid are two other skills I need, and with Scavaging giving me a point in Physical Perception, I can pick one of them in five levels. It is Spiritual attributes I need as they enhance the physical beyond what is normally possible, and that is in more than just perception. My Spiritual Perception is only at 10, and I have no easy way to raise it with class points. That means doing it the hard way. The Hard way is by using it, and the less you have, the harder it is to use. I start by getting used to the physical. Every time the anger, frustration and despair hit me, I would launch myself into the physical exercises. This surprised me and earned me a point in Mental Strength, and I found my anger slightly easier to control. I hunted, scavenged, fished, and meandered my way along the icy coast. I was thinking and testing ways to exercise my Spiritual Attributes. I tried and tried, and nothing was happening. Anger and frustration were growing. Day and night are not clearly defined this far north, and time doesn¡¯t really matter here. I was practising my Dashes and trying to use my Spiritual Agility alongside my Physical Agility. This was hard as I didn¡¯t have a lot of spiritual agility, and my frustration was growing. Why can¡¯t I learn this? This is the easiest skill to enhance with spiritual power. I needed more physical release and slammed everything I could into the next sprint. Suddenly, it felt like my muscles smoothed and powered for a couple of seconds before it went away again, and I stumbled. I stopped and stood panting for a moment. I checked my Skills. I didn¡¯t have the skill Dash. I had the Skill Sprint. I checked it, and it needed 15 in Physical Agility and 15 in Spiritual Strength. Wait, why Spiritual Strength? Isn¡¯t agility all about speed? This puzzled me. I am sure Mum had Dash, and she said it needed 15 in Physical Agility and 10 in Spiritual Agility. I know I didn¡¯t have 10 in Spiritual Agility, but I needed to push for what I knew. Agility is all about speed or nimbleness. Strength is about power. Maybe I was using my Spiritual Strength to power my Physical Agility. That must be it. This opens a lot of possibilities. I need to keep in mind the difference between Spiritual Strength and Spiritual Agility. Like the physical, spiritual strength empowers, and Spiritual Agility is about Spiritual Speed. I don¡¯t think I am ever going to be Spiritually fast, but I can be Spiritually strong and use that strength. Bear-kin are strong, and I can be as well. Sprint uses my Spiritual Strength to make my muscles work better and faster. Stronger. I need to level the skill so I can sprint for longer. Maybe now I can catch something more than fish. I dug a cave and settled down for a rest. I gained a point in Mental Agility from this, and that surprised me. It must have been my understanding of the difference between Spiritual Strength and Spiritual Agility. I am not necessarily the fastest thinker, but I can get there. Eventually. Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation. I also earned a point in Physical Agility, which is good. We bear-kin are not the most agile, and everything helps. I kept hunting and scavaging, and my class levelled up, giving me more physical attributes. The sun was getting lower in the sky, and the long dark was coming. My bear nature was urging me to eat more and find somewhere for a long sleep. I could fight that nature as I am a bear-kin, not a full polar bear. The temperature would drop further. The ice shelf will expand. Sleeping sounded really, really good. The trouble is I don¡¯t think I have enough fat on me to last. My Sprint Skill is levelling, and the seals have the fat I need. I am still more scavenging than hunting, although I am more effective against other scavengers. Finding a settlement would be best, but the wilderness is vast. I need a plan, and I don¡¯t have a plan. I might be slow mentally, but if I have time, I can get there. There is no rush, as I am living in the rhythm of the seasons, which are months long. I decided I needed a base for the long dark. A cave would be best, but near the sea and the ice shelf, as fishing is still my best food source. I need shelter from the storms. I started looking. My food intake has increased. I replicated my actions with Sprint, and now I also have Quick Claws and Crushing Bite. Quick Claws has helped my fishing a lot. Several sleeps later, I found a narrow and steep gully not far from the ice shelf. There was a layer of ice in the bottom, which might have been water for a couple of weeks in summer. There were pines scattered around and a rock shelf, which I started excavating under. I didn''t need to excavate the rocky soil far. I went to the ice, cut out slabs with my claws, and lugged them back for walls. The rock would be the roof, and it would soon be covered in snow. I got frustrated at positioning the ice as a bear, so I transformed into a humanoid form to fine-tune the position. I had no clothes, but I was thankful Mum had made me practice this to level it to apprentice. This meant I could leave some aspects of the bear active, and I left the fur and claws. The fur cut down on the cold, but it was nowhere near as warm as my bear fur. I looked down, and I didn¡¯t have nearly enough fat. I would have to make regular trips to find food during the long night. My claws helped me grab the ice. I piled some snow to hide the shelter and cleaned up a bit. The first storm would complete the cave, and nobody would see it if they were not right in front of it. The door was large enough for my bear form, although my humanoid form was not small. I was almost 2m tall and broad-shouldered. I needed more fat, though. My facial fur was slightly longer around the head and chin. If I stayed in this form, I would grow white hair and a beard. I was only six winters old, but from a human age, I would be a teenager. Our animal-kin races mature a lot faster than the idiot humans. The door to my cosy cave was just a gap, but I extended the outer wall past the inner wall so the wind would not blow straight in, and the opening was to the uphill side of the gully. There would be plenty of snow for me to block the gap later. I grabbed some branches and pine and fur needles to make a softer bed. I sat bare-assed on the needles for a while and thought. My humanoid form is more flexible, and my hands can carry things more easily. I should spend some time as a humanoid getting used to my new skills before it really gets cold. I shivered. Being a human will also level my Cold Resistance faster. I went out onto the ice shelf, and my foot claws gave me traction. I practised my sprints, and I soon started warming up. After a while, I moved to the edge of the ice shelf and waited. A fish darted past, and my Quick Claws was even better with human arms. I sliced it open with my claws and ate it fresh. Eating is better with a bear¡¯s jaw and teeth. I spied another fish and, this time, dove into the cold, dark water. That was a wake-up call. I got the fish and climbed out, noting that Fishing had levelled to 5, which is the Apprentice level, and that Cold Resistance had gone up. Crushing Bite didn¡¯t work so well with human teeth. I will work out what suits me as a human in due course, so there is no rush. I am thinking of fur, teeth, and claws at the moment, but that might change when I get some tools. Clothes might also interfere with the fur. Humans wear clothes because they don¡¯t have fur. I probably don¡¯t need clothes. I spent the time exploring a day¡¯s travel in every direction to see what was around. I saw some deer signs, but more worryingly, there was also wolf sign. A day inland, the land turned into mountains, and I saw the marking of an Ice Troll. Ice Trolls are highly territorial, and Mum might attempt one solo, but I would not. She wouldn¡¯t either, as it would not be worth the risk. If you stay out of their territory, they will leave you alone. I spent time as a humanoid practising and trying to develop some familiarity. If I had to run from the wolves, my human form was good at climbing trees, especially with my claws. My Scavaging Class was steadily levelling, and my Physical Perception was nearing 20, but I had not worked out how to level Spiritual Perception yet. Spiritual Strength went up as I was using it in my skills, but how do I level Spiritual Perception? I looked at my skill list. I had Identify that I mostly haven''t used. Identify used Mental Perception. Mum taught it to me when my MP got to 10. Mental Perception is something else we bear-kin are not good at, being loners and all. What we can do with Identify is use it on yourself to assess where you were at with some skills and attributes. I used it on myself and felt through my attributes and skills. That is interesting. I am pretty close to getting the Tracking Skill. Tracking needed a 20 in Physical Perception and 10 in Spiritual Perception, and all I needed to do was level Scavenger again, and I would meet those minimums. Then I had to actually track something, but my scouting and identifying deer, wolf, and troll signs are a really good start. My Arctic Lore also helps here, although I do believe it is not required. Many skills interact with others to improve them, but it is all a bit beyond me. I also felt I more than met the attribute requirements for the Stealth Skill, but I was not getting it. I know bears are not really the stealthy type, but it would help if I could sneak closer before my Sprint attack. Then, I hit myself on the side of the head for being particularly slow. Bears are not really the stealthy type, but humans are. I bet if I practised in my humanoid form, I would get it. Then I could use my large, clumsy bear form to level it like I use my skinny humanoid form to level my Cold Resistance. I stay away from the Ice for the next few days and spend time in the sparse forest, tracking and scavenging. My Humanoid form is more agile and stealthy. Stealth 1 soon appeared on my status. Skills grow quickly through the Novice levels as long as you use them. The skills often need a bump to get them over to the next level, as Apprentice starts at level 5 and Journeyman at level 10. A master begins at level 15. It all gets slower and more challenging to level the higher you get. 3. Long Dark. With Stealth and Tracking, I felt I was finally making progress toward becoming a hunter. I couldn¡¯t quite remember what skills were required for the Arctic Hunter Class, but I am sure Stealth was one of them. I am sure a weapons skill was another, but I am unsure if Quick Claws counted. The sun was pretty much circling the horizon, and I am sure in a week or so, it would set for a few months. I found some branches and sharpened them. They were more pointed sticks than actual spears, but in my humanoid form, they gave me more reach. I also practised throwing them. I was not good at throwing. I will need a lot of practice. Basic actions like Climbing, swimming, and throwing don¡¯t give you skills, and how good you are depends on your attributes. If I practised Spear Throwing or something else that is more specific, I might get a skill. I snuck up on a deer and wounded it with a thrown spear, but it was too fast for my sprint, and I lost it as my tracking was not good enough. I need to go back to hunting seals. They are nicer anyway. I weathered a couple of nasty storms in my ice cave and slept through them in my comfortable bear form. Digging myself out afterwards was not hard, but food was getting scarce. The starry sky on clear nights was amazing, though. Sometimes, I would stay watching it for hours as the stars marched across the sky and the moons came and went. Some stars were almost stationary, and the ones down by the horizon seemed to move faster. I did have a vague idea that the world was round and rotating, and we were near the top end somewhere. Sometimes, there were amazing colours in the dark sky. I had reached level 20 in Physical Perception, so I could get another perception ability. My Spiritual Perception attribute had not changed, so I needed something useful now rather than waiting for Clearsight. It comes down to Hearing Aid or Olfactory, either sound or smell. I was not interested in Tasty or Sensitive Skin. Farsight sounded useful but not overly useful for me now. I needed a way to hunt and track that didn¡¯t rely on sight. I am pretty certain Olfactory is better as scents are left on the ground for longer, and if I stayed downwind of prey, I would never lose them. Hearing Aid could warn me of imminent attacks, but the way the wind howls around here is of limited value. Olfactory it is. The scents around me came into sharp relief, and they were mostly my scents. I needed a swim to clean up. I went out onto the Ice. The edge of the ice shelf used to be only a hundred meters from the shore, but now it is closer to a kilometre. I tested the freezing wind coming off the ice and caught the scent of seals and penguins. Visibility is down, and icicles are being blown off the ground. Nightsight picked up what it could, but I moved slowly, practising my stealth in bear form. Bears are not designed for stealth, but my white fur blends in with the ice and helps my Arctic Camouflage when I am stationary. The best way for my bear form is to creep forward and wait for Arctic Camouflage, then do it again. It is very slow, but the bear is big and a lot clumsier than the humanoid. With the onset of the Long Dark, my Nightsight rapidly rose to mid-Apprentice. My Cold resistance did the same even in my bear form. I no longer had Mum to sleep against. My anger simmered and threatened to rise. I pushed it down for now. I slept a lot. On calmer days, I go fishing or scavaging. Food is scarce. I had to cut through ice to fish unless I wanted to walk for kilometres now. The ice can be treacherous, but getting dunked in the water is survivable for my bear form. It is not pleasant, but I will live. I awoke after another storm and dug myself out. I was constantly in my bear form now. A stiff breeze was blowing in from the sea, and it had the smell of seals. My stomach growled with hunger. I ambled out onto the ice. Suddenly, pain ripped through one of my rear legs, and something heavy landed on my back, claws and teeth digging in. I roared in pain and surprise and kicked out with my leg, clipping a wolf and getting a pained yelp in response. I whirled around, trying to dislodge the wolf on my back and to stop any further attacks. It was a pack of twenty or so. All looked thin and undernourished. They also looked like normal wolves. There are no monsters here. Wolves who develop monster cores are called Dire wolves, and that would be a certain death to me. This is only possible death. The pack had been stalking me from downwind, so I didn¡¯t smell them. They were desperate, or they would not have attacked me. They were also dangerous. They were spreading out to surround me, and one darted in from the side. I swiped a claw at him, but it left an opening on the other side and the wolf bit down on my shoulder. It let go quickly when I snapped at it with my jaws. This is how they would wear me down, one bite at a time. The wolf on my back was trying to get its claws deeper. I rose up on two legs to try to dislodge it, but it hung on grimly. Its claws raked my fur to try and get purchase. It was mostly hanging there by the strength of its jaw. So it was not thrown off. I had to come down to stymie the attack of others. If I could have stayed up longer, I think it would have lost grip eventually. Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. The wolves darted back out of reach when I landed. This was a losing scenario for me. They would wear me down. They kept coming, and I kept fending them off, trying to dislodge the one on my back. I had blood flowing from my back now, and I needed it gone. They were trying to keep me distracted and enraged. The second part is working. Hopefully, the first part would save me if I could just figure out how. I struck suddenly with Quick Claws and sent a wolf flying. It yelped, and when it got up, it was minus the use of one of its legs. I am not sure if I broke it or cut the ligaments, but it will limp for a long while. This may be its eventual death, as this is an unforgiving land. If I was a polar bear, I would be in trouble, but I am a bear-kin. The biggest difference, apart from the transformation, is my ability to think, even if I was not a fast thinker. The first obvious thing was that I needed to get somewhere they could not surround me. My cave was the first place I thought of, but then I would be trapped, or they would jump down from the rock above. I was bleeding from several places now. I needed a solution, and I needed to get this wolf off my back. The other not-so-obvious solution was the ocean. I could survive the ocean, but I didn¡¯t even need to swim. I just needed something at my back that they could not use. I swiped at another darting wolf, then twisted and Sprinted further out onto the ice. That actually dislodged the wolf on my back, and it tumbled off. The trouble was that the ocean was a long way away, and the wolves were faster and more agile than my bear form. Sprint was only for short-range, and my limited attributes didn¡¯t help. I stopped suddenly and Quick Clawed the nearest wolf, sending it sliding on the ice, leaving a trail of blood. It got up and limped back, unfortunately. I kept turning and keeping them at bay, preparing for another sprint. I am going to have to manage my energy. If I run out of stamina, I will die. They were trying to bait me again, and a wolf landed on my flanks and bit in. I struck out with both back feet, and it almost dislodged. I took off in another sprint, and it rolled free. I need stronger fur or skin. I started using my spiritual strength to try to make my fur stronger and more resistant to the bites. I had no idea if it would work. I dodged to the left, and a leaping wolf landed on the ice rather than on me. Then, there were two trying to turn me to the others. I barred my teeth and crashed through them, getting a Crushing Bite on one and whipping my head from side to side, making it seem like a soft toy. Hot blood filled my mouth. I crunched down harder and cracked bones before dropping it to fend off another one. I felt claws on my side and a bite on my hamstring. I struck out and missed and then Sprinted again. I was accumulating wounds. The wolves were as well, but there were twenty of them and only one of me. I passed the last hole I cut in the ice to fish, so I knew how thin the ice was here. I fended off a couple of wolves as they started to surround me again. I went up on my hind legs and crashed down with my claws into the ice. I struck out with a back foot at a wolf before I did it again. The ice creaked. I moved and took some more bite wounds and tried to crack the ice again. I think I am too far from the edge, but I am running low on energy. Crash! Swipe, dodge, Crash! Pant. Kick, and hear a yelp and whine, Crash! Creak. Crash! With claws and spiritual strength! Sometimes, my thinking is too bloody slow! Creak. Crash. Snap. CRACK! Again, with Spiritual Strength. Crash! A gap opens in the ice, and a wolf¡¯s paw slips in. Again, with Spirit. Crash! The gap is bigger, but the ice drift is too slow. Crash! More cracks appear and the wolves are losing confidence. The ice breaks into smaller pieces, and the piece I am on moves when I shift my weight. The ice under my feet is also stained with my blood. The wolves stay back as the ice moves. They don¡¯t retreat but circle like they don¡¯t want me to escape. The ones on the seaward side move to more stable pieces of ice. I back my back to the less stable ones. I growled at them and crashed my paw on a piece of ice next to mine. The wolf on it yelped and backed away to another piece. Some of the wolves growled at me, sensing they were losing their prey. I growled back. Come and get me if you want me. One of them did, and I stomped on it, and it wriggled and whined under my paw, and my claws dug in. I stopped its whining with a Crushing Bite and started to feed while looking at the other wolves. I ripped into its fur and ripped off some meat. There wasn¡¯t much to it. They were really suffering through the winter. Well, so was I. If you try and eat me, I will eat you. My self-made iceberg didn¡¯t drift far because the wind was blowing onto the shore. We were moving along the shore slowly. I crouched down, ripping hunks off the carcass as I ate and watched the wolves follow me from solid ice. I was feeding even if it wasn¡¯t a seal. I was restoring my energy and letting my body rest and start healing. I crunched down, cracked open a leg bone, and licked out the marrow while watching them. 4. Sleep Therapy. The wolves watched me drift as they growled their frustration. Steam rose from the carcass I bit into. I needed a healing skill, but I was not going to get it anytime soon. I am pretty sure I will need some Anatomy Lore. Did I create any skills to crack open the ground? I asked myself wistfully. Identify said no. I don¡¯t have nearly enough attributes in Spiritual Agility, but I do have enough in Spiritual Strength. That is interesting, if not relevant right now. I gained a point in Spiritual Strength due to my efforts. Did my efforts to use Spiritual Strength increase what I did? It is hard to say, but it did something even if I didn¡¯t have the attributes to form a recognised ability. Maybe this is the key to developing new skills. What about when I tried to strengthen my fur? There was no new skill, but Identify was telling me there could be, and that I had the attributes for it. I spent some time trying to infuse my fur and skin with Spiritual Strength. No immediate results but I will continue to experiment. Could I speed up my healing by using the spiritual? I have no idea how I would do that. I have heard that some specialised classes often have great healing skills, but I only have a basic class, and it has only reached the Apprentice Level. The basic class needs to be Journeyman level before I might¡­ I say, might¡ªget offered a specialised class. What you get offered depends on your actions and skills. A Journeyman Level Arctic Hunter who kills a monster will be offered the Monster Hunter Class. That often comes with the skill of Regeneration, which is a highly coveted skill. My Scavenger class will not get that. I need to morph it into a hunter class if I can. I noted that pushing my Sprint Skill had pushed it into the Apprentice level. That was good. I could use it for longer and sprint faster for less stamina cost. The wolves drifted off to find easier prey. I stayed where I was for a long time and then made my way to the main ice shelf. I followed the wolves'' scent for a while to make sure they were not waiting in ambush. They seem to have gone. I did catch up with one I had wounded and had a second meal. They couldn¡¯t keep up with the pack. That is all it takes to die out here. I made my way back to my cave in a circular route, checking for dangers and ambushes. I was wounded, and I really wanted to sleep it off. My stomach was also full, which increased my desire for a lengthy snooze. I don¡¯t know how long I slept, but it was several days anyway. Sometimes, it is good being a Bear-kin. My wounds had mostly healed. I was a bit stiff. I was hungry again. I dug myself out of the cave and stretched. It was a calm day¡ªor maybe a calm night. Whatever. Time has little meaning here. I checked my surroundings carefully. I can learn from my mistakes. The smells were normal, and the tracks left after the last snowfall were all small critters. I wonder what it would take for me to catch an Arctic hare. It would take an ambush and speed beyond my current skills. Seals are slower and have more fat on them. I debated trying to sneak up on the seals as a bear to level my skills, but hunger overruled me. I transformed into my humanoid form with fur and claws and used Arctic Camouflage to hide and Stealth to get close. I was low to the ground to reduce my profile and scuttling forward like a crab. I would freeze and engage Arctic Camouflage when they looked my way. Eventually, something tipped them off, and the seals dashed for the safety of the ocean. I was up and Sprinting. I got my claws into a large fat seal and made the mistake of trying a Crushing Bite. I need sharper teeth in my humanoid form. I carved the seal open with my claws and sat down to feast. Hands are actually quite useful when eating, so when my immediate hunger was sated, I concentrated on my transformation form to sharpen my teeth. I didn¡¯t want the bear mussel, so I was limited in what I could do, but longer, sharper canines for biting and ripping worked well. This is a better default humanoid form. My Transform skill went up a level, although I think it will still be my Nightsight that gets to Jouneyman level first. The seal had a lot of fat, which I needed. My fat stores were low to start with, and the wolves certainly didn¡¯t have any. I really, really enjoyed eating the seal. They are definitely my favourite meal. I am also better at hunting them now. Sitting and eating, I considered morphing the Scavenger class into a hunter class. I knew it could be done, but I didn¡¯t know any details as I expected to train straight for Arctic Hunter. Classes need the right skills and the right skills at the right level. I have Sprint and Tracking skills, and my claws should count as a weapon skill. Should. What else does a hunter need? Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. Human hunters often hunt for resources: skins and meat. Bear-kin are really only interested in the meat and fat. Would it help if I learned the skinning skill and saved the hides? I have no use for them, although if I find a settlement, I might need some clothes. The human-type races are strange about wearing clothes for some reason. That is a later problem. I don¡¯t think Mum or Dad had the skinning skill, so it can¡¯t be that critical. I looked at my claws. They are not the tools for it either. Hunters usually have a way to kill creatures stronger than them. Some do it from a distance with bows or thrown weapons. Some do it with traps and ambushes. I thought about the tracks of the Arctic hare I saw. How would I catch something small and fast like that? I thought about the sticks I had sharpened. I could throw them as spears and try to gain a skill. It would give me a ranged attack, and I could sharpen them wherever I am. I would have to be pretty accurate to get the hare, though. What about a trap? I have no equipment to make a trap, although I could possibly dig a hole with sharpened sticks in the bottom. It seemed like a lot of effort for very little reward. I used the remains of the seal as bait to catch some fish. I would take these back to the cave and bury them in the snow. They would stay frozen and be a nice snack for later. I did taste test one. My stomach was full again, so I returned to my bear form and ambled back to my cave to sleep on this issue. These things take time, and there is no hurry. When I woke, the sky seemed lighter. Maybe the sun will rise in a couple of weeks. There was a stiff breeze, so I stayed in my bear form, snacking on my frozen fish while I woke up. I sniffed the air. I got myself up and plodded in a circle around my base, checking the area. Sleeping on an idea really works for me. I don¡¯t think it is a racial trait as such. It is probably just me. A hunter Class definitely has more than one way to take down their prey. I need to work on that, and throwing sharp sticks seems to be the best, even if it requires my humanoid form. If I use them as a spear, it also means I am further from harm, assuming I am fighting something that can fight back. Wounding something will also help me track it now I have Olfactory to support my Tracking. The main thing a hunter does is hunt, and I don¡¯t mean once a week for food. I know my mother accused me of being lazy, but don¡¯t all mothers do that? I will actively hunt to improve my skills. Skill level can also have a huge effect on the class. The other thing my subconscious highlighted was the fur being strengthened by Spiritual Strength. If I am going to hunt, I need a defensive ability, and my Identify skill seemed to think I was close to strengthening my fur. I would work on that. Also, if I am going to become strong enough to get revenge on the Ice Cats, I need to put in the effort to grow. I moved down onto the ice and practised my sprints in bear form. Then I went through my claw attacks with all my paws. Then I shifted to my Humanoid form, and the breeze was noticeably colder. I concentrated on my Transform Skill and thickened my fur coat. I stood up, and I probably looked like the mythical abominable snowman, although I was far too skinny. I was covered in thick white fur and stood about 2m tall with clawed hands and feet and sharp teeth. I stretched and refreshed myself on my humanoid movement arcs. The humanoid form was vastly more flexible. I started with sprints. I was faster and turned quicker with my feet claws giving me good traction. I then turned away from the coast and started running through the forest, testing the air for scents and watching for tracks. I stopped and climbed a large tree, scuttling up like a beetle with my claws digging into the wood. I found a sturdy branch and cut it off with my claws. Then, I scuttled back down the tree, stripped the bark off it, and sharpened one end. I tested the weight and found the balance point. The only spear technique I know is to stick them with the pointy end, so I was never going to become a spear master. I looked around and saw my tracks. OK, I need to practice moving without leaving such obvious tracks. I kept moving, but slower this time, and I watched where I put my feet. Not leaving tracks in the snow is impossible, but you can leave fewer and obscure them, so it was not obvious what left the tracks. My attempts at this added a level to my Tracking skill. Once I had several sharpened sticks, I set up a throwing range. The fact that all my sticks were different lengths and weights and not exactly straight meant I was not very accurate, but I practised anyway. I started a daily routine. No, that is wrong. I set up a waking routine, as day and night have little meaning here. Bear sprints, claw and strength training and then seal hunting, practising stealth in this form. It was a quick way to level Stealth, as it was hard. Then, it was time for a swim, partly as a bear and then as a humanoid. Once I had eaten, it was time for Humanoid training: sprints, forest running, climbing, and throwing. Then, I hunted and put everything into practice. At first, a lot of my hunts were unsuccessful, and I had to live on fish. However, my skills slowly levelled, and I gained some additional attributes. The first new skill was a defensive skill, Tough Hide. I got an extra point in Spiritual Strength and Mental Agility for that. I assume the point in Mental Agility is for thinking of the skill and working out how to get it. When I got the Throw Weapons Skill, I got a point in Physical Agility as well as Mental Agility. I assume there was a lot of judgment in each throw. I gained some other physical attributes from my training and Physical Perception when Tracking went to the Apprentice Level. Finally, I was making progress. I was not putting on any fat, but I was putting on muscle. 5. Moving. The trouble with my training and hunting is that my Scavenger Class slowed to a stop at mid-apprentice. I was not scavenging anymore; I was actively hunting. If I came across a carcass, I would not stop to feed on it like I used to. Now, I would start hunting the hunter. My tracking skills continually rose as I improved, and Olfactory was a fantastic support for it. My breakthrough came when I ran down a young elk. I used stealth to get close and a thrown stick to wound it. I was annoyed I missed the kill shot, but it was bleeding, and I followed it for kilometres and got two more sticks into it before closing in a sprint and leaping onto its back. My claws slashed, and I finally got the artery in the neck, and it collapsed under me. I was exhausted but exhilarated, and I told the world of my triumph in a mighty roar. I carved the hide off an area with my claws and sunk my teeth into the hot meat. I savoured that meal. I cut the young antlers off and saved the best of the hide to clean as I could. When I had eaten my fill, I cut some of the best meat and used the hide as a bag. Scavengers were starting to congregate¡ªcrows and an eagle. I smelled a fox somewhere nearby. I packed out the hide with some snow and then left the carcass. My training had paid off. My scavenger class changed to Hunter Scavenger. Instead of three points per level, there were now four and the fourth was a free point. The class level had dropped back to 5, to the beginning of the Apprentice levels, but there were five free points I could allocate. If I put all the points to Spiritual Perception, I would get the required level for Clearsight, but I would have to wait for the Physical Perception to get to 30 before I could choose another perception skill. You can only have one every 10 points in Physical Perception, and I had Nightsight and Olfactory. It would need seven class levels to get there. No, less than seven, as I get a free point for each, so four class levels if I dedicate all the points to it. On the other hand, I needed Spiritual Agility for the ice-breaking skill. This is a hard choice. It was almost better when I had no choice. What else could I use Spiritual Perception for? I don¡¯t know, but I assume there are a lot more perception skills out there. Ice is a constant and being able to break it is useful and more useful than just out on the ice shelf making me a fishing hole. This is hard. I was mulling over the options all the way home and then did what I did best. I slept on it. When I woke, I pulled out some frozen elk. I would give myself a day off. I looked at the meat. It would be better to warm it, but I had no way to do that. I know most races cook their meat, but that sounded very foreign to me. I would like to try it one day, but it won¡¯t be today. I was in my bear form and bit into the meat. It was still good. As usual, my sleep clarified things for me. Clearsight was a long way off, but it would come with levels. I could get the ice-breaking skill today. I put all five points into Spiritual Agility. I then got up and wandered out onto the ice shelf, still in my bear form. Even though I might have the attributes, I still have to earn the skill. When I got near where I would dig a fishing hole, I started to repeat what I did to break the ice but using two attributes at once was difficult. I could tell I was not doing it right. I spent an hour experimenting with how to do it, and I was getting very low on Spiritual energy, so I lay down and had a nap. I woke with new ideas of what to try. Sleep therapy was the best. This time, I channelled Spiritual Strength and then used Spiritual Agility to move it and disrupt it. Eventually, I got it to vibrate slightly, and I could tell I was close. The trouble was I also needed another nap. When I woke, the wind had picked up and was cold and cutting. My bear form withstood it easily, but it was getting unpleasant. It was time to get this done. Getting the spiritual energy vibrating was the key, and then timing it with my strike. Less than half an hour later, the skill Tremor was added to my skill list. It was limited in area and the amount of tremor by the skill level. It was not an ice skill, and I could use it on the ground. It was costly in spiritual energy, but that was OK as I didn¡¯t have any other skills using spiritual energy directly. If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. I caused a Tremor in the ice, and if I got it right, it would cause a crack. If I didn¡¯t, I would have to move or try again, hoping it was now weak. It would be helpful if I could look into the ice to see where it was weak, but Clearsight is a long way off now. I tried it on a rock, but it was not strong enough to do anything. It loosened up the earth if I wanted to dig a hole. I would find uses for it. This was the beginning, and it was only level 1. We started to have days again, so I decided it was time to start travelling. I would like to find a settlement for a while. Maybe I can find someone to train me properly. I set out from my winter cave and started to wander again. I mostly kept to the coast but ranged inland to hunt. With skills, things were much easier. My class started to level again, although apprentice-level classes were slower to level than novice-level classes, the same as skills. I mostly travelled in bear form as it was easier and more comfortable for me, particularly when the weather was poor. I mostly trained and hunted in my Humanoid form. I added Tremor to my practice to level it, and when it hit the apprentice level, I got an extra point in Spiritual Agility. I would train and hunt for half the day and then relax by walking the shore. I had to take a big detour when I came to some cliffs and realised it was a griffon nesting ground. Griffons were monsters and had the body of a lion and the head and wings of an eagle. For all my improvements, I would be killed easily by a youngling. I travelled in stealth for days to avoid them, keeping one eye on the sky at all times. Griffons would come and go at odd times, and they were nesting in the cliffs above the ice shelf. That meant I had to go inland to avoid them as they had the keen eyesight of the eagle. There were some close calls, but I kept moving. I hunted a deer one day and was just starting to enjoy it when I heard a low growl. I hadn¡¯t smelled anything, so I checked downwind, and a large sabre-tooth tiger was crouched, ready to pounce. It was an old one, and they were also monsters with abilities. I must be further south than I thought. I was in my humanoid form, and I slowly stood, keeping eye contact with it. All monsters had abilities of some type, and I used Identify on it. All I got back was that it was way, way stronger than I was. My Identify skill is too low for any decent information, but it did give me more than enough information. I backed away from my kill carefully and slowly. I hope the deer is enough for it. When I got to the edge of the bush line, the monster came forward and sniffed the dead deer. It crouched down and took a bite. That was my cue to leave, which I did carefully, watching the monster all the time. Once I was well out of sight, I turned and ran as silently as I could. I used my knowledge of tracking and scent to confuse my trail in case it was still hungry after it finished the deer off. I didn¡¯t stop running for a long, long time. That scared me and could easily have been my death. I don¡¯t know why it warned me it was there; it could have just pounced, and I would have never known what hit me. I am happy it just wanted the free meal. The wilderness is dangerous, and I am near the bottom of the food chain for all my training. I doubt it would have taken on my mother, so I have a long way to go. The Ice Cats took on my mother. I have a long way to go, and I do need some proper training. From then on, I was more cautious. I had been acting like I was invincible, which is the weakness of youth. The Griffons were my first warning, and I didn¡¯t heed it. Most people don¡¯t get a second warning. The sabor-tooth tiger was what drove home that I was not invincible nor anywhere near the top of the food chain. I didn¡¯t get much sleep that night as I was too shaken. Was it hunting me? I move quickly and carefully away. We have days now as summer approaches, but I don¡¯t bother keeping count. What does it matter? I climbed to the top of a cliff in my humanoid form to get some idea of where I was headed. There was a large bay in front of me and a number of islands. In winter, you could walk to the islands, but there is now a lot of open water. What fascinated me was the large three-masted ship tied to the ice shelf by ropes. Ramps were lowered from the ship, and people carried goods across the ice to a campsite. I sat and watched for a while and wished I had taken Farsight. The camp was newish. Certainly, it would not have been here over winter. I don¡¯t think the boat has been here long, or there wouldn¡¯t have been as much activity from it. Or maybe I was wrong. What did I know about these things? I did know I wanted to check this out, but I also knew some people would kill and enslave, so I would be very cautious. I made my way down the cliff, keeping off the crest and then into the scattered trees. There was still a dusting of snow, so my fur would blend in. Should I make some throwing sticks? No, I was too close already. The camp would have scouts with senses stronger than mine. I exercised every trick I knew to approach unseen and not leave a trail. I found a tree that should have a good view and carefully climbed it without disturbing the snow in the branches. I found a spot with a good view of the camp and settled in to watch. 6. Camp. The people in the camp were strange. They were¡­ then I realised what an idiot I was. Of course, they were short. They were dwarves. I had never seen dwarves before, but they fit the description. The tallest of them would come up to my chest, but they were stocky and powerfully built. I watched for a while, and they were all dwarves. There didn¡¯t seem to be any other races with them. I didn¡¯t know whether that was a good or bad sign. Dwarves could be antagonistic to outsiders. The camp was being set up for a longer-term occupation. One log cabin was built, and a second is under construction. All the rest were tents, except for a large area with just a roof and fires burning in the back area. This roof had tables and planks to sit on and seemed to be a communal eating area. Then, on the side of the area, some barrels were stacked up. Make that a communal eating and drinking area. Dwarves are known for their drinking. Even I know that. To one side was a fenced area, and some pack mules were grazing. I saw a couple of dogs wandering around, but that was it for animals. I tried to count the number of Dwarves, but there were too many milling about and coming and going into the forest. I could hear axes chopping trees in the bush somewhere. From the number of tents and seating areas, I figure there are about fifty dwarves. More if you count the ship. I wished I had Farsight so I could see the ship in more detail. It looked big to me. It was wooden, with three masts. The hull must be reinforced against the ice. As I watched, I realised there were a number of female dwarves there as well. I realised this because they all had very large tits. If they were beast-kin, I would say they were feeding young, but none of them seemed to. This must just be how female dwarves are. This was the only thing that let me tell male from female. They were all the same size, with the same beards and long braided hair. Dwarves seemed to like lots of hair. I could not understand what they were saying. I know my common tongue is only apprentice level, but I am sure they were not speaking common. It must be their native dwarvish language. This could be a problem if I try to meet them. Somebody down there must speak the common tongue. Just after lunch, I saw a leather-clad archer and two other axe-carrying dwarfs carrying a large doe and a brace of rabbits. They put them down behind the cooking fires and skinned and prepped the meat. The doe went straight on a rotating spit over one fire, and the rabbits were diced into a large pot and put on the fire. When the wind swung around, and I caught the scent of the cooking meat, my mouth started watering. I sat in that tree and watched them all afternoon, fascinated. Late afternoon, a group of twenty or so dwarves came out of the bush, leading ten laden mules. There were more dogs with them. They had pick axes and shovels. They unloaded the mules and let them into the fenced area. They then helped themselves to a drink from one of the barrels. Some other dwarves went through the mule packs and started sorting the ore. One of them held something up and started yelling, all excited. Several others went to look. I really wish I knew what they were saying. Then, I was distracted by a flapping of wings, and an Osprey sea hawk landed on a branch near me. It just stood there and watched me. There was no way for my camouflage to be good enough that it didn¡¯t see me. All hawks are known for their eyesight. I stayed still, watching it warily. I wished I had something to throw at it to make it fly away. It stayed and watched me. This was not natural. I was not small enough to be its prey; it should be scared of me. I briefly broke camouflage to try and shoo it away. It didn¡¯t even flap its wings. ¡°Hello there, laddie,¡± came a voice from below. I risked taking my eye off the hawk to glance down to see if I was being addressed. I was. It was the hunter with the bow, and he was looking right at me from the ground. At least he didn¡¯t have an arrow ready. The other two with the axes were there as well, and I realised one of them had tits, so was a female. ¡°Hello,¡± he yelled again and waved at me. ¡°Don¡¯t mind Sheila there. The hawk is my bond; she won¡¯t hurt you.¡± I glanced at the hawk, who hadn¡¯t moved. I didn¡¯t know anything about bonds with animals. ¡°Sheila says you have been up there since before we got back with the hunt, so we figured we had best say hello,¡± the dwarf continued. ¡°I am Yoboc Snowbuckle, but just call me Yoboc. This is Thranmak Bolderblade, or Thran for short,¡± he pointed to the titless dwarf and then to the one with tits, ¡°and that is Goldie Honorhide.¡± She would be easy to remember as she had yellow hair and a beard to go with her tits. ¡°Do you want to come down and say hello? If you mean no harm, we can share knowledge of the area for a hot meal and an ale,¡± Yoboc continued. I actually figured I didn¡¯t have a choice. He had a bow, and the hawk would be able to track me easily. Plus, the hot meal is enticing. I got up from my perch and stretched after my long stay. Then, I grabbed the trunk and used my claws to climb down. This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. When I got to the ground, the dwarves were as short as I estimated. The back two had hands on their axes, but Yoboc didn¡¯t. The female seemed to be looking at me up and down, and I felt uncomfortable. ¡°Hello again,¡± Yoboc said in a lower voice. He stepped forward and held out a hand, ¡°Call me Yoboc.¡± I wasn¡¯t sure what this meant, but he seemed to want me to grab his hand, so I reached out mine, and he grabbed my forearm with a strong grip. I didn¡¯t like that and tried to pull back, but he held on briefly before releasing my arm. I stepped back. Yoboc was puzzled. ¡°It is a greeting lad. We clasp forearms and introduce ourselves. You obviously understand Common. Do you want to try that again?¡± He held out his hand, saying, ¡°I am called Yoboc.¡± The titless dwarf said something in a language I didn''t understand and laughed. The titted dwarf frowned, hit him over the head, and spoke angrily. I watched all this carefully, trying to understand what was going on. Yoboc stood there patiently with his hand out. I stepped forward again and grasped his wrist. ¡°I¡­¡± I had to clear my throat and think. I hadn¡¯t spoken for almost a year. ¡°I¡¯m Ivan,¡± I said. ¡°You look like you might be lost out here, Ivan. Where are you from?¡± Yoboc asked. I shook my head, ¡°Not lost.¡± I said haltingly. ¡°Live here.¡± His eyes narrowed, ¡°you look a little young to live here. Where is your camp? I haven''t seen any signs of someone living here.¡± I shrugged, ¡°No camp. Just wander.¡± The titless dwarf at the back laughed like what I said was funny. He earned another hit on the head from the golden tits. ¡°You are just wandering the wild?¡± Yoboc said in disbelief. ¡°Where¡¯s your gear?¡± ¡°Gear?¡± I asked. ¡°Gear. You know, clothes, weapons, camping stuff?¡± I shrugged, ¡°No gear. Just me.¡± The titless dwarf started laughing again like he didn¡¯t believe me. Golden tits didn¡¯t hit him this time. I don¡¯t know why. ¡°You are telling me you are wandering the arctic wilds naked with no weapons?¡± Yoboc said. I held up a clawed hand. ¡°Weapons.¡± ¡°You had better come into camp. This sounds like a story that you tell after a few ales, not before.¡± He turned to the titless dwarf, ¡°Thran, go and get some trousers for Ivan to wear. We can¡¯t have him wandering the camp naked.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know, boss,¡± said the golden tits, ¡°Some of us would quite appreciate it. That is a nice hairy ass he has.¡± ¡°That is the problem,¡± Yoboc said to me. ¡°Some of the lasses are a bit lusty, and a hairy ass is a bit much temptation for some.¡± He gave golden tits a pointed look. The titless one ran off toward camp. We started to walk in the same direction. ¡°This is a mining camp of Clan Forgemaker,¡± Yoboc said. ¡°We are all Kin here.¡± The way he said Kin seemed to have some special meaning to them, but I had no idea what. ¡°Old Undoth Greyspine is our Prospector, and it looks like there are some good minerals here. It is about time we turned a profit.¡± The titless dwarf came back with a pair of trousers, and I figured out how to put them on. They were full-length trousers on the dwarves, but they only came down to my knees. The waist was too large for me, but there was a cord I could tie, so they stayed up. I thought they looked funny. They felt funny against my fur. Goldie was smiling, so I am pretty sure she thought they looked funny. I shrugged. This seemed to be what they wore, so I should try to fit in. I followed them into the camp. There was no way I was going to fit in here. I towered over everybody, and my white fur stood out. Everybody stopped and stared. Yoboc led me to the eating area. I had to duck my head under the wooden beams. He sat me down and got me a bowl of food that smelled absolutely delicious. My mouth was watering. I grabbed the bowl, tipped it into my mouth, and promptly burned my tongue. I dropped the bowl on the table, spilling some, and dashed out, stuffed some snow into my mouth to stop the burning. Everybody was laughing at me. It is not funny. I had forgotten hot things can burn you. ¡°Come on lad.¡± Yoboc said, ¡°I forgot to warn you that it might be hot.¡± He guided me back to the table. ¡°We usually eat stew with a spoon. It helps it cool down and doesn¡¯t make so much of a mess.¡± I looked around at the others eating and saw that was what they were doing. I would have to watch others and copy them to avoid making more mistakes. I picked up the spoon and took some stew. Rabbit stew from the taste. It was even more delicious than it smelled. Eating with a spoon was¡­ it was slow. I wanted to gulp it down as the stew was so delicious, but I restrained myself. Plus, my mouth was still smarting from the burn. A mug of liquid was plonked in front of me. That smelled funny. ¡°The venison will be ready in a half hour,¡± the dwarf said. This one had a black beard and was shorter than most. He was wearing an apron. I nodded and indicated the stew ¡°Nice. What in it?¡± The dwarf¡¯s mouth twitched. ¡°At least someone appreciates my cooking. It has vegetables from home and onions with my special herb mix.¡± He nodded and moved on. That didn¡¯t mean much to me, but I nodded in appreciation. ¡°That is Thon Ironbraids. He is our cook, and if you tell him you like it, you will get the better bits,¡± Yoboc said. I was definitely going to tell him that. I sipped the drink and spluttered it back out, causing more laughter. ¡°That''s ale, lad,¡± Yoboc said. ¡°It is a type of alcohol. We grew up on it, but it might take a bit for you to get used to it.¡± It tasted awful to me. I watched Yoboc take a long drink and tried another small sip. I covered the tase with stew. I didn¡¯t like it, but I guess I will try to fit in. ¡°So, Ivan. What is your story?¡± Yoboc asked. 7. Breakfast. Goldie spat ale all over the table in front of her. Yoboc thumped her back. ¡°What do you mean you have only seen seven winters?¡± she asked. ¡°Are you telling me you are only seven years old?¡± I nodded, and she shook her head. ¡°Bloody silver tits! I have been lusting after a baby.¡± I wasn¡¯t sure what that meant, so I ignored it. ¡°So you are only seven years old and have been wandering the wilds for a year?¡± Yoboc clarified. I nodded. Talking wasn¡¯t easy for me, and I started to get agitated by the many people around me. ¡°Lad,¡± Yoboc said, ¡°Dwarves don¡¯t become full adults until they are thirty. You are a babe in our eyes.¡± ¡°Not dwarf,¡± I said. ¡°No, no, you are not,¡± he said, looking me up and down. ¡°From the look of you, I would say you are some type of beast-kin, but I don¡¯t know what, and I have never heard of any up this far north.¡± I just nodded but didn¡¯t speak. I spoke more tonight than I think I have in my life. That is probably an exaggeration, but that is what it felt like. Yoboc seemed to pick up on that, ¡°Let¡¯s find you somewhere to sleep, lad.¡± He led me to a tent and gave me some blankets, then left me to it. I looked around, confused. This didn¡¯t seem right. It was not a cave. The tent flapped in the wind. The tent did not provide the protection of a cave, but it blocked the senses, so I couldn¡¯t tell what was around me. If I couldn¡¯t sense what was around me, I wanted the protection of solid walls. I gathered up the blankets and slipped out of the tent. I went to the edge of the camp and looked for a place to sleep. Then I saw the perfect spot. Behind the cooking fires, there was a stone wall, and it was warm. I went there, and it would be lovely. I crouched down and used Tremor to loosen the soil, dug a shallow depression, and laid the blankets down. I took off the awkward trousers, changed into my bear form, and curled up to sleep with warmth for the first time since I was separated from my mother. I woke in the night when a dog came sniffing around. I sniffed back. It had a thick white/grey coat and looked like it would survive in the cold. I lay back down and ignored it. The dog was soon curled up next to me. I don¡¯t know why it was not afraid of me. Most animals are. It must be smarter than most animals as it knew a good place to sleep when it found one. I woke early¡ªat least, I assumed it was early. Nobody else was moving in the camp. Maybe dwarves are late risers. Good on them. I got up and stretched. The dog whined at me for moving and snuggled down in the warmth where I slept. It is definitely an intelligent dog. I ambled off to find some breakfast, and I might bring some back to share. That would be the right thing to do. I wandered through the bush to where my nose was telling me some seals were. I was proficient at catching them in my bear form now, so I caught a young one and feasted for a while. This is still my favourite food. I wonder how Thon might cook it and what it could taste like. I hid and then caught another one, larger this time. I grabbed it in my mouth and wandered back to the camp, dragging it. I was getting close to camp when one of the dwarves raised the alarm, by blowing a whistle in a short and long pattern. I stopped and looked around, but I couldn¡¯t see or smell danger. I picked up the seal and started forward again. Then, two dwarves came rushing towards me with spears and shields. They stood between me and the camp and sounded threatening. Others in the camp were coming as well. I didn¡¯t understand. I was welcomed yesterday but threatened today. Dwarves are weird. I was bringing breakfast. One of the dwarves poked at me with his spear. It didn¡¯t seem like he was actually trying to stab me, more like chase me away. Why? I didn¡¯t understand. He poked at me again, so I growled at him. The other one raised his shield like he was scared. Really? You started this. I don¡¯t want to fight. If I am not wanted, I will just go. I dropped the seal and turned to leave. The guy poked at me again, so I used Quick Claws to bat the spear away. Really? I am leaving, can¡¯t you tell? The guy didn¡¯t like me batting his spear away and looked like he might get serious. I backed off. I don¡¯t want to fight. Other dwarves were running up with weapons. I guess I am not wanted here. I backed up and gave them a warning growl to stay away. Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. They seemed to take that as a signal to start a fight, or maybe it was all the other dwarves at their back giving them courage. The aggressive dwarf lunged at me to wound me this time. He was fast. I barely avoided it. I was tempted to give him a taste of his own medicine as my anger was rising. I was just trying to be nice, and this is what I got. We were interrupted by barking. My bedmate had come between us and was barking at the dwarf. They were trying to say something to it in dwarvish, but it wasn¡¯t listening, and I didn¡¯t understand. I might miss that dog. It is the only intelligent thing here. While the dog had their attention, I turned to leave. Then, a commanding voice shouted in common, ¡°Everybody STAND DOWN!¡± Everybody stopped. Even the dog stopped barking. A dwarf with a red beard stomped forward. I sort of remember him from last night. He was listening in from the edge of the crowd. ¡°What the fuck?¡± he asked. The guards were almost standing at attention. ¡°Sir! A bear was trying to enter the camp, sir!¡± The dwarf said something in dwarvish that made the two guards wince. Then he turned to me and pointed, ¡°You, you idiot. Ivan is it. They don¡¯t recognise you, you fool.¡± I could see Yoboc running up half-dressed and Golden tits following him, also half-dressed. I felt like an idiot. Of course, they don''t recognise me. They have never seen me in my bear form, and they don¡¯t have the ability to recognise me by my smell. The dog did, proving who the more intelligent one was here. I am not used to my different forms making a difference. I am not used to being around people, especially people who are not my family. I growl in frustration and trigger the change. I have seen what my mom looked like when she changed, so I guess it was similar. Bones and muscles shift, and it looks weird and painful, even though it is not. It takes about thirty seconds to change. It does use a reasonable amount of stamina. I stood up on two feet in all my furry, naked glory to the audience of shocked dwarves. The dog came and sniffed me and wound around my feet. ¡°I forgot. Sorry. Not used to¡­¡± I waved, indicating the crowd. ¡°I bought breakfast,¡± I said, pointing to the dead seal. ¡°Right, everybody,¡± Yoboc said, coming forward. ¡°Shows over. Go. Shoo.¡± as he chased people away. He threw a jacket at me, which I caught and looked at. It wasn¡¯t cold, what was this for? He looked at me and said, ¡°You are naked. Wrap that around you till we find your trousers.¡± ¡°Right. Forgot.¡± I said. Beast-kin don¡¯t have any hangups about nudity, but dwarves obviously do. There is a lot for me to remember. I wrapped the jacket around my waist. Why is the lower half taboo and not the upper half? And why is it taboo in humanoid form but not in beast form? I don¡¯t know. Weird customs. I walked forward and stabbed my claws into the seal, lifted it, and followed Yoboc back into camp. The two guards approached. ¡°We apologise for attacking you, Ivan. It was a gross breach of hospitality, and we will make it up to you.¡± They were obviously made to come and apologise as their boss, commander, or whatever he is called, was standing back and watching. I nodded to them, ¡°OK. My fault as well.¡± I needed to improve my common language skills as I was barely fluent. I also needed to learn dwarvish so I could understand what was happening. What I said seemed to satisfy them, and they returned to their posts. Yoboc wanted to stop at the tent he assigned me for my trousers, but I shook my head, ¡°Not there.¡± He followed me to the cooking area, and we delivered the seal to Thon. ¡°Never cooked seal before,¡± he grumped. ¡°Have to make something up,¡± he grinned at me. When we left, Yoboc said, ¡°He likes experimenting with recipes, but none of us like eating his experiments. I hope you do.¡± I just shrugged. I wouldn¡¯t know until I tried it. We went around the back of the cooking area, and Yoboc saw the nest I had made. I took his jacket off and put on my funny trousers. ¡°You slept here?¡± Yoboc asked. I thought it was pretty obvious I had, so I just nodded. ¡°Why?¡± he asked. ¡°Better,¡± I said because it was. Then, the dog came up to me again. ¡°What name?¡± I asked Yoboc. ¡°I don¡¯t actually know that one¡¯s name,¡± Yoboc said, ¡°The beastmaster keeps a team of huskies to pull the sleds. We can find him.¡± ¡°Orir Silverbeard,¡± the beastmaster introduced himself, and we gripped our forearms. ¡°I see Fritz has taken a liking to you.¡± I nodded. ¡°Fritz is an older, experienced dog. I bring him along to train the younger ones, but he is about ready to retire.¡± I guess that explains why he likes to sleep in the warm. ¡°When we get back to Obalno, I will be looking for somewhere for him to retire to. He probably has two to five years left to live. Do you want to look after him? I don¡¯t really need him.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t know how.¡± ¡°Do you like animals?¡± I shrugged, ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± ¡°Well, Fritz likes you, so that is a good sign. Do you have any animal care skills?¡± I shook my head. ¡°Well, beast-kin tend to get on well with some animals and not others. The mules probably won¡¯t like you. If you want to find out, you can help me with the dogs, and we can go from there.¡± I looked at Yoboc. ¡°It''s up to you. If you want to stay, you will need some sort of job, although I was kind of hoping you would help with the hunting. It is probably best to talk with Thomwea before you make up your mind.¡± ¡°Thomwea?¡± ¡°Thomwea Forgemaker. She is in charge of this little expedition.¡± ¡°Yeah,¡± agreed Orir. ¡°She is not likely to send you away if you are useful.¡± 8. Forgemaker. ¡°You are quite feral, aren¡¯t you,¡± the stern dwarf woman stared at me like it was a challenge. I didn¡¯t know how to respond to that. It turned out Thomwea was based in the one completed cabin. Her tits were the most impressive I have seen yet. I also remember her on the edges of the conversation last night. I guess they were all checking me out. She huffed when I didn¡¯t respond in time. She went around the other side of a desk someone had cut out and sat down. Yoboc had stayed outside, and it was just her and me, so I couldn¡¯t get advice from him. ¡°Are you looking for a job?¡± Thomwea asked. ¡°I am willing to work if I stay,¡± I said, not quite understanding what she was asking. ¡°Let me guess, you have never had a job, have you?¡± ¡°I have always worked,¡± I said, ignoring the memories of Mom calling me lazy. ¡°No. I mean a job you do for someone else in exchange for coin.¡± ¡°Coin? Why would I need coins?¡± ¡°You buy things with coins. Weapons, armour, clothes, food, somewhere to sleep.¡± That sounded very complicated. ¡°Ah, no, I have never had a job.¡± ¡°Do you want to stay here and help us? You could just move on.¡± ¡°Ah, I think I need to learn to live, ah, work with people. I need training.¡± ¡°OK. What can you do? What is your class and skills that could help us,¡± Thomwea said. ¡°I am an Apprentice Hunter-Scavenger,¡± ¡°Just the one basic class?¡± she asked, and I nodded. ¡°How the hell did you survive out here? What skills do you have? Start with your highest and work down. Journeyman skills?¡± ¡°Ah, none.¡± She raised an eyebrow. ¡°Nightsight is almost journeyman,¡± I said, feeling lacking. ¡°Nightsight, not Darksight?¡± ¡°No, ma¡¯am,¡± ¡°So you are no good mining,¡± she said. ¡°What else, at Apprentice?¡± ¡°Arctic Camouflage, Fishing, Tracking, Sprint, Stealth, Quick Claws and Tremor.¡± ¡°Wait. Did you say Tremor?¡± I nodded. ¡°That is a mining skill, often with those with earth affinities. Do you have an affinity?¡± ¡°No, ma¡¯am.¡± ¡°How did you get Tremor?¡± ¡°I needed to break the ice.¡± I went on to describe the wolf fight. ¡°You really are a newborn babe, aren¡¯t you?¡± she said. It didn¡¯t seem to need a reply, so I stayed silent. ¡°I will be quite frank: we don¡¯t need you. Everybody here has at least one specialised class in addition to at least one basic class. Most of us have at least one Master level skill. You are a liability. You are not even fluent in the common tongue, let alone dwarvish.¡± I just nodded. I guess I need to keep wandering. ¡°However,¡± she said, ¡°We came out here to explore new areas and find our fortune. You are definitely something new.¡± ¡°That sounds like you will sell me or something,¡± I said dangerously. ¡°No. You misunderstand me. Selling sapients is illegal where we are from and against everything this clan stands on. Having said that, stay away from the empire. They will definitely look to make you a slave. No, but if we train you, we need more benefits than a few seals for breakfast. You are unique. I know of no other Polarbear-kin, and I have barely heard of any bear-kin. Yoboc wants to study you and write a paper for the Lore Society.¡± I frowned. ¡°You can discuss that with him later. I told him it was not enough benefit to put the effort into training you. What benefits can you bring to our clan, Ivan?¡± ¡°What does your clan do?¡± I asked. ¡°The key is in the name. Forgemaker. Forging of metals and alloys, especially spiritually enhanced metals.¡± ¡°I know nothing about that, but I also know there are no forges out here. There are also no markets to sell your metals. Therefore, your forges and most of your clan are elsewhere. You are here to find new metals, particularly Spiritual metal. You have just arrived, but you are building permanent structures. You know there is something nearby.¡± I paused. I was guessing a lot from what I observed yesterday in the tree. Somebody was happy with the sample ore. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it. ¡°Well, you are not dumb. What can you offer us?¡± ¡°You are building for many years here, but when the long dark comes with its storms and deep cold, most of you will pack up and not return until the dawn comes. If you train me through the summer, I will be your night watchman. You can leave your expensive equipment, which is being unloaded, and I will keep it safe from monsters and the snow. You won¡¯t need to re-set everything up next year as it will be ready for you to walk back in and just start mining.¡± Thomwea sat for a few minutes and was obviously thinking. ¡°That is actually quite an attractive offer. We do have rivals who, if they knew about this place, would want to come in and take over. Once we start selling the metals from here, the search will be on. It is also why our permanent structures are not directly visible from the sea.¡± She thought for a bit more. ¡°Very well, we will have a trial. You will learn this summer and watch the place this winter, and we will see how it goes. By next summer, our forges will be selling the new metal and our rivals will be actively hunting this mine. We expect to be mining for at least five years, possibly ten. You will need to sign a confidentiality contract for at least ten years.¡± I nodded, ¡°OK.¡± ¡°Very well, leave me for now, and I will consult with the Clan heads. You will need to learn mine safety and mine maintenance, as maintenance will be critical if we leave things here over winter.¡± I just nodded. Yoboc was outside. ¡°How did it go?¡± There was a flutter of wings, and the hawk, Sheila, landed on his shoulder. ¡°OK, I think. She is going to consult and get back to me.¡± ¡°Good, good. Let''s go hunting. We can compare notes on tracking and animals. Thon wants more seals, but everybody else wants anything but seals.¡± I went with Yoboc and Goldie and it was very different with Sheila in the sky directing Yoboc. Yoboc¡¯s bow was very effective. I showed them how I made and threw my sharpened sticks, and they were amazed I hit anything. Goldie was a Forrester rather than a hunter, and she used her axe. She also had several small tomahawks that she would throw. I tried, and there was a real trick to it. She had a special skill for axe throwing. Apparently, my Throw Weapons skill is quite a general skill. We brought back several game animals, and I swung by to collect a seal for the cook. I liked seals, and I found that I liked cooked seals. The fat crisped up nicely in the heat. I signed their papers, even though I didn¡¯t really understand them. Once I was their ¡°employee¡±, I was given a number of tasks to do and things to study. The first was I had to learn Dwavish and improve my Common. Yoboc was in charge of that. Apparently, he was quite well-educated. ¡°What do you mean your Mental Agility is only 11? It will take you forever to learn anything with that. Do you have any other stats under 15? 15 is the minimum for most things.¡± ¡°Spiritual and Mental Perception.¡± ¡°What a weak ass mess that has been made of your youth. Right, well, we are going to play some mental games that we teach our children to raise both your mental stats, and I have a Spiritual Maze here. What you do is use your Spiritual Perception to trace the line through the maze, and this will work both your Spiritual Perception and your Mental Agility. I say Mental Agility, because when your spiritual perception grows, and you will start sensing the other lines in there.¡± It was a box the size of my head. It folded down in his luggage. I had trouble even finding the spiritual line at first, and it was very frustrating. ¡°It will be harder for you because you are an adult for your species and have a class. Classes are setting your mind in certain directions, and what you are doing here is trying to widen your mental and spiritual pathways. Keep at it.¡± It was easy for him to say that. On top of the torture box, we played memory games, told riddles and made up poems, all to stretch my mind and make it more agile. Yoboc told stories, and I was most interested in the stories of the world and stars. How the stars moved in the sky was fascinating. The dwarves much-preferred limericks to poems. I was learning Dwarvish and levelling Common at the same time. This is not what I expected to be doing. It was working, but slowly and painfully. ¡°Here,¡± Goldie said. ¡°Limericks have to go with drinking ale. It''s a tradition.¡± I thought she had already had a lot of ale. ¡°Here''s one,¡± she said. ¡°Keep it polite,¡± Yoboc warned. She started, ¡°The dwarves in the hall lost their wits, Drinking ale by the barrel in fits. With a shout and a spin, They rolled kegs for the win, Then passed out in their armour and bits!¡± ¡°Now you try,¡± Yoboc said to me. I looked at him in disbelief. I can¡¯t do that. ¡°Try this,¡± Goldie said. She obviously liked limericks. ¡°The dwarves, with their ale and delight, Sang songs through the long, rowdy night. With bawdy refrains, And wild, drunken games, Their antics were truly a sight!¡± ¡°Are limericks all about dwarves and drinking?¡± I asked. ¡°No,¡± said Yoboc, ¡°They can be about anything. Drinking and fighting are just in a lot of dwarven ones. Here is one. ¡°At the feast, they all gathered to dine, On dishes both hearty and fine. With goblets held high, And a roast piled nigh, They toasted ''til well past moonshine!¡± ¡°Dwarves also like eating,¡± Goldie crowed. Yoboc huffed and said, ¡°Deep down where the lanterns glow dim, The miners sang many a hymn. With pickaxe in hand, They worked through the land, And dreamed of a life far from grim.¡± He looked at me, ¡°It is not always about eating, drinking and fighting,¡± he said. This seemed way beyond me. 9. Proper Dwarf. ¡°I am Commander Jaggear Strongarm,¡± said the commanding dwarf who had disciplined the guards. ¡°You can call me Commander. We need to train you as a Guard. Most young people want to be trained as a Warrior, but if you want that, go join the army. The class that is best at protecting people and things is the Guard Class. The Guard Class focuses on perception, speed and restraining your opponent rather than killing, although we also guard against monsters. The Guard Class will open up a lot of specialisation classes, the most common of which are the Sentry, Interrogator, and Detective. To get the Guard class, you will need a specialised Perception, like Farsight or Keensight, Unarmed Combat, weapons, and movement skills. What level is your Unarmed Combat?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t have Unarmed Combat.¡± ¡°What? Everybody has unarmed combat just from wrestling as a kid.¡± I held up my claws, ¡°I am never unarmed.¡± ¡°Fuck this is a mess. Unarmed Combat is not just about throwing a punch. It is about your balance and footwork. It is about knowing your strength and throws and holds. It is the basis of every other combat style.¡± So I put away my claws and started learning what all these dwarves learned as a kid. I was much better at Unarmed Combat than I was at Mental and Spiritual Perception. It was good, too. I enjoyed the physical challenge, although I had to watch the short dwarves, or they slipped under my guard. I started earning attributes without levelling my class. This was amazing, and I have missed out on so much. I went hunting with Yoboc and levelled my class as well, but even the new skills I was learning sometimes gave me free attributes. When Common went to Journeyman level, I got a point in Mental Agility, and another was when Dwarvish went to Apprentice. They had me work on my Identify skill, and I got a point in Mental Perception when it levelled. I was also getting more reliable information on how dangerous people were. When Unarmed Combat reached the Apprentice level, they started teaching me to use a shield and a spear. Normally, a guard would learn a blunt weapon like a truncheon first, but because we were out in the wilderness, the spear was better. These dwarven guards use shields, spears and one-handed war axes. That was also when I started doing what all guards do. Stand watch. There was no slacking off on watch either, as the Commander would sneak out, and if he got too close without you seeing him, you would be biting the dirt. I caught him several times with my Olfactory sense of smell, but then he caught on, and I had to pay special attention downwind. He also started masking his smell. He is a sneaky bastard. This levelled my Nightsight and my Physical Perception. It turned out the Commander had a Trainer specialisation and trained guards for the Forgemaker Clan. With his skills, he could reduce the twelve months of required training down to eight. Even that was going to be a tight time frame for me before everybody left. Yoboc was my other main trainer, and he was a nature scholar. His training of my perception increased my Arctic Lore and taught me Herb Lore and general Plant and Animal Lore. I never realised how connected everything was, as Animal Lore bumped up my Tracking and Camouflage skills. When we went out hunting, it was always with me and Goldie. Apparently, the titless Dwarf was working in the mine. He was a young clan member out here for experience. I needed to keep levelling my class as I needed to get my Physical Perception up to 30 to get another perception skill. Apparently, if I got Farsight, I would be more inclined to specialise in the Sentry path, but if I got Keensight, I would probably go down the Detective path. Nobody could really tell me what I would get with Clearsight. This was not a common skill down south. I was inclined to get it as there were clear benefits up here in the north. It was also better at seeing through camouflage and stealth skills. Felix would often keep me company through these months of training. Often, the old husky would just sleep nearby. The months seemed to fly by. Being around people was a bit much at times, and I would spend time alone under the stars just to get away. I was growing and learning so much, and I hadn''t even set foot in the mine yet. Apparently, I was not a proper dwarf until I learned to mine. I knew where the mine was, as there was a constant stream of people and mules from the entrance. The ship had departed, and the ore was being stockpiled for its return. A miniature forge had been built to smelt part of the ore and test its purity and properties. They were digging up a lot of different ores. They had ordinary iron and gold. The main reason they were here was for Lightsteel ore. Apparently, there was an empire that tried to monopolise all the Lightsteel sources. Thomwea didn¡¯t tell me that when she said ¡±rivals¡± would be looking for the mine. Said rivals would include this powerful empire when their forges started refining and selling the metal. A powerful empire with an entire naval fleet. Lightsteel was light and strong, which made it great for shipping and armour. It was also very conducive to light affinities, which this empire specialised in. Mixed in with the Lightsteel ore were gems that conducted light and had many light properties. Most were small, like a flea, but occasionally, there were ones the size of a thumbnail. I started learning this when my Dwarvish got to Apprentice level. I also got lectures on mine safety and gained Mineral Lore. The most critical piece of safety equipment in a mine is your helmet. This is doubly so for me as the dwarves sized the mine for them, not for a 2m tall Bear-kin. The dwarves also found or made me a leather vest that added more protection than just my fur, and I had leather chaps for the front of my legs and belts for pouches and sheaths. When I crawled into the mine, I got a small light crystal stuck to my helmet, which gave a soft glow and was just enough for my Nightsight to see. All the dwarves had Darksight, so they didn¡¯t need any light down there. This is what pushed my Nightsight into the Journeyman level. This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Walking into the mine was incredibly awkward. I ended up moving on all fours as if I were in my bear form. About five meters into the mine, they had hollowed out a large staging and work area. I could stand up fine in this, but we soon headed into the tunnels. As we went, I could see the occasional streak of lighter ore, some of which glowed slightly. This would be the remains of the Lightsteel. ¡°Here,¡° Undoth Greyspine, the Prospector, was escorting me on my first tour of the mine, and he handed me a small pick. ¡°Try mining a bit.¡± I lined up the pick and was about to bring it down when he caught my hand, ¡°No, not like that, like this,¡± he showed me the right way to hold the pick and where to strike to work out a reasonable-sized lump. He inspected the lump and said, ¡°Not great. You left too much rock attached, which increases the post-possessing required. Try a bit over here,¡± As we moved down the mine, he showed me the different veins of ore, which were gold and Lightsteel, and the side tunnel where they found a small vein of Orichalcum. The side tunnel was not as neat and smooth as the main tunnel. It was dug by hand, not this ¡®Rock Eater¡¯ that I keep hearing about. ¡°Is it usual to find so many different types of spiritual ore in one area?¡± I asked. ¡°Depends,¡± he said. ¡°There are many theories on how spiritual properties are imparted to the ore, and more than one of those includes the influence of different rock elementals. I have come across more many times.¡± Right. Above my paygrade¡­ seeing as I am not getting paid. Then my guard training kicks in. ¡°What are the chances of rock elementals coming to disrupt the mining?¡± ¡°Weeeell,¡± he dragged the word out. He wobbled his hand to indicate a vague possibility ¡°Not sure. They don¡¯t like our Rock Eater.¡± ¡°That is pretty vague,¡± I said. ¡°We have stomped a few small ones already.¡± I need to get the procedure for dealing with Rock elementals. The Commander has procedures for most things, so he will have one for this. He just hasn¡¯t told me yet. Then a thought occurred to me, ¡°Ah, would rock elementals be one of the things I need to protect against in the long dark?¡± Undoth laughed, ¡°Only the destructive ones, laddie. The passive ones can be ignored.¡± When were they going to tell me this? Maybe I am being underpaid here. I thought I was getting the good end of the deal with free training and a nice peaceful winter, but now I have to add an empire and rock elementals to my watch list. ¡°Here she is,¡± Undoth said fondly, ¡°The mighty Rock Eater.¡± I moved forward to look at the thing. This was the machine that they would have me watch rather than disassemble and reassemble. It was about five or six meters long, and the front was shaped like a drill with lots of teeth. There were lots of moving parts. It was still at the moment while dwarven engineers replaced some parts and sharpened others. It was the same size as the tunnel, and they had carved out a wider space to get around it and work on it. ¡°How does it work?¡± ¡°It runs on Monster cores. In general terms, the cores power the belts and wheels here, and they spin the teeth that chew the rock and spit it out onto this conveyor belt. The miners then separate the ore from the rock and push it forward again.¡± There was obviously a lot more to it than that simple explanation. ¡°Monster cores are expensive, aren¡¯t they?¡± ¡°Absolutely, and this beauty is even more expensive. It is not just dwarven engineering, lad. The gnomes helped. It is one of a kind. It is only economical to use it here because of the density and volume of the Spiritual metals we are getting. But it is worth it, lad.¡± He waved back up the tunnel, ¡°This would have taken a couple of years to dig by hand, and we are not even halfway through the season. We are going to be rich!¡± It was my estimation that they were already rich. It must have taken a fortune to build the Rock Eater. This was my first visit to the mine and my first sighting of the machine. I would eventually know enough to keep it oiled, warmed, and protected during the long dark. It apparently takes specialist engineers two or three weeks to disassemble it and a month to reassemble it. The main difficulty is the enchanting required, which has to be done every time. Udoth rambled on about his baby, and most of it went over my head. I sighed. I still have a lot to learn. ¡°Your spear and shield skills are at apprentice level. When your axe skills get there, too, we will practice against Rock Elementals,¡± The commander said. ¡°It is pretty obvious, though. You break rocks with hammers or,¡± and he showed me the war axe they all used. It was a one-handed axe with a crescent blade on one side and a spike on the reverse. ¡°The spike on the back of our axes is very handy for acting as a rock pick, ice pick, or armour-piercing attack, among other things. You haven¡¯t even got a basic swing right yet. When your Axe skill is at the apprentice level, you will start learning the more complicated ways to use the axe. Dwarves prefer the axe, which is why we teach the spear first.¡± He looked at me. ¡°I will get Yoboc to start teaching you Monster Lore. Elementals are a particular type of monster, and Rock Elementals are just one part of them.¡± The next time I was out hunting with Yoboc and Goldie, we stopped, and Yoboc pointed at claw marks in a tree. ¡°You know what that is, right?¡± He asked. I nodded. ¡°An Ice Troll marked its territory.¡± ¡°Really? What evidence supports that?¡± came the surprising reply. ¡°It is definitely a Troll, but it may not be an Ice Troll. How can you tell it is an Ice Troll and not a Mountain Troll or even a Cave Troll? Making assumptions will kill people. A good scout and a good guard have evidence to back them up. Can you tell what type of Troll it is from this marking?¡± Ice trolls were the most common Trolls here, but I understood what Yoboc was saying. I looked at the claw mark in the tree. I leaned closer and sniffed. Just like an animal, the claw was the visible mark, but the true mark was its scent. The scent was acrid and cold and somehow clear like Ice. I had never smelled the piss of an Ice troll before. I just avoided them. However, my Olfactory Skill confirmed this was probably an Ice Troll. ¡°The scent smells like Ice,¡± I said. ¡°That is a good start,¡± Yoboc said. ¡°I don¡¯t have Olfactory, but even I can tell the scents apart. What else?¡± I looked but couldn¡¯t see anything. ¡°Look closer,¡± Yoboc said, ¡°See that black inside the claw marks?¡± I nodded, ¡°That is iceburn in the wood. You only get it from Ice-aligned creatures. That, more than anything, confirms this is an Ice Troll. A Mountain Troll would only have left the wood. A Cave Troll could have petrified some of the wood. I say, could have, because that is not always the case.¡± He looked at me. ¡°We are going to go into this territory and get eyes on this troll. The Commander wants as much information as he can, as he is planning to bring a Patrol up here and kill it. I daresay it will also be training for his newest recruit. Tell me what you know about Trolls.¡± ¡°Ah¡­ Watch for their sign and stay out of their territory. They are strongly territorial and very aggressive. Trolls are strong and have lots of regeneration, and I guess this one has Ice abilities?¡± Yoboc looked at me silently. I knew that was not good. Finally, he said, ¡°Let''s get back to the basics then. What makes something a Monster?¡± 10. Monster Lore. ¡°What makes something a monster? That they have skills and abilities beyond a normal animal,¡± I said. ¡°No. That is not what makes them a Monster. That is the result of being a Monster. What makes them a Monster is the fact they have a Monster Core. From that monster core comes their abilities and sometimes affinities. Some creatures, like Trolls and Griffons, are born monsters, which means they are born with a monster core. Other creatures like the Dire Wolf or Sabertooth animals grow a monster core over time. There are many ways this happens, such as eating a lot of monster meat or making their den in a place of high spirituality. The key is they need to imbibe lots of spiritual energy over a period of time. This means they get stronger and more intelligent and can develop affinities. Affinities only manifest when the monster core does.¡± ¡°But not Trolls?¡± I asked. ¡°No Trolls are born with a monster core and usually an affinity. They only get stronger as they age, with stronger regeneration. So we are going to eyeball this Troll. How do we do that without it sensing us? What are its strong and weak senses?¡± I thought about the mark in the tree. ¡°It has a good sense of smell.¡± ¡°Yes, and?¡± I shrugged. ¡°Okay, first, its sense of smell is not just good; it is remarkable. It is probably as good as a journeyman-level olfactory sense or even a master level, depending on how old the troll is. It has good hearing, but it is not exceptional. Its main weakness is its sight. It is very shortsighted. Because it was born with an ice affinity, it may well have developed the ability to sense through ice. That is one of the things we need to try and find out.¡± Yoboc indicted into the troll territory, ¡°We are going to stealth in to see the troll. What are you going to do if your stealth is not good enough?¡± ¡°Run,¡± I said. ¡°Yes, and trolls are not fast creatures, but what is their best sense?¡± ¡°Smell. So it will track me. I need to hide my smell.¡± ¡°More than that. We are going to hide our smell when we go in, but if it senses you, you need a way to change your scent so it loses your trail.¡± ¡°What about leaving the ground and using the trees?¡± I asked. ¡°Your smell will linger in the air, and there is not much breeze today. You always run downwind to minimise your smell to the troll, and with your Olfactory sense, you should get an idea of where the troll is behind you. There is another big factor. What is it?¡± It was like light bloomed in my thoughts as I realised the answer he wanted, ¡°Stay off the ice.¡± The light blooming in my mind was Monster Lore being added to my Status. ¡°Yes, ice,¡± Yoboc said, ¡°Even if it doesn¡¯t have an ice-sensing ability, its affinity is ice, and it will manipulate ice to kill you. That is why the commander wants to attack it soon. In summer, ice is at the minimum; therefore, an ice troll is at its weakest. There is always ice in this area, and the Ice Troll will retreat further up the mountain to stay near ice during the summer. Here, take two of these.¡± Yoboc handed me two round bladders of liquid. I gave him a questioning look. ¡°Home-made stink bladders,¡± Yoboc explained. ¡°To combat scent tracking, you use powerful smells. These are only to be used in an emergency. The object is to sneak in, observe, and get out without being noticed. However, you should always have at least one escape plan, preferably more. That one is made from crushed stink beetle, and the other one is from a sea slug, that is also mildly poisonous.¡± We circled the troll¡¯s territory to be downwind, even if there was only a light breeze. We muffled our smell with the smell of crushed pine needles and placed them in our armour. I had the stink bladders in a belt pouch, and it occurred to me that they would also be a good weapon to use against me, to confuse and restrict my ability. I need to watch that. Yoboc¡¯s stealth is way above mine. I kind of suspect he has some sort of advanced skill. He has left me to make my own way into the troll. This is obviously a test. He can cheat as Shiela will already be flying over and looking at the troll, and we probably don¡¯t even need to go in ourselves, but this is training, and as training goes, it is very real. I wish for more wind, as it will tell me where the troll is quicker. My stealth is Apprentice level, and this will stretch it. It is not just about moving quietly¡ªthat is novice-level stealth. This is about using the environment to hide and break up your profile and using shadows and obstacles to hide your movement. You need to watch the sun and be sure of where your shadow falls. In some spaces, you need very slow and careful movement, whereas a quick sprint can be the key to other terrain. Sometimes, I am crawling, and sometimes, I am Sprinting, and everything in between. Knowing when and how to move is what matters, and under all that, it is silent moving and not disturbing the ground or leaving tracks. The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. I am getting better, and my skill is moving steadily to the Journeyman level. Getting all this right will get me to Journeyman. Then what is the master level of the skill? Is Journeyman level and above actively countering skills that are hunting for you? It would make sense, and I guess we will see when we get there. I moved carefully, catching the occasional whiff of the same smell as the claw mark had. I could not tell if it was the Troll or another mark it had left. Maybe it was just where it defecated. As I move up the mountain, the snow and ice are getting harder to avoid. I do start using the trees and low branches. As I worked forward, I considered the difference between Ice and snow. Mom had a snow affinity, and the Ice Cats and trolls have ice. Ice is frozen water, but I remember Mom saying snow was frozen air, including moisture content. Mom¡¯s snow affinity was somewhere between ice and air affinities, with some cross-over. She never explained it properly. Would an Ice Troll be able to sense through snow? Another question is what is the range of the ability if it has one, and how sensitive would it be? I guess those answers would be a question of what level the skill is. How much information am I going to be able to get with my Identify skill at barely apprentice level? I see the troll in the distance, but I can¡¯t make out any details, and I can''t use Identify. Maybe if I got Farsight, it would sync with Identify and other skills. Farsight is a requirement for scout-type classes. Scouting is not really my thing, but Identifying threats in the distance is useful, and I can then choose to engage or avoid them. When I next saw it, the troll had moved. It was squatting under a rock overhang, which still had icicles hanging down, even though they were dripping. It was taller than I was and bulkier. I couldn¡¯t tell very well how tall it was while it was squatting. Its arms seemed longer in proportion to its body than they would be on a human, more like ape proportions. It had wicked claws on its fingers. The legs were short but looked powerful, and the feet had similar claws. Its obvious male feature was hanging prominently between its legs. Its face was flat like a human¡¯s, with no muzzle like a bear''s or wolf¡¯s. Its mouth was wider than a human or dwarf. The teeth were sharper, like mine. It was gnawing on a bone. It had a very prominent nose and quite large ears. It was covered in long, matted, white fur. As I watched an icicle drip and hit the fur, I realised it had turned to ice. The fur was matted but also frozen with layers of Ice. It is going to be very hard to penetrate ice-reinforced fur. I detect movement in my peripheral vision and turn to look. It is Yoboc. I think he deliberately broke stealth, so I saw him. The Commander''s lessons about keeping watch are paying off, and I am much more aware of my surroundings. Yoboc indicated I should join him on the ground. I looked at the snow he was standing on and raised my eyebrow in question. He reiterated that I was to join him, so I dropped from the low branch I was on to land beside him. ¡°What happened to staying off the ice?¡± I whispered. ¡°It is snow, not ice, and any ice sense will be severely restricted by snow.¡± He whispered back, ¡°Ice sense works best through solid layers of ice, so snow restricts the range. Plus, there is bare ground between us and the troll, so Ice Sense will stop at the edge of the snow where it is standing.¡± That would have been good information to have before now. ¡°What can you determine from what you see,¡± Yoboc asked. ¡°If it stood, it would be maybe a half meter taller than me. It looks strong, and the icy fur will be tough to get through.¡± ¡°You noticed the ice-matted fur, good,¡± Yoboc said. ¡°The size of the monster tells me it is early adult and probably in the middle of the power range. Look at its mouth. The length of the teeth confirms this, particularly the fangs on the edge. They and the claws grow with older age, but the claws are unreliable indicators as they are often broken in fights. What else?¡± ¡°It is staying out of the sun.¡± ¡°Yes, but that is not the only reason it is under the rock,¡± Yoboc said, ¡°They normally have their lairs in a cave and are mostly active from twilight. There is no real twilight this time of year, but their biggest predator is Griffons. It has poor eyesight, so it will not venture into the open often. It prefers rock, as you see, but in the forest, it is fine as well, away from the open sky.¡± I could understand that. In the open, it would not see, hear or smell an attack coming, and griffons diving from the open sky would leave it with little defence. ¡°Can it generate its own ice?¡± I ask. ¡°Yes. They have strong Physical Attributes and strong Spiritual Strength. They have weak Mental Attributes. The Level of its Spiritual Perception will determine if it has an Ice Sensing ability and how strong it might be. Can you Identify it from here?¡± I shook my head. ¡°Move in until you can identify it, and then come back.¡± When I used it on the dwarves at camp, I would normally be able to sense their main class and its strength, e.g., Goldie was a Level 11 Forrester. I didn¡¯t know what other classes she had, but I sensed she had high physical attributes and moderate mental and spiritual ones, whereas Undoth had high spiritual and mental attributes. I got very little from some people, like the Commander and Yoboc. Yoboc told me that is because they had mental defences powered by high Mental Strength. I got in range of the Troll, and it didn¡¯t have high mental attributes. The impression I got from Identify was that the troll was highly dangerous to me. It had high Physical Strength but only moderate Physical Agility and Perception. I got the impression that it had high Spiritual Strength and poor Spiritual Agility and Perception. I didn¡¯t get the impression of any skills. I headed back to Yoboc and reported what I sensed. Yoboc nodded, ¡±That is good for your level. I assume your Identify has moved to Apprentice level?¡± I checked and nodded. ¡°Good. It confirms what I also sensed. With the poor Spiritual Perception, I would think this troll does not have an Ice Sensing ability, or if it does, its range is really close. By far, its strongest skill is Ice Armor, which is powered by strong Spiritual Strength. With poor Spiritual Agility, it will not be throwing ice spikes or anything, so it will only be throwing raw hunks of ice, but they will probably be large ones. See those tracks?¡± I nodded, ¡°They lead to its cave. Goldie is checking that out so there are no surprises, like a mate. It would be unusual as they usually mate in winter, but these things need to be confirmed. Trolls are normally solitary creatures, but it always pays to check. We will head back, and as we go, think about how you would fight and kill such a monster.¡± 11. Monster Prep. My Stealth crept up into the high apprentice levels from the exercise scouting the Ice Troll. The training was good. What I found the most difficult was being around people so much. There were constantly people everywhere, and I was handling it less and less well. Ice Trolls are not the only solitary creatures. Polar Bear-kin are as well. I liked the late watch schedule through the early hours of the morning. Even though there was very little dark at this time of year, most people had their rest period then. There was always a shift working the mine, but it was a light shift, and most others slept. Some days, I just needed to get away. I would take off and go fishing or swimming or just wander the wilds for a bit and watch the sun, stars and moons. The night sky always brought me peace. I liked to laze in the sun¡¯s warmth. The sky didn¡¯t change. It didn¡¯t have strange customs. Yoboc taught me the names of the major constellations. And I can pick them out enough to navigate by now. This was good as there will be times I want to go to a particular place. Maybe find my way back here sometime. My Fishing levels jumped when the dwarves introduced me to using a fishing line and a hook. I used more bait, but I didn¡¯t get wet. If I took a knife, I could descale and fillet it for cooking. I was just used to eating it whole, but you did have to crunch the bones well. I was quite partial to cooked fish, especially with a few herbs. I didn¡¯t usually cook them myself, but I would take them back to our cook. He showed me what to do, and I learned to light a fire and cook, but if I was on my own, I probably would not bother. By the time you have packed flint, knives, fishing gear, axes for wood¡­ and the list just goes on, who wants to lug all that around everywhere? The dwarves take clothes and armour everywhere as well. No wonder they stick to one place to live. When I could, I just turned back into a bear and went wandering. I had to do it to stay sane. These dwarves might generally be OK, but they are still insane, especially when they get some alcohol in them. I have learned to drink their ale, but their whiskey is too much. There is one skill that the guards aren¡¯t teaching me, and everybody says I should know it. Even the guards I work with say I should learn it, but there is no time to teach me, and it is not essential for the class. I am not sure I need knife skills, although technically, they are called Small Blades. I have my claws so I don¡¯t also need to know Small Blades. They argue that knives are easy to carry as a backup weapon, but claws are easier. They argue that I will find knives all over the place if I need a weapon, but my claws are always with me. The argument that knives are good throwing weapons does have some merit, and learning Small Blades will sync with my Throw Weapons Skill. The other argument is that knowing Small Blades at least at the Apprentice level will teach me how I can be attacked and, therefore, how to defend against it. Maybe. As it is such a common skill, I guess being attacked with a knife is quite common. I borrowed a couple of knives, and Yoboc showed me some practice moves to get me started. There is a problem with all these weapons. The problem is if you carry weapons, then you have to carry all the equipment to sharpen and maintain them. Most guards have a skill for that, and it is part of what they are taught. There is just so much stuff that is needed. Weapon maintenance gear, armour maintenance equipment, on top of everything else. It all seems to just weigh everyone down, and it all costs coin. All my gear was loaned to me because I had no coin. I was taught to maintain it because they want it back in good condition. I did get the Weapon Repair skill, but repairing armour seems beyond me. It all seems far too much. Is this really how people live? It does seem to be. The one weapon I like and would consider getting is the axe. It is a very versatile weapon, especially the ones with the spike on the back like these. You can really put some power behind the strikes, and the spike can crack armour, or you can use it as an ice pick. It can chop wood, which is great. The axe is the best weapon. I like the axe. I am OK with the shield and spear, but I like the axe. I can see the advantage of the spear and keeping the monster at a distance, and that is going to be a key in fighting the Ice Troll, but the axe is much more versatile. I picked up axe skills really quickly. The fight with the Ice Troll was delayed a week when the supply ship arrived. This was a smaller ship than before, and it was all hands to help unload the supplies and load the ore. It only stayed a week, and a few dwarves went home with it while some others stayed. Most were here for the full summer. This fight with the Ice Troll is important to me. It is important because one day, I will be coming up against the Ice Cats. I need to learn how to combat something with an Ice affinity. ¡°It is Eric¡¯s Patrol¡¯s turn to get a monster kill, and we will be taking Ivan with us to attack the Troll,¡± The commander said. ¡°Yoboc and I will be coming, but we have monster kills on our status and specialised classes from that. Eric is up for the monster kill, but we will not be taking any chances, and whoever lands the final blow will get the kill.¡± I knew that a monster kill on my status would open up different Specialised classes. The Guard Class is one that might specialise in Monster Hunter, but it may not either. ¡°To be clear, the monster core will go to the Forgemaker Clan to power the Earth Eater, but the other resources we harvest will be split between participating people. Almost everything on the Troll is harvestable, and in this climate, we can keep the perishables frozen easily. Therefore, the Forgemaker quartermaster will assess the value and issue you your portion in coins. There will be no fighting over the spoils.¡± The Commander looked at everyone present. I gathered there was some history behind this. ¡°Eric will take first aggro on the Troll, and we will lead it out onto bare ground rather than ice. Eric has a skill that should draw it to him reliably. He will indicate when he will pass aggro to his second, etc. Yoboc has the liquid fire formula, and we will be applying it to melt the ice as much as we can. We don¡¯t have much, but the object is to get the Troll to use more and more Spiritual energy to wear it out. This will also reduce its ability to regenerate health.¡± The commander paused to make sure everybody was keeping up. Then he continued, ¡°I will have the War hammer, and I will break the ice. And this will probably draw its attention, which you will need to get back as I won¡¯t have a shield. There will always be three shield bearers with whoever has the Troll''s attention. Eric will be directing who they are, and they will rotate. If you are not on shield defence, you are on the attack with the axes where the ice has melted or broken or the axe spike if there is still ice where you can reach. The axe blades will make bigger wounds in the flesh, but the axe spike will break the ice better. Any questions?¡± Stolen novel; please report. ¡°How long do you expect this fight to last?¡± I asked. ¡°That depends on how fast we can whittle down its Spiritual Energy and Regeneration, but I would say not less than an hour, probably more like two,¡± the commander replied. ¡°Do we have a healer,¡± a guardsman asked. ¡°No, but the company will supply two health potions each. You are responsible for your energy management, so Stamina and Mana potions are on you.¡± There were a couple more questions, but we would set out mid-morning tomorrow. The most important instruction was to stick together if it all goes bad. Lone people are easy to target and kill, and a group can defend against more powerful creatures, like the troll. This was a thought for me, as I tend to hunt alone. Dwarves were definitely group hunters. Groups can take on monsters bigger than any individual could. A group of Ice Cats took down my mother. I will need a group with me when the time comes. This is definitely getting more complicated, but I am starting to realise how thoroughly outmatched I am. I will need an attack group against the Ice Cats. I wandered away, off duty until tomorrow. I dropped my geat and trousers in the lean-to, and they built me behind the kitchen. Felix was there asleep. I think he is older and more frail than I was told. I changed into a polar bear and went for a walk down to the beach. Parts of the ice shelf were so melted that we had a small rocky beach. It was the height of summer, and autumn was approaching. I looked at my attributes.
Ivan Medved Level Physical Mental Spiritual Totals Free
Str Agi Per Str Agi Per Str Agi Per
Base Attributes 15 12 13 13 8 10 14 9 10 104
Earned Attributes 5 4 5 4 7 2 4 2 4 37
Hunter Scavenger B 7 7 7 7 5 26 2
Totals 27 23 25 17 15 12 18 16 14 167 2
Constitution 75 44 48
I was saving my free attributes for Physical or Spiritual Perception, whichever was going to be needed. I was stronger in almost everything. Most of the dwarves still had me beat as they had specialisation classes, and your basic classes were only able to specialise when they got Journeyman level, which was level 10. Specialisation classes were offered based on your skills and attributes, and they often had minimum requirements. Specialisation classes also often gave a hard-to-get skill when you chose it. I wasn¡¯t sure what options I would get with Hunter Scavenger, but that was still three levels away, and levels were slower to get the higher you were. My options have certainly expanded with the training I have received. I looked through my skills. Resistances: Cold +29, Pain +3 Skills: Novice: General Weapon Repair 1, Fighting Crushing Bite 3, Tough Hide 3, Small Blades 1, Senses Lore Herb Lore 3, Plant Lore 4, Animal Lore 4, Mineral Lore 2, Monster Lore 1, Apprentice: General Arctic Camouflage 9, Transform 8, Fishing 7, Sprint 8, Tracking 8, Stealth 8, Tremor 5, Dwarvish 7, Identify 5, Fighting Quick Claws 5, Unarmed Combat 6, Shield 5, Spear 5, Throw Weapons 5, Axe 5, Senses Olfactory 7, Lore Arctic Lore 6 Journeyman: General Common 11, Fighting Senses Nightsight 10, Lore The key thing I have realised is how important Lore is. Knowledge undermines everything. I am not good with book learning. I learn best with someone like Yoboc, who is teaching me on the job. I am going into a fight tomorrow, and I am the weakest person there. I know they will look out for me, but for all my improvements, I am still the weakest. I get my butt handed to me in Unarmed Combat, and even with the practice spears and axes, my Tough Hide has levelled. I am frustrated. I know I have made huge progress, but it never seems to be enough. Now, I am going into a fight where everybody will have to watch out for me. Grrrr. I need to do better. 12. Iced. It all started badly. The Ice Troll was hidden in its lair. A stiff breeze was blowing up the mountain from the sea, which meant that if we wanted to be downwind, we would have to be higher up the mountain on the ice. This meant we stayed a long way down the mountain and off to one side, so the troll was not forewarned before we were ready. As guards, we have to learn tricks to protect people and things. Part of that learning is preparing traps to stop attackers. Trapping skills are not required for the Guard Class, but they can be useful tools. Yoboc, the commander, and Eric have the Skill. I am not sure how many other of the guards have it. It is doubtful I will learn it in the time I have, but there is plenty of time after I have the class. Eric and the Commander have gone to draw out the Troll while Yoboc supervises the trap we are building. We built it in the middle of a clearing so we could move easily around it if the Troll came from an unexpected direction. The clearing had the added benefit of being free from ice and snow. There was still snow this high up the mountain in summer, but it was mostly in the shaded areas. Further up, there was permanent ice and snow. Eric was in charge of the Patrol of Guards. They preferred to be called Patrollers rather than the name of the class they all had. I don¡¯t know why. There were eight of them: me, The Commander, Yoboc, and a person who surprised me. The surprise addition was Thranmack Bolderblade. He was the one I called the titless dwarf when I first met Yoboc and Goldie. Thran started his career with a basic class as a Miner. He levelled it to Journeyman and then worked and gained the Adminstrator basic Class. He was on this expedition to level the Administrator Class and gain the skills to specialise in either Foreman or, preferably, Overseer. That was why he was rotated through various different jobs, so he knew what people did and had an idea of the challenges and requirements of running an expedition. Technically, he was Thomwea Forgemaker''s apprentice. I never liked Thran, ever since he laughed at me when I didn¡¯t understand what was going on. He has tried to strike up a conversation with me since, but I have not been interested. I suspect he was told off and told to make it right. Yoboc gave me a clue when he told me the Administrator class was about organisation and supply, but the Overseer and Foreman specialisations are more about managing people. I suspect he was told to make nice with the only non-dwarf here to level his people skills. I am not interested in helping him. He can learn the consequences of stuffing up instead. Thran did the bulk of the work on the trap. Every dwarf here had the Mining Skill, but he had the Miner class, which provided a lot of bonuses to the skill. I don¡¯t even have the skill yet. I still avoided him. A massive roar came from up the mountain, signalling that the Commander and Eric had the Troll''s attention. We roughly covered the trap. It did not need to be carefully hidden as the Troll was short-sighted, and our smell was already all over this place. Keeping the Troll enraged was the key, and it sounds like they have done that, and us being in its territory will keep it enraged. They were coming fast. We moved around the trap, and it was between us and the incoming monster. We lined up with shields and spears were ready. I was right on one edge as I was so tall my shield didn¡¯t line up with the dwarves. The Commander and Eric were coming at full speed through the light scattering of trees. The troll was crashing through the occasional trunk that got in its way, bringing down the trees and cascades of snow. It would have been faster if it avoided the trees, but it didn¡¯t care. As Eric reached the clearing, he turned and yelled at the troll. The Troll roared back and redoubled its efforts to catch him. I figured it was a skill of some type that Eric used. The commander slipped around the trap and joined the other end of the dwarven line. He did not have a shield but a large two-handed Warhammer. One side of the hammer had a lot of small ridges and looked like a meat pulveriser. The other side had a large spike. The Hammer looked way too heavy for him to handle. His Physical Strength must be incredible. Eric ran straight for the trap and jumped over it. He slid to a halt and joined the centre of the line of dwarves as the Troll came barreling forward. As it hit the edge of the trap, the ground fell out from under it, and the stakes we had placed, tried to pierce its hide. One of them may have. I tossed a bladder of liquid that splashed over one side of the troll, and then Yoboc let loose with the fire arrows. The hay we had piled up in the bottom of the hole caught alight, and then the liquid I had thrown caught fire. The troll went crazy. The flames were eating at its Ice, and the smoke was playing havoc with its sense of smell. It raged and struck out at anything it could reach. It smashed one of the dwarf¡¯s spears, and several shields were left with claw marks. The dwarves started stabbing with their spears, aiming for the areas weakened by fire. Then, the commander¡¯s large two-handed hammer slammed down on the back of the troll. I wondered why he used the mallet end, not the spike until I saw the shower of ice crystals falling from the troll''s fur. He was weakening the ice armour. This angered the troll further, and a wave of freezing cold radiated past me. All the fires were snuffed out, and the Ice reformed on the troll''s fur even thicker than before. Frost appeared on my shield. A sharp command came from Eric. Another bladder splashed on the troll, and the Commander¡¯s hammer came down again, which only cracked the outer layer of the new ice, and a few splinters fell off. The new liquid fire flared, weakening the ice. This was a fight of attrition. We needed to work through the Troll''s ice until its spiritual energy was low and then work through its physical regeneration until we could kill it. If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. The Troll was not going to take this standing still, and the hole was only up to its chest. It raged at the closest dwarves and looked to climb out of the hole. A yell rang out, ¡°2¡­ 1¡­. Bash!¡± and three dwarves in front of the troll coordinated a Shield Bash that sent it stumbling back. Shield Bash is another Skill I have yet to learn. My general Shield Skill has only just graduated from the novice levels, so specialised Shield skills come later. The Commander is focusing on the essential skills for the guard class, and the added extras will have to come later. Stab, twist, stab again with my spear. I was on the edge away from the troll''s direct wrath, and the dwarves receiving that wrath switched out with others as needed. It was this type of coordination and working together that was very effective at controlling a larger opponent. The commander was all over the place, striking from different angles all the time. The occasional arrow came in from Yoboc. He has several different arrow skills, and he had said his Power Arrow and Piercing Arrows skills were the only ones that would have a chance. He had been trying to teach me a power throw skill, but he thought my Physical Strength was still too low. My spear thrusts caused less damage than the other guards because my physical strength and spear skills were lower. The second time the Troll tried to escape the pit, he was bashed back again, but that enraged him more, and he started throwing chunks of ice. He was not skilled in creating sharp spears of ice, so they were just hunks of ice, but they were big hunks. This was one of the reasons we had shields. The shields were denting if you didn¡¯t manage to deflect the ice. If you did deflect the ice, you had to be careful not to deflect it to the person standing next to you. I think this was another reason they had me on the end of the line. I noticed Titless ¡­ sorry Thran was not on the line but standing back watching. I assume that was what he came for. From a bad start things were going pretty much as planned. The Troll¡¯s energy was being used up with only a few minor injuries. I think only one health potion has been used to date. As soon as that thought entered my head, I knew it was a bad omen. The troll had had enough of staying in the pit trap. There was only enough time for a quick warning shout, and the troll basically lept out of the pit. I think it used its strong arms more than its legs, but I couldn¡¯t really see. This time, it was the dwarves that went flying. Two managed to dive clear from the warning, one got stomped on, and two flew backwards. The Commander must have used some skill as he flew over the pit, landing a huge blow to the troll''s back with his hammer spike. I saw the spike go deep, and blue blood started mixing with the ice and fur. The trouble was the spike was not coming out. The commander hung on to the hammer as the troll went wild and started rampaging. Then I realised what he was doing. The bloody commander was riding the troll and steering it away from the injured. That was bloody incredible. I couldn¡¯t stop to watch as the dwarves that were standing were reforming. They were discarding their spears and bringing out the axes. I rushed to the dwarf that got trampled and realised it was Eric. He was already trying to sit up and grab a potion. I shoved one of mine into his hand, amazed he didn¡¯t have broken bones. ¡°I am tougher than I look, lad,¡± he said. ¡°Good Forgemaker armour helps. I will be fine in a few minutes. Go get back on the line,¡± he commanded. I looked around and noticed Titless... Thran was helping the other fallen dwarves. One did look like he had broken something. I looked back to the fight, and the shield wall was back up, and somehow, the Commander had the spike out of the back of the troll. I noticed the bleeding had stopped already. I saw another bladder of liquid splash over the troll''s back and burst into flame. This kept the flame away from the shield bearers, and I think the Commander wanted to keep attacking where the spike had gone in. I dropped my spear and sprinted to the side of the troll with my shield up. I didn¡¯t have the skill Shield Bash, but coming in with the momentum of a Sprint and an appropriate jerk of the shield to hit the troll was close, and that was the way to earn the skill. It was all in the timing. Hitting the troll like that hurt my arm worse than it hurt the troll, and I only saw a few shards of ice dislodge from its fur. My frustration rose, and I laid into its shoulder with the spike side of my axe. The troll was swinging with fists covered in ice, forcing the dwarves back with his blows and denting shields. The Shield wall was retreating, but I noticed they were manoeuvring to stay in the clearing. It was a controlled retreat. A wave of freezing cold swept over me as the troll put the fire out and reinforced its armour. The cold wave was definitely shorter than the previous ones. Trolls are not smart. They use what they have at the moment with no thought of the future. It was used to powering through its opposition. It was not wise in its use of resources. I was chipping at the shoulder, and the dwarf next to me was making better progress on the troll''s leg. I would have joined the same spot, but I was vulnerable, bending that low. Stupid short dwarves. Bash with the shield, spike, spike, bash. If the ice is thin enough, twist the axe and see if I can draw blood with the blade. The troll was focused on the dwarves in front of it, so I was not getting attacked. I just had to watch its movements. I bashed again. Then I thought about my skill, Tremor. I was told it was a mining skill, but I did not learn it in a mine. I learned it on the ice. I wasn¡¯t even on the ground; I was on an ice shelf over water. I tried another shield bash, this time using Tremor with the shield. My timing was off, but the skill seemed to work. I bashed again, but this time, I left my shield against the troll for a second and used Tremor. Then, I stepped back in a hurry. A huge shower of ice fell from the small area the shield had been against. I would think it was all the ice in that area. I chopped with my axe blade, cutting through the fur and hide to draw blood. Oh yeah, this was fantastic. I have a way to do some real damage. I am not just an accessory here like Titless Thran. Unfortunately, what I did also drew the attention of the troll, and a thick, ice-covered fist came at me. I only just got the shield up, but it was not angled properly, and I was not braced properly. I went flying and landed on my back, having all the air knocked out of me and skidding along the ground. 13. Blue Blooded. ¡°Come on, lad, stop lying down on the job,¡± It was Eric offering me a hand up. How the hell was he on his feet already? ¡°Whatever you did was effective. Let''s finish the beastie off,¡± I grabbed his hand, and he hauled me to my feet. ¡°Tremor is not just a mining skill. It works with shields,¡± I said. His eyes lit up, ¡°Does it now?¡± he turned and yelled, ¡°Thran! Get your shield and your scraggly beard over here. You have Tremor, and it works with shields. You are now with me. Ivan, you are with the Commander.¡± I could see Thran coming as told, but he was not happy. He is not a fighter and does not have a fighting class. I would be sure he would have some basic fighting skills, as all dwarves do, but he was a miner and an administrator. I am sure Eric was taking that into account. Not my problem. I moved around to where the Commander was. All the dwarves were switching out for rest periods. This was a long fight, and one of our advantages was our numbers. Working with the Commander was interesting. He seemed to have an innate understanding of the flow of the fight. He was leaving the command of the dwarves to Eric, but he directed me where to strike with my Tremor shield, and he followed it up with his hammer. We were very effective, and the ground was starting to be stained with the Troll¡¯s blue blood. This showed we were getting somewhere, as the previous wounds showed the blood would just freeze in place in very short order. This was working through the troll''s regeneration while keeping its spiritual energy low. It was weird to see that the Commander''s hammer would now break bones, but as we watched, they would snap back into place and heal. The Commander and I were working to chop right through an arm before it could heal. We were repeatedly cutting the hide and flesh and breaking the bone, only to watch it heal. I was getting frustrated, but the Commander was calm and persistent. We had to monitor our energy usage. If we ran out of stamina and had to retreat, the troll would have a chance to heal. Consistency and persistence were the keys to this fight. I just found it frustrating. We were making progress. Only two dwarves were out with broken bones. We may only have another half hour to bleed the troll out, but I may be underestimating again. Sprint, Bash, Tremor, Axe, again. I only have a few more of those in me. I have certainly grown in this skill and learned a new skill called Seismic Smash, but I do not have time to check the details. We move again. Then overhead, a loud screech echoed and then was suddenly cut off, and I saw Sheila¡¯s body crash into the ground, followed by a loud, anguished cry from Yoboc. I had barely processed that when the Commander shoved me sideways, and a whoosh of air swooped past. A louder screech echoed. It was so loud I was disorientated for a second as I rolled. ¡°Fall Back!¡± was yelled, I think, by Eric. When I came to a stop, a massive griffon had landed, and a dwarf was under its claws. I glanced around and saw another griffon lifting off the troll, its claws blue with blood. More griffons were coming in for dive attacks with their lion claws stretched in front and their eagle beaks snapping. I rolled to my feet and focused on the griffon that had actually landed near me. Most were dive-attacking the troll and us but then going back up into the air. The dwarves were scattered. The active ones were trying to help those who were injured in the trees. I lined up my shield and Sprinted at the one on the ground in front of me. It had the unmoving dwarf in front of it, brought its beak down, and snapped through its thigh, lifting its head to swallow the leg, ripped trousers and boots in all. Blood was spurting out of the stump, which told me he was alive, but he wouldn¡¯t be soon. Sprint, Seismic Smash, Axe spike, grab the dwarf and Sprint. The most my axe spike did was remove a feather, but the Commander was behind me with a bigger spike. The griffon still swiped its claws down my back, ripping my armour and hide. I didn¡¯t see what happened after that as I activated Sprint, but I could hear the screech of pain. The Commander''s attack distracting the griffon was probably the only reason I was alive. I reached the tree line and put a trunk between me and the fight, ripped the shirt off the dwarf and tied it as tight as I could around the stum to stop the bleeding. Guard training includes basic first aid. I haven''t got the skill yet, nor have I learned anatomy, but they are teaching me. The Guard class does not require it, but the commander thinks it is essential knowledge. This dwarf would live. I looked and realised it was Titless Thran I had just saved. I hope his contract with the Forgemakers includes paying for the healers to regrow his leg when they get back to civilisation. Not my problem. Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. I looked out at the clearing where the fight was. The troll was ripped and shredded and weakly trying to swipe at the griffons. Its blue blood was splattered everywhere. I saw the commander trying to keep the griffon off him as he retreated to the tree line. The trees would not stop the griffons, but at least they hampered the dive attacks. I Sprinted back to help as he had no shield and was trying to defend himself with a war hammer. It wasn¡¯t going so well. The griffon saw me coming and swiped at me with a wing. I ducked and slid under it and cut a line with my axe. Several feathers came loose. I achieved my goal of distracting it, but I was sliding close to sharp claws. The griffon rocked from a strike from the commander, and I got my feet under me, my claws digging into the dirt. I sprinted to the back of the griffon because I saw no reason to get near that beak. It scared me. When I got behind the wing, I jumped onto the griffon''s back, driving my axe spike as hard as I could into the fur between the wings. It went into the muscle, and I tossed my shield to the front, thinking the commander would make better use of it. The griffon reared up. I think it was trying to buck me off while clawing at the commander. I was not easy to dislodge. I had one hand on the axe embedded in the griffon and the other hand and my feet all digging in with all my claws. The griffon''s body was covered in lion fur, and the wings, neck, head, and tail were covered in feathers. The fur was tough, like my tough hide, but much better. My claws were barely digging in. The griffon screeched and flapped its wings, took a few steps, and launched itself into the air. It struggled to get into the air with my weight on it and it swerved to avoid a tree and some branches were snapped off by its wings. It was time to bail on this flight. I pushed myself off before we got too high, and I crashed into the trees, breaking branches on the way to the ground. Ooof. That one didn¡¯t break. I think my ribs did. I guess my axe is going for a fly. I looked out to the clearing again. As I watched, a griffon landed on the troll''s back, driving it to the ground, and started feasting. Several other griffons landed to get in on this feast. There was one dwarven body being torn apart by two griffons, and the rest of us were scattered in the surrounding trees, trying to hide. It was time to get out of here before they finished feeding. I wasn¡¯t too far from Titless Thran, so I limped over. Maybe I should call him legless Thran. I grabbed him, hefted him up, and limped toward the base camp. Every breath hurt. Other dwarves joined me, or maybe I joined them. Then, the Commander arrived and took charge. I did notice that the Commander was carrying my shield, so it must have been of some help. I couldn¡¯t see Eric or Yoboc anywhere. Everybody had injuries. Once the Commander thought we were far enough away, he had us stop and rest while the least injured person ran to camp for help. About half an hour later, Eric and Yoboc arrived together. Yoboc was carrying Sheila''s body, and he was pretty torn up. I don¡¯t know anything about bonds or how they work, but it seems they go pretty deep. Eric was carrying a shirt leaking blood, about the size of a head. I assume it was all that was left of the dwarf, so we could give him a funeral or, however, dwarves say goodbye to their dead. I looked around and figured it was Skathul Deepaxe that died. I didn¡¯t know him well. We shared a watch occasionally. Everything had been going roughly to plan, and then everything went to shit. It brought back some bad memories. I am going to have some nightmares over this and the memories it stirred up. I don¡¯t know how I survived so long on my own out here. Partly, it is because I avoided big fights, but mostly, I think it was because of luck. ¡°Everybody stay put,¡± the commander said. ¡°I am going to check we are not being followed. Stay under cover or the trees.¡± It would normally be Yoboc¡¯s job to scout but he was a mess at the loss of his bond. He looked absolutely devastated. About half an hour later, the help arrived from the camp. Goldie was with them, along with the miners'' medic. Goldie went straight to Yoboc while the medic started on the wounded. He wasn''t a proper healer. More of a miner with some healing skills. I watched Goldie and Yoboc, but I couldn''t tell what they were doing. Yoboc looked like he was missing a part of himself. If that is what it does to you, I am not sure I ever want a bond. The commander came back shortly thereafter and ordered the return to camp, but to stay under the trees. 14. Recover. The commander worked his way around each Patroller. When he came to me, he said, ¡°You did very well out there. Quick, smart thinking under pressure. How do you feel you went?¡± I just shrugged my shoulder, as I didn¡¯t really know how I felt. I was still weak. I managed to save Titless and get away, but I wasn¡¯t causing enough damage. I didn¡¯t say any of that. ¡°We lost Skat and Sheila, but your actions saved Thran. They also saved me when you passed me your shield and rode the griffon so that it took off. Thank you,¡± he said. ¡°We will have a burial for Skat and Sheila tomorrow. Get some rest. Check your skill growth. You will find that the Guard class has leapt forward. You demonstrated excellent Guard qualities out there. You will definitely have the class before winter, and you are well suited for it.¡± He moved on. He was a Guard trainer, so he has the skills to know how I am progressing in my class training. I will check my skills later. For now, I stripped off my ripped and useless armour. I had lost my spear, axe and shield, so I had no weapons. I transformed into a polar bear, grabbed a leg of what was cooking, and took it around to my den. I settled into my shallow hole and chewed the meat as I rested. I needed to be alone. I could hear the dwarves drinking. They needed to be together and with their precious ale. I needed to be alone. My mind was going over the fight again and again, especially the last ten minutes when everything went to shit. It might not have even been that long. Five minutes. Could I have done anything different? Yes, a thousand things. Running would have been sensible. Staying out of it to guard Thran, rather than go back in, would also have been less dangerous. Why did I toss my shield to the Commander? The main reason was I couldn¡¯t have held it and stayed on the griffon as long as I did. The Commander using it to save his life was on him, not me. I needed to be rid of it and thought he might have a use for it. Why did I get on the griffon''s back? My main thinking was that it was the one place it couldn¡¯t reach me with its beak and claws. It wasn¡¯t heroic. I really wasn¡¯t thinking how the griffon might react. I certainly didn¡¯t have the power to hurt it significantly. The griffon probably thought I did, though. I knew Sheila better than Skat. Could I have seen the griffons coming and saved Sheila? I was focused on the fight, not my surroundings. That is a weakness, but if you lose focus in a fight, you get dead. Yoboc is probably beating himself up with this. He has Farsight as well. Felix appeared, lay down next to me, and started chewing on the other end of the leg bone. Seriously, that dog is fearless. No other animal would come and share the food of a polar bear while he was eating it. I watched him out of the corner of my eye. I growled at him. He just wags his tail, knowing I don¡¯t mean it, somehow. I growl at myself. Eventually, I left Felix to it and curled up to sleep. I woke early. There is one good thing about working with dwarves. They are not early risers. They work hard, drink late and sleep in late. For most, lunch is the first meal of the day. Felix is curled up beside me. Before I get up and hunt for a nice fat seal for breakfast, I check my skills. My Tough Hide has gone up to Apprentice. I have Seismic Smash, which is still at the Novice level, but I can use it with most blunt weapons, not just the shield. That is handy. I will have to check if it works with my fists or paws. I don¡¯t see why not. It has a moderate cost in Spiritual Energy, and to make it much more effective, I need more Spiritual Strength. The cost reduces as the skill levels. Shield, Spear, and Axe all went up one or two levels. Then I saw Sprint. It had jumped into the Journeyman levels. It was my third Journeyman-level skill after Common Language and Nightsight. I did use it a lot. Thinking about it, the jump to Journeyman probably happened early in the fight as the cost has reduced drastically at Journeyman level, and I would have run out of stamina otherwise. I was supposed to have been regulating my energy levels, but I think I forgot somewhere in there. That was dangerous. That is a lesson to learn. I was surprised to have Anatomy in my lore and Novice First Aid. Anatomy was just the general Anatomy Lore and was not specialised for any species. Novice First Aid did little more than aid in bandaging and stopping bleeding, which was what I did for Titless Thran. The skill was strongly tied with the Anatomy skill, and the more I knew, the better the first aid was. Once it gets to apprentice, it will help slightly boost the Physical Constitution and the natural recovery. Very slightly. It was not a proper healing skill; it was to keep people alive and get them to a healer. My Hunter/Scavenger Class went up a level even though the hunt was not successful. One step closer to getting the attributes I need to get Clearsight. In fact, one more level, and I will have them. I noted I did not earn any attribute points in the fight. That was a shame, but it was getting a lot harder to earn points. They told me it would get like that. This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. I roused myself. I was a little stiff and sore, but the cuts on my back were closed over. However, my ribs were still healing. The wounds transferred when I transformed, making the transformation painful. I was going to go and see how my new Journeyman Sprint worked in bear form, but I decided that I would have to wait for my ribs to heal. I wandered to the cooking area and scavenged for food. Not even the cook was awake yet. I then settled down with Felix to snooze till a more suitable hour. Dwarves are a people of the earth. For this reason, they bury their dead and create ornate stone markers to honour them. Sheila was honoured as if she was a full dwarf and not a hawk. The burial sites were dug near the mine entrance and two large rocks were brought out. Yoboc and Goldie would carve Sheila''s monument over the next few months and the relatives of Skat would carve his. After the burial, where people spoke, we went back to the cooking area, drank, and remembered the dead. Many a toast was raised, and it was considered bad manners if you were able to walk home afterwards. During the drinking, Thran approached me. He had a wooden crutch. His leg stopped mid-thigh. ¡°I am told I have you to thank for my life. Thank you for saving me. I ¡­ ah, I apologise again for my actions when we first met. This ¡­ this,¡± he waved at his missing leg, ¡°this has made me reconsider a lot of things.¡± Then he got formal, ¡°I, Thranmak Bolderblade, owe you a life debt. Whatever you need, call on me, and I will do everything in my power to meet that need.¡± What on earth do you say to something like that? ¡°You don¡¯t need to respond,¡± Thran said. ¡°The debt is mine. Just ask.¡± Then he nodded to me and limped away. ¡°He didn¡¯t need to do that,¡± Goldie said from behind me as Thran walked away. I looked at her. ¡°Dwarves don¡¯t recognise formal personal debts these days, not even life debts. Only rarely in special circumstances, and usually only amongst kin.¡± ¡°So what do I do?¡± I said, worried I was going to breach some cultural taboo. Dwarves have all these unknown customs. ¡°You don¡¯t have to do anything. If you need anything, just ask him.¡± ¡°What happens after this?¡± I asked. ¡°What do you mean?¡± Goldie asked. ¡°People died. What happens here? Is there any fallout from this?¡± ¡°Thomwea will get in trouble when she gets back. Death penalties will be paid, and she has nothing to show for it. It was planned, and the risk managed, and it still went to shit,¡± Goldie replied. ¡°That¡¯s it?¡± Goldie shrugged, ¡°I stay away from that weak rock stuff.¡± ¡°Weak rock?¡± ¡°Politics, management, you know, weak rock.¡± I didn¡¯t get that. It must be a dwarf thing. I will stay out of it, too. ¡°Drink up, Ivan,¡± she said, ¡°You don¡¯t want to be walking home,¡± I sleep around the back of the cookfires. How else am I getting home? Dwarves are weird. When I had enough, I escaped, changed back to my bear and snuggled down for the night. I don¡¯t know how to help Yoboc. He is the dwarf who has invested in me the most, and not only in training. I still haven¡¯t worked out if he and Goldie are together. They yell and fight, but that might be normal for a dwarf relationship. She was certainly making sure he couldn¡¯t walk home. I was on light duty until my ribs healed. I made sure I spent time with Yoboc, but he seemed diminished. He went out hunting with Goldie, but more ofter then not, they came back empty. His spare time was spent carving the monument for Sheila. Felix and I would go and watch him carve. Goldie often brought him a meal at the grave site. One day, he handed me a chisel and a small hammer, ¡°That area that is marked is all waste stone. If you want to help, you can carefully chip it away.¡± So, I started to help a little. I wasn¡¯t very good, but he took the time to show me how to chip away the stone. He described the design of Sheila catching a fish from the sea. A sculpture like that requires a lot of imagination to form it from a lump of stone. I earned a point in Mental Agility when I learned the Carving skill. I was only doing the rough work; Yoboc did all the fine work, and he seemed to have a real feel for the stone, for all that he is not a miner. I guess all the dwarves spend time with stone and mining. It must give them some sort of innate sense of the stone and the micro-cracks and minor variations in density. I was starting to see more by the time Carving went to the Apprentice level, which gave me another point in Mental Agility. I was certainly better at carving than I was at composing limericks. Goldie was better at limericks. She piped up one day with: ¡°There once was a carver alone, Who worked with a hammer on stone. With each chisel¡¯s bite, He brought forms to the light, Till the rock seemed to sigh and intone.¡± Goldie also came up with the words in tribute to Shiela, which would be carved into the mounting. ¡°The osprey, a master of flight, Soars high with a keen, piercing sight. With talons that flash, Through waters they splash, A predator, swift and contrite.¡± I was carving the mount, but Yoboc would carve the words. 15. Spirituality. The rest of the summer proceeded with training. There were no more expeditions to hunt monsters. My skills progressed slowly. At least, they seemed slow to me. I did find that Carving did wonders for my Small Blades Skill. I guess the chisel was a small blade, and carving meant there had to be a lot of control over it. My equipment was replaced, and Thran had already settled the account with the quartermaster. This made me a bit uncomfortable, but everyone just accepted it as reasonable. They didn¡¯t really have much in the way of leather armour for someone my size, and there was no leather worker with the expedition. I was fine with going naked, but dwarven culture insisted I at least wear a pair of shorts in my Humanoid form. What I did do was get a number of belts and sew them together with some pouches so I could carry weapons and other things, like potions and an alarm whistle, etc. I was trying to work out a method of belts that I could use in my bear form to carry things. I liked the axe and wanted a way to carry one. These skills I am learning are great, but they all involve a lot of equipment. I am not sure I want to be bothered carrying a lot of equipment everywhere, but I do like some things. Mostly I like the axe and a way to cook things. Thon, our cook, has taught me some of my favourite recipes. This bumped my Herb Lore to Apprentice even though my Cooking is still Novice. I don¡¯t think I will ever be a great cook, but I did want to be able to cook my favourites as Thon is not staying over the Winter. I started making regular patrols into the mine and picked up the Mining Skill. I don¡¯t ever see myself as a miner, but learning to recognise different types of rock with Mineral Lore is useful right now. My main difficulty with the mine is that I only have Nightsight and, therefore, require a light source. All the dwarves have Darksight and usually work in total darkness. One advantage for me in this mine is that the Lightsteel ore emits a small glow, which is mostly enough for my now Journeyman Nightsight. I now carry a small piece whenever I go into the mine. That is something else I need a pouch for. Not all the tunnels follow the Lightsteel ore, as there are other minerals there. Plus, we are here to mine the Lightsteel, and the brightest ore is the richest. I was in the mine when I saw my first Rock Elemental. ¡°Look here, lad,¡± Undoth the prospector said. He seems to have an uncanny feel for the rock and minerals. Prospecting is a specialisation of the Miner Class, but you also need scouting-type skills for it. Finding riches underground is the whole point of the class. I move closer to the rock wall and look carefully. ¡°I can¡¯t see anything.¡± ¡°Yeah, it is almost impossible to see when it stops moving. You need more than Spiritual Perception. You need a Spiritual Sensing Skill. Keep watching.¡± He got out a small hammer and tapped the stone. A couple of seconds later, the rock seemed to move like a wave had passed through it. Then it stopped. ¡°Where did it go?¡± I asked. ¡°It went deeper into the rock, away from where I could hit it.¡± ¡°So hitting the rock hurt it?¡± ¡°Yes and no. All elementals are primarily Spiritual beings. Rock elementals of this type occupy the rock, and so they are the rock, but when they move, they leave the rock behind and occupy new rock. Moving costs them Spiritual energy, which is also their life force.¡± ¡°I am not sure I understand,¡± I said. ¡°We, as in you and me, are Physical, Mental and Spiritual. We are usually more Physical than the others, but we are all three. All creatures are all three, but Elementals are very strongly Spiritual with only a very small physical component. We think they are also mentally weak, about the level of animals.¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t see anything apart from the rock moving,¡± I said. ¡°That is because it buried the physical part deeper in the rock. The moving rock you saw was not actually the rock moving, but the Spiritual energy it used to relocate. You saw it with your Spiritual Perception.¡± ¡°To kill it, we need to destroy the physical part of it?¡± I asked. ¡°What is that?¡± ¡°That is not the only way, but it is the easiest as it is the weakest on a tiny Rock Elemental like that. The physical part will be a spiritual gem, probably about the size of a grain of sand. Larger elementals have larger gems and sometimes multiple gems, depending on the Spiritual Energy they have been feeding on.¡± ¡°So they feed on Spiirtual Energy, so they are bad for the ore? They suck out the energy?¡± I asked. ¡°Yes and No,¡± Undoth said. ¡°It is more like the energy passes through the elemental, empowering them and leaving small concentrations behind. If you had Spiritual Sensing, you would see the energy this one left, but it is very tiny. They can form into the gems that we find in the ore. So the small ones are not bad. The larger ones can disrupt the energy of the ore if they are carrying different gems. For example, a Rock Elemental with Shadow-orientated energy would corrupt the Lightsteel ore.¡± ¡°Are they monsters?¡± ¡°Not those ones. They don¡¯t have a monster core. The ones that are, get quite aggressive and territorial when they find rock they like. They can be driven off and sometimes killed, but we are off-topic. I will be bringing you down here regularly because you need to learn Spiritual Sensing to guard the mine over the winter.¡± ¡°What attributes do I need for Spiritual Sensing?¡± ¡°Not much at all,¡± Undoth replied. ¡°Spiritual Perception and Spiritual Agility, but you have more than enough. I am quite frankly surprised you haven''t learned it already. Most young people learn it early and use it to level their Spiritual attributes.¡± I shrugged. I never knew I needed to learn it. It took several visits to the mine, and Undoth directed me on where to look and how to use my Spiritual Perception. I got it eventually. Spiritual Sensing did not need Physical Perception to be at a certain level as it was not tied to a physical sense. Learning Spiritual Sensing gave me a point in Spiritual Perception, taking it to 15 which was the minimum for Clearsight. I still need to get my Physical Perception up to 30. This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. This opened my understanding of what was around me. The ground was not as still as it looked. This was an area of high spirituality, obviously. Not all areas are like this. Every time I went into the mine, I practised spotting Rock Elementals. Outside the mine, I could sense other people''s Spirituality, but it was very blurry. I guess I need to level my skill and level my Spiritual Perception. The mine was a good place to scavenge. All the less valuable pieces were discarded in the waste hopper. I found a few gems that nobody had bothered to look for. There was a lot of high-quality ore, so if it looked below standard, it was just discarded. This is where I trained my Spiritual Sensing. I worked through the rock to sense concentrations of Spiritual Energy. I got to sense the different spiritual energies. Lightsteel ore was light, but Orichalcum was a denser green sense. They were digging more side tunnels as Undoth sensed different ores, and I think his high-level Spiritual Sensing was a big part of that. He did say he had a more specific skill, and the skills meshed together into something greater, but he wouldn¡¯t tell me what. They also dug up Deep Iron, which was denser than Orichalcum but gave off a crude metallic feel to my low Spiritual Sense. They dug up a little Molybdenum, which has an extremely high melting point. It gave a cool feel to my senses. All these were minor deposits. The main ore here was a massive Lightsteel seam. I scavenged nuggets of each of these and a couple of small Light gems, one tiny Deepiron Crystal and a small Ori-crystal. I didn¡¯t know what the ores and crystals were used for after they were processed, but I wasn¡¯t a metal expert, and I don¡¯t intend to be. Recognising these and using my pick and chisel to get down to the ore itself levelled my Mineral Lore and Mining to Apprentice. I had Thran use the forge to remove the remaining impurities, and I was going to keep them as a template for my senses. They all fit in one pouch. This bit of scavenging bumped my Hunter Scavenger class to 9 and one more, and it will be at the Journeyman Level. At that point, I could Specialise it. Better than that, though, was it gave me enough free points to bump my Physical Perception up to 30, with one point left over as I no longer needed it for Spiritual Perception.
Ivan Medved Level Physical Mental Spiritual Totals Free
Str Agi Per Str Agi Per Str Agi Per
Base Attributes 15 12 13 13 8 10 14 9 10 104
Earned Attributes 5 4 5 4 8 2 4 2 5 39
Hunter Scavenger B 9 9 9 12 5 35 1
Totals 29 25 30 17 16 12 18 16 15 178 1
Constitution 84 45 49
Yoboc was pushing for me to take Farsight. The Commander recommended either Farsight or Keensight, and he thought I was well suited for Keensight. None of them knew about Clearsight, which my parents had, and that my parents had insisted I get it as well. I don¡¯t know much about it either. Maybe it is a Polar Bearkin thing? Maybe it is only useful in the Arctic snow? I know I survived last winter without it, but there were days of snow, mist and whiteouts where I had to hunker down and wait for it to settle. That was not bad, though. I like to sleep a lot in winter. The Artic is my home, so it makes sense to follow my parents'' advice on what is needed to live here. These Dwarves will travel south for the winter, but I expect to live here. Maybe they will convince me to go visit their home, but it will be just that¡ªa visit. I pull up my options and select Clearsight. Even though it is only Level 1, the skill feels like a veil has been lifted from my eyes. Everything is crystal clear and sharp. I felt the skill and used Identify, and it will work with Nightsight and any other physical perception eye skill I might get in the future. It has a passive effect that clarifies things in my sight, but it also has an active part that I can use to see through more translucent things like water and ice. One thing I really noticed was that Clearsight boosted my Tracking Skill. I could see things clearly. I went to test it. Autumn was approaching, and the ice shelf was growing as the temperature dropped. I cleared the snow off, and I could see right through the ice into the water, which was also clear. I would see further as the skill levelled and, I guess, through more opaque things. Wait¡ªopaque things. I pulled out a light crystal and looked. I could see through the crystal and make out small cracks of imperfection. The Deepiron Crystal and small Ori-crystal were still too dense to see through, but as the skill levels, it would get clearer. Is Clearsight a secret jeweller''s keep for their class? Undoth was vague about some of his skills, so it would make sense for other professions as well. 16. Deep. The mine is not straight. Rock Eater drills in a straight line, but the operator''s job is to keep it running along the Lightsteel seam, and the seam is not straight. Hence, they orientate it up or down or curve it. Sometimes, they are drilling parallel to the previous line where the seam is wider, higher or deeper. This means sometimes there are places in the mine where I can stand. Then, there are side tunnels that are mostly hand-dug for smaller pockets or other ores. The amount they have dug in the eight months is amazing. They worked in shifts, and there was always one team operating or maintaining Rock Eater regardless of the hour. I got my Guard Class two weeks ago. The Guard Class gives five attributes per level, one in each of the physical areas and two free for me to choose. This is one more than my Hunter Scavenger Class. In two weeks as a Guard, I have already hit level 2. This gives me 4 spare attributes to distribute, but I don¡¯t know where to put them. Yoboc said I should use my Identify skill to see what new skills are close and use my spare attributes to boost in the missing attributes. I did that, but there is nothing I really need for now that I can sense. Now everyone is getting worried. The weather is deteriorating, and the nights are getting longer and colder, but there is no sign of their ship. Just before we attacked the Ice Troll, a ship came in the height of summer. It resupplied us and took away a load of ore. There has been no ship since, and no other ship was expected. Everything has been ready for the ship for three weeks. There has been a lot of excitement and expectations of going home for a few months. Some of them will be coming back in the spring, and some will not. We had one bad autumn storm, and there was concern that the ship might have been damaged. Depending on the weather, it takes two to three weeks to sail back to Obalno. If there is another bad spell of weather, the channel through the ice might close, and they will be stuck here. Then disaster struck. They were still mining. Rock Eater was using more energy from the monster cores than when the weather was warmer, and it needed more maintenance. They were close to stopping using Rock Eater for the winter, but they should have stopped earlier. If I had not been their nightwatchman, they would have been disassembling Rock Eater two months earlier and only mining by hand. The dwarf in charge sensed a large concentration of spiritual energy just ahead and powered on to reach it before the end of his shift. Rock Eater broke through the wall of a large underground cavern and fell 15m to the floor, causing a lot of damage to Rock Eater and the cavern floor. I was called in to help pick up the pieces. Undoth and Thomwea Forgemaker were both furious. I think the stress of the missing ship and this all added up, meaning they were coming down hard on the idiot. He might not be returning next summer anymore. When I got there, they were cutting a path down the side of the cavern to make access to Rock Eater easier. The machine itself was obviously dented in places it shouldn¡¯t have been, and some of the enchantments were cracked or broken. It was not going to function without major repair work. The cavern itself was huge. The dwarven tunnel came out of the wall 15m up, but the roof curved up higher and was probably twice that high. It was probably 50m across but more than 150m long. It did curve away, and there were stalactites and stalagmites scattered around. A moderate-sized stream was in the bottom. Undoth soon lost interest in the poor miner and went to look at his baby. He started yelling at the miners, and they changed from cutting a path to cutting a ramp. I guess they either need to get Rock Eater back up or some sizeable parts down. If Rock Eater was working, they would just use it to cut a path up, but now they had to do it by hand. I was here with a Patrol group to be manual labour and to watch for any nasties. My Spiritual Senses didn¡¯t seem to be working very well, and I was the only one who needed a light. I felt it made me a target, and I was not happy. ¡°What are we watching for?¡± I asked Undoth when he took a break from his baby. ¡°If it is rock Elementals, then I will not sense them as my spiritual senses are playing up.¡± I looked at him. ¡°Why would my Spiritual senses be playing up?¡± It was like he woke up to his surroundings. He looked around with renewed interest, ¡°This cavern is not natural,¡± he started, then he stopped. He got his pick and then poked at the ground, ¡°Come with me!¡± Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. He rushed back up to where the Rock Eater had broken out of the wall and examined it. Even I noticed a change in the rock, starting about 2m back from the opening. He chipped some free and examined it. ¡°Look at this!¡± he said excitedly. I looked, but it just looked like rock to me. He went to the edge and looked at the cavern again, obviously looking for something in particular, but I have no idea what. From here, my light source and Journeyman Nightsight couldn¡¯t see to the other side. He called Thomwea and the mine foreman over, ¡°Look at this,¡± he said, showing them the rock, ¡°and look there, there and there, you can see the ribs.¡± I am sorry. What? Ribs? ¡°Look at this,¡± he said, brushing dirt from where he chipped out the rock. ¡°This is the layer of scales. And the ribs are holding the cavern up.¡± I interrupted, ¡°Are you telling me this was a creature of some sort?¡± ¡°Not just a creature, my lad, A monster! Can¡¯t you feel the Spiritual Energy!¡± I swear his eyes were shining, ¡°This is the find of the century. No, the millennium! This is unique!¡± ¡°Are you saying there is a monster core here?¡± I asked. ¡°Oh, doubtful after this time, but it explains the high concentration of spiritual energy and the number of elementals.¡± He looked at a rock along the wall. I guess it could be a curved rib, maybe? ¡°We need to mine some of that and take it back for analysis.¡± ¡°I am not so sure,¡± Thomwea said. ¡°Your senses are better than mine, but taking some samples is a good idea, and then we can see what we are dealing with. It is just too big. It would never be able to move. There is no animal this could be.¡± ¡°Yes, there is. There are really large monsters deep in the ocean,¡± Undoth argued. ¡°But I have never sensed this type of spirituality. Sea creatures normally have the sea as a component of their spirituality. I don¡¯t get a hint of it here.¡± ¡°I know,¡± Undoth said excitedly, ¡°Something totally new.¡± ¡°Maybe,¡± Thomwea said, ¡°Maybe not. Somebody will know. The question is, what can it be used for?¡± This discussion was way above my head and way beyond my senses. I could not really comprehend a creature this large. We are like flees crawling over it. I shuddered. If it is true, we are so small. I really wish my spiritual senses were better. I crouched down where Undoth said the scales were and tried to refine my Spiritual sense of it. I guess the concentration at least bumped it up to Apprentice level, but I had no more understanding than before. It sensed cold, but not just cold. Something else, as well. Maybe something vast and huge, but I am not going to make sense of it with only basic Spiritual Sensing, which is only at the apprentice level. I shrugged. These dwarves have a century or more experience than me. If they don¡¯t know, then there is not much I will be able to figure out. I tuned them out because I noticed the Commander arrive. I went to ask about the important part of my original question. ¡°We need to watch out for all sorts of things in a cave like this,¡± the Commander said. High Spirituality means lots of elementals, not just rock ones. This will explain why we have not had a major attack on the mine.¡± He waved his hand. ¡°They will be congregating here.¡± ¡°We will get different creatures this far north, although some will have adapted to the cold. Mostly spiders and insects, millipedes and salamanders. There are probably fish and amphibians in the stream. Do we know whether it is fresh or salt water?¡± He looked around. ¡°It is probably fresh,¡± he answered his own question. ¡°I don¡¯t see mushrooms, but there are almost certainly mosses and other fungi.¡± He looked at me, ¡°All of these things will be changed and adapted to the environment and then changed again by the high Spiritual energy. Some will have become monsters.¡± Well, shit. They will be out of luck if they expect me to guard this. I can¡¯t even see properly. ¡°This is beyond me,¡± I said. He nodded, ¡°It is. I will advise that we collapse the tunnel and come back next year with a proper team. However, if we can¡¯t get Undoth¡¯s toy out, they are unlikely to want to leave it here to the mercy of whatever beast comes along.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t even see properly,¡± I said, annoyed again at being the weak one. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t worry too much about the light as most of the creatures will be blind and use other senses. Those Light crystals don¡¯t give off heat, and the small spiritual discharge will get lost in this mess.¡± He was struggling with his Spiritual senses, too, so that was good to know. ¡°They think we are in the belly of some sort of monster. Is that likely?¡± I asked. ¡°It is one possibility. However, I have seen many strange features underground in my time. It is not going to change what we do. They can argue the details. We need only enough information to protect people first and things second. This means if we have to sacrifice Undoth¡¯s toy for the safety of others, we will. ¡°What happens if we can¡¯t move Rock Eater and close the tunnel?¡± I asked. ¡°Then there will be a lot of grumpy dwarves, as you will not be staying here alone.¡± 17. Den. The Commander went to discuss this with Thomwea and Yoboc. I explored around the base of the wall where Rock Eater fell and then wider. I went as far as the stream, and it was fresh water. One of the first basic lessons is to know the ground you might end up fighting on. It was hard rock and very uneven. If you have one misplaced foot, you will end up with a broken ankle. A dodge-roll was going to be very painful. There will be no sliding along the ground. I spent some time examining the rock protrusion that Yoboc claimed was a rib. I got out my chisel and chipped some off. It was very, very hard to chip. I would have to re-sharpen my chisel. It had the same cold vastness that the ¡°scales¡± did. They were connected spiritually, at least as far as my senses went. More sensitive people might detect other variations, but the base spirituality was the same. I climbed to the opening, which was being widened. I found a piece of the so-called scales that were being stockpiled to be taken back for analysis. They were not as hard as the ¡°rib¡±. ¡°The Ship! The Ship has arrived,¡± a dwarf yelled as he ran down the tunnel. He stopped where the Commander and Thomwea were and said, ¡°Mistress, the Captain is not waiting. There is a storm inbound, and the channel is already too narrow. He wants to leave on the morning tide.¡± Thomwea¡¯s voice rose above the sound of mining: ¡°Everybody stop! The ship has arrived! All hands are on loading the ship as it leaves in the morning.¡± She turned to me: ¡°Ivan, you are on watch here while we load the ship.¡± She turned to the others, ¡°The Commander will be looking for volunteers to stay the winter and watch the camp and this find. Move it, you bunch of scraggly beards.¡± They moved. Undoth collected the pile of ¡°scales¡± to take, and I was soon left alone in the dark. I was still holding the scale I had picked up. I wonder how many will stay? I picked up a pick and chipped away at the stone above the entrance tunnel, and I made a space for the largest Light gem I had, which wasn¡¯t that large. The weak light shone out into the cavern and was useful for my Nightsight. I kept the smaller one on my helmet. I kept moving in a circle, looking for danger. I guess that is called patrolling. About an hour later, the light above the tunnel went out, and I was plunged into darkness, except for the dim light on my helmet. I was still convinced it made me a target. Like, what took out the tunnel light? I ducked low, removed the light stone from my helmet and moved in stealth towards the tunnel. I held the stone in my hand away from my body to give me light to see. Attaching it to a pole is probably better, but later. First, find out why my light went out. Suddenly, the light was back and brighter. I looked up and saw a dwarf silhouetted against the light. He was stepping down from replacing the light gem with a larger one. Then I caught his scent and recognised it. I stood and walked to the base of the wall. ¡°Hello, lad,¡± Yoboc said. ¡°I brightened your day.¡± A voice chimed in. ¡°In a dark cave, the light softly gleamed, Casting shadows that danced and dreamed. It showed the way clear, Easing every fear, In the stillness where echoes seemed.¡± Goldie was with him. ¡°Hello, you two. I was not expecting you,¡± I said. ¡°Well, we wanted to see this wonder,¡± Yoboc said, Goldie slowly eyed me up and down and winked, ¡°Yep, still a wonder. The cave¡¯s not bad either.¡± I was slowly getting to understand Goldie. This type of talk and look was some sort of sexual reference that seemed to be aimed at causing some sort of embarrassment in dwarven culture. It was linked to wearing pants in humanoid form. I am not sure why sexual references and genitals would be embarrassing. Everyone has sexual organs, so why are they an embarrassment? Why is sex embarrassing? It is required to create offspring, so I am still not totally getting it. I put it aside, but I think Goldie has made me her focus in this. ¡°We volunteered to stay, so we were sent down to keep an eye on things,¡± Yoboc said. ¡°We volunteered to get out of loading the ship all night, you mean,¡± Goldie said. ¡°That too,¡± Yoboc said. ¡°By volunteering to stay, do you mean staying for the winter?¡± I asked. ¡°That¡¯s right, you gorgeous hairy ass. We are staying the winter,¡± Goldie said. If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. ¡°But you are a Forrester and Hunter not a Miner or Guard? Why?¡± ¡°I have no reason to go home,¡± Yoboc said, ¡°and I would like to stay by Sheila for a bit longer. We both spent time in mines in our youth.¡± ¡°Which is why we chose the forest route,¡± Goldie added, ¡°However, a change of scenery for a while is fine.¡± I looked at her with a raised eyebrow question. She bypassed the half formed path and grabbed the ropes that had been attached and slid down to me. As she walked past she whispered, ¡°Sheila hated enclosed spaces. This will have less reminders than outside.¡± I guess that made sense. Goldie started to look around as Yoboc made his way down the path. Over the last few months, Yoboc opened up with stories of Sheila as we carved her monument. They had been together a bit over two decades. I was surprised to learn Yoboc had a bond prior to Sheila, a red fox named Copper. It is clear he is still missing Copper, even though he died a couple of years before he bonded with Sheila. Yoboc offered to teach me the mental exercises to form a bond but I haven''t decided. The loss Yoboc went through seemed to be to much, but then I found out he did it again after a previous loss. Why? Us bear-kin are solitary creatures. I will think about it. Is it a skill I want if I am never going to use it? Yoboc did say knowing the skills for a bond does not mean you have to form a bond and it should boost my Mental Agility. The Commander, Eric and one other dwarf turned up the following morning with food. The dwarf was Orir Silverbeard the beastmaster, he had two huskies with him. The Commander took charge, ¡°We are setting up our main camp in the staging area by the entrance. There will be a rotating guard here. Orir has sent the donkeys back with the ship but has his huskies to watch the camp. Two other patrollers are setting up the camp now, Sinmot and Hadal, and that is all of us.¡± I am pretty sure there were eight huskies on the team, and probably Felix. Yoboc voiced what I was thinking: ¡°That is a lot of mouths to feed, Commander, especially with the dogs.¡± He nodded. ¡°We will need to hunt and fish, even with what Thomwea left us. I counted the dogs as worth it as they would give plenty of warning of trespassers. The biggest unknown is this cavern. Did you notice the slight breeze from the mine? That means air is blowing through, and therefore, there are other entry points.¡± I remembered catching Yoboc¡¯s smell, but it didn¡¯t occur to me that meant the air was moving or that the air would probably not have been breathable in here if there weren¡¯t other entrances. I am not a miner. Yoboc just nodded, ¡°You need us to scout this area?¡± The Commander nodded, ¡°It will be one of our first tasks. I tried to get Undoth to stay, but Thomwea wouldn¡¯t let him. He has mapping skills that also link to his prospecting skills.¡± he looked at Yoboc, ¡°How is your mapping?¡± ¡°Not as good as Undoths and not for finding minerals, but it can map the cavern and any accesses.¡± The Commander nodded, ¡°Good, that is the minimum we need. Go and get some rest,¡± he told us three. ¡°Eric and I are going to start trapping the tunnel, so don¡¯t come back until we show you where they are.¡± We nodded and headed off. ¡°How did you get the mapping skill?¡± I asked Yoboc, as it seemed to be a very handy skill. ¡°When I specialised Hunter with Scout, I got it from the class specialisation. You knew a relevant skill comes when you specialise a Basic class, didn¡¯t you?¡± I nodded. Youboc had gotten in the habit of checking my basic knowledge, as I had some major gaps in my education. I was also turning eight years old, so I didn¡¯t have a lot of experience. You had to learn the skills for a basic class, both Skills and the job skills that weren¡¯t on our statuses. When you specialise, it comes with a relevant skill, but it is not always the same one every time. It varies depending on your experience. ¡°How close are you to Journeyman level in your Hunter Scavenger Class?¡± he asked me. ¡°I am level 9, so I just have to bump it up to 10 to be a Journeyman,¡± I replied. ¡°Good,¡± he said. ¡°I have been giving you scout training when we went hunting. However, you won¡¯t be a scout as Scouts need Farsight and a ranged weapon, although your Throwing Weapons might qualify. I am pretty sure you are also short on Physical Agility, but that will come. Hunter specialises in Scout, but I am not sure about Hunter Scavenger. However, once we get you over the line to Journeyman, you should be close to specialisation, and you can use Identify to see what you need.¡± ¡°Wow, thanks,¡± I said. ¡°I never realised.¡± Then I thought about all the scouting tricks he taught me about marking the trails and what to look for when searching for a route. Then there were the hand signals and a lot about the area and animals. I thought it was for levelling my Hunter Scavenger Class, but it was obviously more than that. ¡°You weren''t supposed to,¡± said Goldie. ¡°Some training is better if you are working towards it, and some is best if you just learn stuff.¡± She grinned, ¡°And sometimes it is just fun to watch you being oblivious and see what you get.¡± I thought for a bit and looked at her, ¡°What have you been teaching me?¡± She just laughed and said, ¡°I look forward to finding out.¡± By my count, we had seven dwarves and nine dogs, including Felix, and then me. The Guards, in order of seniority, were the Commander, Eric, Sindot, Hadal and then me at the bottom. Orir, Yoboc and Goldie were not in the chain of command, but they had a lot of experience. I was still at the bottom of those not in the chain of command. I was the fetch and carry and general help. This was not how I expected to spend the winter. The next day, everybody was diverted to clean up the camp and close it for the winter. There was a storm on the horizon, and this took priority. The dog kennels were moved to be near the mine entrance, but the dogs had a section of the staging area marked out for their use. The smell of wet dog is going to get to me, I can tell. The storm didn¡¯t arrive until the early hours of the morning, and I was put on entrance watch for the day. My Clearsight did help me see through the sleet and snow. It was not a great help, but it will be when it levels. I spent most of the day in my Bear form, as it was better protection against the weather. That night, I arranged a den for myself in the staging area. I widened out an uneven section of the wall and set empty ore crates as a barrier. I padded out a sleeping area for my bear form. I needed a visual barrier from Goldie as she would stare at me when I changed to and from my Humanoid form. I think she must have a mental sickness because she doesn¡¯t do that to the other dwarves, and she is the only woman here. I say I built myself a den, but I was soon joined by Felix. I didn¡¯t mind. 18. Spiritual Food. The storm was still raging the next day, and I heard some worried comments about the ship. Hadal was extremely thankful he stayed as he didn¡¯t handle seasickness very well. It would be a bad time to be on a ship. Eric and Yoboc took me with them the next day to help set some traps in the main tunnel. ¡°There are several objectives here,¡± Eric explained. ¡°The first is that if something attacks the Cavern, we want to be able to notify the main camp for reinforcements. Our usual whistles will not reach that far. The second objective is to slow down anything from which we have to retreat. Physical creatures are the easiest, and that is what pit traps and rock falls are for. If that fails, we fight. The worst case is we collapse the tunnel for a whole section.¡± ¡°More problematic are the Elemental creatures,¡± he said, ¡°especially the Rock elementals. Elemental Creatures are attracted to Spiritual Energy, which this place has in abundance. This is the trick to hiding from Elementals. You have to hide your spiritual energy. The second part is to attract them to certain areas where there is concentrated Spiritual energy, and they should stay there as that is what they are after. If all that fails, we fight.¡± ¡°How do you hide your Spiritual energy?¡± I asked. Eric looked sharply at Yoboc,¡± You were supposed to teach him that.¡± ¡°I did,¡± he replied. ¡°Remember Ivan, where we were training your stealth before and after the troll.¡± I nodded. ¡°Well hiding your spiritual energy is what we were doing when I was telling you to make your presence smaller. And you were doing that as part of your stealth skill.¡± ¡°So I just need to go into stealth?¡± I asked. ¡°Yes,¡± Yoboc replied. ¡°The easiest way to train beginners is to link it to one of their existing hiding skills. Later, you can separate it out into its own skill as the basics are there. Elementals are not the only creatures that hunt by sensing Spiritual Energy. Here is a free tip for you. One of the easiest ways to get stealth to the Journeyman Level is to concentrate on all the different components that make it up. Stealth is a generalised skill that contains bits of all the more specialised skills.¡± ¡°What is an example?¡± I asked. ¡°You can track by smell, right? Stealth will dampen your smell a little. It will muffle sound a bit. It will blur your outline from being so obvious to sight skills. That part is what your Clearsight directly counters. Stealth is a generalised skill and does a little bit of everything, but each of those things can be worked on into its own specialised skill, which is what true stealth specialists work on. I was training you to dampen your spiritual presence through one of the components in your stealth skill.¡± ¡°Now we are going to go further,¡± Eric said. ¡°Remember when you asked about training to fight Rock Elementals?¡± I nodded, ¡°but the training never came.¡± ¡°No,¡± Eric agreed, ¡°because you had so much Basic stuff to learn first. You wouldn¡¯t stand a chance anyway, so the Commander was planning to stay the winter here as well to keep things safe, including you.¡± ¡°Nobody said anything,¡± I said. ¡°Thomwea wasn¡¯t happy as it was going to cost her, but keeping Rock Eater working was going to be worth it anyway. They were still debating it up to the last minute. I think she was hoping you would be ready, but you only got the class a few weeks ago, and they should have been packing up Rock Eater before that. Now everything has gone to shit,¡± Eric explained. ¡°So now we step up your training,¡± Yoboc said. ¡°What is the main component of an Elemental?¡± ¡°Spiritual energy,¡± I replied. ¡°Yes, so it makes sense they will attack you from their strength, right?¡± ¡°I guess,¡± I said. ¡°Every living creature has three parts, which are?¡± he asked. ¡°Physical, Mental and Spiritual,¡± I replied. ¡°Look at your Status. At the bottom, each of the strengths, agility, and perceptions are added together, which forms your life energy. What are your totals?¡± I looked and said, ¡°Physical 84, Mental 45, and Spiritual 49.¡± ¡°Each of these is your energy, and, put simply, if you run out of energy, you die. The physical energy is often called your Constitution or life force, but that can be deceptive. If you run yourself out of energy in any area, Physically, Mentally or Spiritually, then you will die. Obviously, there are skills that can boost these areas, but they are beyond you at the moment. A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. ¡°Your Physical is your strongest because you have physical classes, which is how you are orientated. You are weakest mentally, so attacking you physically is the hardest way to kill you. A mental attack is where you are weak, although that also applies to spiritual attacks. These figures are mitigated by skills. You have a Tough Hide, which blunts physical attacks. You are agile, etc.¡° Yoboc took a breath. ¡°An Elemental is strong spiritually but weak physically, so we try to attack their physical part as it is the weakest. They will try to attack you Spiritually as that is where they are strong and we are weak.¡± ¡°How does it attack Spiritually?¡± I asked. ¡°The same way it lives,¡± Yoboc said. ¡°It is attracted to spiritual energy and ¡®eats¡¯ it for want of a better word and then leaves spiritual droppings. It will attack you by eating your spiritual energy. Hiding that energy is the first line of defence as it will look for a stronger source. Actively resisting it is the second line of defence. How would you do that?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t¡­¡± I started and then I though about my Tough Hide. That wasn¡¯t a random example, Yoboc doesn¡¯t do that. ¡°You create a barrier, like Tough Hide,¡± I said. ¡°Exactly, and that is what we are going to train now as we build these traps. We will find the small rock Elementals and entice them to attack your energy, and you will try resisting. Spiritual strength is the key attribute to resisting, and later you will add spiritual agility as larger elementals will adjust how they attack.¡± Apparently, I was very lucky to be here with all this spiritual ore attracting all these elementals. Very few get to train like this. I located a small Rock Elemental with Spiritual Sensing, but it was not going to attack me as the Lightsteel or was stronger and more attractive to them. I held a strong gem in my hand against the wall to entice it to attack. It took a little while, but it started to draw energy from the gem and my energy was caught up in this and Yoboc had me try and resist it concentrating my Spiritual Strength in defense. I had to concentrate on my energy levels and drop the gem and withdraw my hand before it got too dangerous. Feeling Spiritually weak was a new sensation for me. It was weird. Yoboc had to instruct me to drop the gem the first few times, till I got the feeling under control. I just couldn¡¯t resist, no matter how I tried. ¡°Keep at it, lad. You don¡¯t learn skills the first time you try. Well, most of us don¡¯t, anyway.¡± I didn¡¯t learn any new skills that day or in the next few days. I rotated on the watch in the cavern and outside and then went back to being spiritual food. It was exhausting, spiritually, and I had to recover my spiritual energy between tries. That slowed everything down. It was hard to keep going, but I kept at it. I earned a point in Spiritual Strength just for the effort and another in Spiritual Perception when I identified the difference in spiritual attacks from different Elements. I overhear Eric asking Yoboc why it was taking so long. Apparently, I am slow at this, as this is an ideal way to learn that most people don¡¯t get. However, they haven¡¯t given me any more advice on how this should be done. I used Identify to see where I am lacking in attributes. I sense a skill forming, and I have enough Spiritual Agility, and this is unexpected. I am missing a lot of Spiritual Strength. I am missing more than the five points I have available. Why? Yoboc seemed to think I would be close in strength but lacking in agility. I felt I was doing something wrong and went to Yoboc for help. ¡°No, lad. You work the skill the way you want it to work. People try to copy others'' skills, but they are never really their own. That is OK for some skills, like small blades etc, but the best skills are the ones you develop to suit your unique being. So I have given you enough guidance, and you can feel the skill developing, so keep working on it.¡± That was frustrating, but I went at it with renewed stubbornness and earned a point in Mental Strength for my effort. It''s not what I was looking for, but I will take it and use it to keep going. My Guard Class levelled again, but the early levels were easy to get. This gave me a total of seven unassigned attribute points, as the Guard class gave me two free per level. I used Identify to try and feel out the skill and show me where I am weak and if I have enough to meet the minimum for the skill. It seems I might, so I add points to Spiritual Strength one by one until I reach the minimum. It took six of the seven to get Spiritual Strength to 25. I went out and tested against a small elemental and a skill appeared on my status. Yes! I went back to Yoboc. ¡°It is called Spiritually Tough, you say?¡± I nodded. ¡°That is not the usual skill we get. Tell me about it.¡± ¡°It seems to be mostly passive, generally making my Spiritual energy tougher to damage or syphon away. I can strengthen it by concentrating on it with my Spiritual Strength. The minimum requirements were Spiritual Strength 25, Spiritual Agility 10.¡± ¡°Passive over all your energy? That''s new to me. You don¡¯t have to direct it or change it to fit the type of spiritual attack?¡± Yoboc asked. I could tell Eric was listening closely. ¡°No. What do you normally get?¡± I asked. ¡°Most dwarves get Spiritual Shield, which you have to use actively and adapt to the attack. I wonder if it is a bear thing? Tell me about what you were trying to do with your energy.¡± ¡°I was trying to make it like my Tough Hide. That was the example you gave me,¡± I said. ¡°That is an interesting attitude. It seems to have worked. We will need to test its strength. Spiritual Shield¡¯s minimum requirements are 20 in Spiritual Strength and 15 in Spiritual Agility. Let¡¯s test it, and you can start levelling it.¡± It took us a while to find an elemental. I was losing less energy than I was before, and it went up a level, and I lost even less. According to Eric, the Spiritual Shield is Stronger at the lower levels, but you need to see the attack and focus your defence. Mine seems more versatile as I don¡¯t have to think about it, and it should get stronger quickly. Plus, it will defend against more than one attack at a time. This is an interesting difference. I like the passive toughness. It leaves me able to concentrate on other things. 19. Dave. The Commander instructed us all to be familiar with the cavern layout, so Yoboc started taking us around. The top end is where the stream enters, as that is the higher point. The stream bubbles up from a crevice in a pool before flowing away. Yoboc went down to look, and it was about 4m deep before it got too narrow to pass. There are fish. The ones we have seen are small, and nobody knows what type they are. I caught one in my claws, and it wasn¡¯t the nicest, but it was edible. It didn¡¯t poison me, so that pleased the others. They were not happy I did that without testing for poison first, and I see they have a point. I can learn. The stream has some dark moss growing on the banks. It made the footing slippery. Yoboc scraped some off to try to identify it, but we had no resources or reference materials. He hoped to at least identify whether it was a moss or fungi and whether it was poisonous. He assumed it wasn¡¯t as the fish seemed to eat it, and I had discovered that they weren¡¯t poisonous. Plus the water was not toxic. The air flows through four other points, plus the stream''s exit. One of those points is in the ceiling. Yoboc pointed to it, but with my weak light, I couldn¡¯t see anything but darkness. It was only his combination of Darksight and Farsight that allowed him to see it. It was a crack in the ceiling running parallel to the support beams or ribs as they are becoming known. Another crack was in the wall opposite the entrance, and this one could have a dwarf squeeze through, but he had not gone further yet. He could only see about five meters before rocks blocked his view. The lower end of the cavern did curve away, but the view was mostly blocked by a large rock fall where two ¡°ribs¡± had collapsed. At the top of this rockfall was an opening Yoboc could crawl through with some space to spare. He only went 10m before turning back. The stream exited the cavern opposite the rockfall in a worn cave. The water was moving slower at this point, and there was space to keep your heat out of the water as you crawled along in the freezing water. The final exit was larger at the end of the cavern. It followed the central rib, or spine, as it was being referred to. It was lower to the cavern floor here, and the cavern size had shrunk. The cave that followed the spine was tall enough for me to stand upright, and it curved upwards. This is the first one we will explore. Yoboc hoped to find a way to the crack in the ceiling or outside. We have mining equipment, and everybody has the mining skills, even if none of us have the class. Yoboc labelled the gaps as Ceiling, Crack, Rockfall, River, and Spine. ¡°If this is a huge monster and that is the spine,¡± Goldie asked, ¡°do you think the cave that follows the spine is the neck, and we will find a skull?¡± ¡°Nah, lassie,¡± said Yoboc, ¡°It will be the tail and the asshole.¡± ¡°That would be more our luck,¡± she grumped, ¡°we will be mining poop.¡± Winter started to settle in over the next couple of weeks. One storm followed another. The snow was deep outside, covering the buildings. The cookhouse lean to collapsed under the weight of the snow. When I was on patrol outside, my Nightsight and Clearsight were a great help. I mostly patrolled in my bear form as it was warmer outside and easier to fit in the dwarven-sized tunnels. I just had to avoid the traps. I had belts to carry stuff. We did try to let the snow cover and hide the evidence of the mining operation, so we patrolled in less obvious routes away from the main camp area. We don¡¯t need to protect the buildings or anything. If they collapsed, they could be rebuilt. We were looking for monster signs and signs of scouts and others seeking this area for riches. We patrolled the ridges and places where we could see the surrounding area, especially the sea. Although the Ice shelf was well out from shore, it was still the easiest place for groups to travel. We were looking for signs of people and monsters moving about. We also watched the skies. Those Griffons are still just down the coast. Hiding the place itself is the object as it is very valuable. These dwarves found it, and they would not tell me how it was done. I am guessing at the Spiritual Signatures, which is the place it is putting out. I know Undoth was part of the original search group, but it is either a Prospector''s secret or an artefact they had. It is probably both. The evidence of Rock Eater and its enchantments strongly leans toward an artefact being involved. The cavern was a different species of fish for us to guard. Rock Eater was the item that needed to be protected, but we didn¡¯t know what we were protecting it from. A permanent guard post was constructed from the cavern wall near the tunnel, and a large light gem was installed in it. This was partly for my benefit but mostly to attract creatures that were attracted to light, and there were a few. This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work. We watched mostly from the hidden guard post, which was between the Rock Eater and the stream. The light still helped me, but I didn¡¯t need to be up there and a target. We made Decoy Dave from rock and cast-off clothes. His job was to man the upper guard post. He was a solid guy. Once a day, one of us would go to the upper guard post and piss on Dave. This would then attract those who hunted by smell, and boy, did he start to smell. It stuffed my Olfactory up until I developed the ability to filter out smells. I think we might have overdone it when a large Salamander came sniffing around. This was about two meters long and had a poison bite. I was not on duty at the time, but I saw the corpse and helped harvest it. The Commander made us give Dave a wash and keep the smell to a reasonable level so we don¡¯t attract attention outside the local area. I was given the job of monitoring Dave¡¯s hygiene levels with my Olfactory. Dave never complained once. Goldie complained loudly and often at being restricted from pissing on men. We should have gone for a gender-neutral name. Rock Eater was cracked and broken, but it still needed some maintenance. It was also filled with Spiritual materials and would attract those who hunted for spirituality. As we stood watch, we would record what sort of creatures we saw and whether they were aggressive. The only creature that was attracted to the light was a white moth about the size of a double-hand span. They were harmful because they sucked spiritual energy from things, so we had to keep them off Rock Eater and clear the light, or they would suck out the energy faster. Rock Eater would need more maintenance, and the light gem would need replacing. They were not hard to kill, especially when they flocked to the light. The occasional one would land on Rock Eater and need clearing. They would appear at random about once a week. I levelled my Throw Weapons skill by bringing them down with some small throwing knives Goldie loaned me. This was good practice, and she said if I wanted to specialise the skill, I would need to focus on throwing one thing, like knives. She has a specialised axe-throwing skill. The general skill was fine for now. The Commander was making us get into a watch routine before he would allow any exploring. His Watch routine included continued weapons training and guard training. My Gurad class was levelling fast and that gave me more free attributes. Exploration was a secondary task as the summer would bring specialists. Once we were established and key traps were built, we would explore the nearby tunnels and set up warning traps. Yoboc, Goldie and I went to set traps and nets at each of the entrance points, but this was temporary. The Moths still got in, or maybe they bred here and ate the moss/fungi. They were still arguing whether it was a moss or a fungus. The biggest gap that we could not block was the ceiling, which was a worry. Maybe that is how the moths got in. We think the Salamander came in one of the land accesses, as the river would have negated the smell, but we are not sure. It had suction paws, so it could have come from the ceiling, for all we know. The biggest problem was protecting the Rock Eater from hungry Rock Elementals. They are attracted to Spiritual Energy and the Rock Eater was letting off a real smorgasbord of energy. The elementals stayed away when it was operating because it was eating rock. When it was stopped for maintenance, they didn¡¯t have time to locate it, but now that it is still in the bottom of a cavern, they have the time. We extracted the Monster Core that was powering it, but it was still made from Spiritual materials that had to remain spiritual materials. It was masked to a certain degree by being surrounded by a lot of strong spiritual material in the cavern, including the ribs, scales, and whatever else was under the floor. So Rock Eater was not the most attractive source, but it still attracted some entities. We laid some more attractive diversions for them. The Light gem was embedded in the wall above Dave. We gave Dave a cloak of scales to further attract the elementals. We placed Spiritual minerals from the mine in a couple of places around Rock Eater to attract the elementals as well. The rest we had to watch and chase away or kill. Killing a rock elemental was difficult. None of us were Spiritually strong enough to fight it on the spiritual level, so we had to dig for its physical part. More often, this would make it run, and our goal was achieved. Eric was the first to kill one by getting its Gem and crushing it. He didn¡¯t mean to crush the gem. ¡°If you can keep the gem intact, they are valuable to jewellers and enchanters, as they have focused spiritual energy in them,¡± he said. ¡°You have to get the gem out of the rock and then spiritually cut it from the elemental. Surrounding it with your Spiritual energy will do that, but just enclosing it in your fist is not enough. Some people swallow it and then poop it out. That is messy. I found keeping it in my mouth and keeping it covered in saliva for five minutes to be enough. The larger ones need longer.¡± So that was the aim. It was a race to catch them before they escaped and to see who could get the most. We ended up with an area of loose rock around the Rock Eater, and I got my own gem. This was also levelling my mining skills. With my rising level of Spiritual Sensing, I was starting to differentiate between different types of energy. When I compared this one to the light gem I had, I could tell they were different. This elemental gem felt like the ribs and scales of this place. The Elemental must have been hanging around here for a long time and not travelled, which makes sense. Why leave a good source of food? Yoboc let me come as he explored the spine tunnel. It was really the only one that would fit me without constantly widening. I had added height and weight from living with the dwarves. ¡°Undoth is better at this,¡± Yoboc said. ¡°He has better senses for underground.¡± I found it disappointing. I chipped some ore from the spine, which seemed to be the same as the ribs. There were smaller fissures opening into the main tunnel, and Yoboc couldn¡¯t sense very far in. There were less elementals here. In the end, we set some traps and backed out. This would wait for the summer team. 20. Specialisation. Using my Identify, I tried to sense what skills I was close to achieving. Trapping was one. I guess helping Yoboc with the access points and the construction of Decoy Dave all worked toward that. If I had made a few different traps myself, I would have had the skill. I will work on that and develop the skill as it is useful. Nightsight is levelling fast because of all this straining in the low light. Clearsight is levelling as well and is about to hit apprentice level. I discovered it is very useful for seeing through ice, which is one of the reasons my parents recommended it. When there is a Whiteout, I am the one who can navigate best outside. I found that Clearsight made looking at the night sky a lot clearer. The stars were even more beautiful. Yoboc, Goldie and I go hunting once a week. Orir and the dog team will often join us. We hunt well away from the mine. Animals are few and far between during the winter, most having migrated south or gone into hibernation. Yoboc taught me to set traps for animals and the Trapping skill soon slotted into place. One of the other purposes for hunting was to map the surface over the mine. Yoboc¡¯s mapping skill is very useful, and he can never get lost. Air was flowing through those cracks and caves, so they opened out on the surface somewhere. Yoboc¡¯s knowledge of the surface will help compare with the cave and let him know accurately how deep he is at any point. Even if the caves become too narrow for a dwarf, we can choose to widen them or perhaps just dig for the surface. Yoboc also used this time to strengthen my navigation skills, both by landmarks and the stars. He already knew where we were, but I was not so lucky to have a map skill. All scouts used the stars to navigate. There was one polar star, which was always stationary over the pole where the world rotates around. If I can see this star I know where north is. My Clearsight was helpful at seeing the stars through light clouds, and this improved as my skill levelled. I can see the huge benefits of a mapping skill. Yoboc also has the Drawing Skill, which allows him to draw his maps. There is a lot of downtime on watch, so Yoboc started teaching me to Draw, and he taught me the mental exercises for forming a bond. Bonds are a mental connection, and therefore, the ability is enabled by training your mind to accept different ways of thinking. Animals think very differently to people, and the more different the animal is to you, the more effort and training are required. Because I am a bear-kin, I will find it easy to form bonds with bears with very minimal training. I could have multiple bear bonds. But if I were to try to bond with a snake or a spider, I would have real trouble adjusting to the way they think. I am still not keen on a bond, but he was right in that I soon earned a point in Mental Agility. Drawing came easily for me. We drew in the dirt and snow and in logs of wood. I mostly used my claws. Yoboc said it was easy because it is closely related to carving, which is essentially drawing in three dimensions. I soon had drawing at the apprentice level. Yoboc, Goldie and I also had ice carving competitions to while away the hours. Carving was soon bumping up against the hump to cross over to Journeyman level. I started using my claws for the fine work. This was good practice. My Arctic Camouflage crossed to Journeyman on our hunting trips. ¡°It is unusual to have a specialised skill like Arctic Camouflage before the general Camouflage skill,¡± Yoboc said. ¡°Is it a problem?¡± I asked. ¡°This is my home habitat.¡± ¡°Yes, and no. You are at home out here in the snow. However, you will find the skill very limited if you try to use it in a different habitat like the cavern. If you had the general Camouflage skill, it would be useful in all areas and even better with your Lore in those areas.¡± I thought about that, and he was right. Arctic Camouflage was next to useless in the cavern. ¡°What should I do? Should I try to learn the general skill?¡± ¡°You could, but you don¡¯t move around much. You probably learned Arctic Camouflage because you had Arctic Lore. Now you have the general Plant, Animal, and mineral Lore, which will help you learn the general Camouflage Skill. However, you will find it difficult to level as you are in the Arctic environment, and Arctic Lore is your highest lore. Arctic Camouflage will level rather than the general Camouflage. It is probably easier to learn a specialised Camouflage for different habitats. What do you know about the Subterranean Habitat?¡± ¡°I have Mineral Lore, and that is about it,¡± I replied. ¡°Use your Identify Skill and think about what you know of the cavern and the creatures that live in caves. You should get a feel for what lore is close to being recognised on your status.¡± Using Identify to look and my Lore knowledge was something new, and the skill levelled. ¡°You''ve talked a lot about fungi, and that is close. The freshwater fish are special, and the small salamanders that dart around are all adapted to the lack of light and cold.¡± ¡°The name of the Lore that concerns itself with underground species is Troglobite Lore,¡± Yoboc supplied. ¡°Is that a dwarven name?¡± I asked, having never heard of it. ¡°Gnomish, I believe, brought into Common by the academics.¡± A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. ¡°That Lore is close, I believe,¡± I said. ¡°Then the next time we patrol the cave and check the traps, we will see if we can push that into a skill. However, I think with it close, we can teach you some aspects of camouflage that work in the cave, and you should get Subterranean Camouflage.¡± ¡°Will my white fur make that difficult?¡± I asked. ¡°We can cover it, but remember, few species underground rely on eyesight as much as those on the surface. Those that have eyes often have weak eyes.¡± ¡°Will I have to do this for each environment I am in?¡± I asked. ¡°Yes, whereas those of us with the general Skill don¡¯t need to do that. Some of us will specialise if we spend a long time in an area because the specialist skill is better than the general skill per level in its environment.¡± I thought about it and was not planning to leave the Arctic. It was only a camouflage skill. It was not hard to learn. All I had to do was learn a bit about the environment and then learn to hide in it. After a few hours of Yoboc pointing out things I didn¡¯t know about the creatures in the cavern and me trying to hide from them, I had Subterranean Camouflage. It was soon levelling fast. There were other benefits from this. As I learned how the animals in the cave sensed and moved, I improved my Olfactory skills and started using Spiritual Sensing to hunt animals in the Cavern. This soon had my Spiritual Sensing knocking on the gate to the Journeyman level. Examining and learning from the insects and fungi in the cave soon meant I had learned Troglobite Lore. On one of our hunts, my Hunter Scavenger Class hit Journeyman Level. With two classes levelling, I was growing fast, especially in the physical area. I was finally starting to hold my own physically. The important thing about the Journeyman level for a class is that I now have the knowledge to specialise in something. Yoboc Specialised his Hunter Class into Scout, and he has taught me a lot of the Scout skills, but I don¡¯t have Farsight. A specialisation is taking part of the basic class and focussing on it for it to become a specialisation class. These specialised classes come with skills. Yoboc got the Map skill from his scout specialisation. I used Identify, and I could feel something there, but I couldn¡¯t sense what it was or what it needed. The Commander is a trainer, so I went to him for advice. ¡°I am not going to tell you where you should specialist, Ivan,¡± he said. ¡°However, I can give advice. Most people find they like one part of a class more than others. A Guard might train the axe and specialise in it. I realise it is not the Guard Class you are specialising in, but think about the Hunter Scavenger Class. What do you enjoy most?¡± I had to think about that. ¡°I hunt for food,¡± I said, ¡°but I liked poking around the Cavern looking for things too.¡± ¡°So you like the Scavaging part of the class?¡± he said. I wondered if you were a born hunter; it would probably have evolved into the straight Hunter class. You like scavaging, looking for treasure, etc.¡± I nodded. ¡°Scavenging is also the beginning of Treasure Hunting. To earn a specialised class like that, you will need to be able to find things. What Senses can you use?¡± ¡°Nightsight is getting close to the master level; Olfactory and Spiritual Sensing are both close to Journeyman.¡± ¡°That should be your first task. Get Olfactory and Spiritual Sensing to the Journeyman Level. A lot of these classes have minimum skill levels. In terms of fighting, you don¡¯t wear armour, so you need to focus on your natural defences. Get your Tough Hide to Journeyman and your Spiritually Tough as well. I would try to focus on your Mental Strength as well, as that seems to be a theme for you. In terms of the Guard class, it is the sentries that also often specialise in strong defence. I don¡¯t know about the Hunter Scavenger Class specialisations, but I think that is the way you should head in all your specialisations.¡± I nodded. That was good advice. My hide was always with me in either form. I did feel that getting a mental skill like my toughness was a good way to go, but I didn¡¯t know how to do that. I remember my Mental Strength going up when I pushed myself to go beyond my limits and keep going. I went to find Yoboc and Goldie, ¡°I want to level my Tough Hide. It is Early Apprentice, and I want to get it to Journeyman. How would I do that?¡± ¡°Very painfully,¡± said Goldie. ¡°She is right. That sort of Skill only levels when you take damage,¡± Yoboc said. ¡°You have to walk a fine line taking damage but not being crippled or killed. It also helps if you take different types of damage, not just cutting or piercing, but fire, acid, ice, etc.¡± ¡°Wouldn¡¯t my cold resistance stop Ice damage?¡± ¡°Cold is only one part of Ice damage. It has physical damage alongside the cold damage, just like the difference between fire and heat.¡± He sighed when he saw my blank look. ¡°Fire burns and consumes, whereas heat warms something up. The two are not the same. Getting Fire Resistance will stop you from catching alight and burning or being consumed by the fire. Heat Resistance protects against all sorts of heat, one of which may come from fire.¡± ¡°Could you help me do this and gain these resistances?¡± ¡°No,¡± said Yoboc. ¡°You are asking us to torture you, and the answer is No. I am not inflicting that pain, and I am not going to be responsible for maiming or crippling you or even your accidental death. Not happening.¡± I looked at Goldie. ¡°No. You are an idiot,¡± she said. Maybe I am an idiot. I tried to put a flame to my fur and quickly decided I did not have the Mental Strength to torture myself. I am an idiot and had no idea what I was asking. I trained Spiritual Toughness against the small Rock Elements. I also practised tracking small insects and salamanders with my Olfactory sense. My problem is that my night vision is not good enough to navigate the cavern. My Spiritual Senses can track things with spiritual energy over a certain size, depending on my sensitivity and skill level. I am trying to push my sensitivity to sense smaller and smaller. I am starting to sense the rocks that have spiritual ores, but normal rock is invisible to my senses, and I have tripped and banged my head many a time. Other creatures traverse the caverns with weak eyesight. Why can¡¯t I? 21. Growth. I studied the cavern occupants and tried to figure out how they moved around without clobbering themselves. The fish followed the flow of the water, the moths the flow of the air, and the small salamanders were a mystery. They are good at navigating in water and on land. It is like they have enhanced their hearing, smell, and touch to such a degree they can tell what is around them. I have Olfactory, but I also have a natural bear¡¯s hearing, and I have Nightsight and my own fur. I can¡¯t get another enhanced physical sense until my Physical Perception gets to 40, but other senses, like Spiritual Sensing, are not locked to a physical sense. The Salamanders seem to do it, so why can¡¯t I? I spent a lot of time sitting with my eyes closed, listening, smelling, feeling and spiritually sensing what was around me. Physical Perception was the main attribute here, but I wanted more than just the physical. I started to lean in on the Spiritual Perception. My Spiritual Perception was pretty low. I had some attribute points I could add, but I didn¡¯t want to do that until I was sure it would lead somewhere. After all, another level in either of my classes would be enough to get my Physical Perception over 40 and get another physical sensing skill. I started moving around a bit with my eyes still closed. I would trip easily at first. Then, I got to know the area and where rocks were around me. That is part of the way the small creatures get around. They know their territory and seldom leave it. I started to move and learn about the area around the Rock Eater and the tunnel. I started to move with my eyes closed up and down the tunnel, avoiding the traps and relying on my memory and other senses. I was getting more comfortable operating without sight. This was useful when we were outside hunting as well as when I was using both my sight skills. I had a better memory of the land around me and was more aware of what was beyond my sight. In the cavern, I had to rely more on other senses. My Olfactory and Spiritual Sensing were soon pushed through to Journeyman. I knew their levelling would greatly slow down now. I checked with my Identify, but there was nothing close. I was missing something. Maybe I should sleep on it. My Spiritual Sensing highlighted the gems in my pouch. The light gem I now kept there instead of on my helmet was bright in my senses. The pieces of scale and rib rock were also strong but not bright like the light gem. The feeling of cold vastness was stronger in some ways than the light gem. I had two rock elemental gems now, and they both felt the same as the ribs and scales. The four things combined probably were why it felt stronger. That, plus the overall spiritual feel of the cavern, was this cold, vast area. I did not have clear directions on what I needed, but I felt Spiritual Perception was what I needed. Physical Perception is linked to the physical senses, so I need to focus on the spiritual senses. I used one free point in Spiritual Perception to see how it changed things, and it did make my Spiritual senses clearer. The more attributes you have behind a skill, the more power it adds to the skill level. I change my strategy. I focus on this feeling of vastness and absolute cold I am getting from the stones and the cavern around me. I pulled out a stone and a section of the rib that I had chipped off. With my better senses, there was more to it than just vast coldness. I slipped another point to Spiritual Perception. I only had two left. I hope I was not making a mistake. Everything became clearer again, and I was able to get more details about the spiritual sense, but I didn¡¯t understand it. I left it for now as the Commander had his training session, and then I was on watch outside. With the Commander¡¯s training, my Guard class was about to hit Apprentice level. That will give me two more attribute points to use, and I feel they are sorely needed. The training was intense, and it did tick the Guard class over, and I am back with 4 free attributes. I could use it to get my Physical Perception to 40 and get another physical sense, but I think I am on the cusp of something else. I just don¡¯t know what. It was a beautiful, clear night, and Felix came to keep me company. I made my way to one of our key watch positions, and I studied the clear sky. The largest moon was rising, and it was a half moon, giving the snowy landscape a wonderful look. For all my attempts to navigate without sight, a night like this is worth looking at. A cool breeze came across the ice, but I decided to stay in my humanoid form for now. I used my transform skill to thicken my fur, the same as my bear form. This was much easier to do now that it has ticked over to the Journeyman level. I learned more about my Anatomy, and this helped me push the skill over the edge to Journeyman. I can now change small things like the length of my fur much more easily and almost instantaneously for a small cost in energy. I am interested in what the skill will do if I ever get it to the Master''s level. I pulled out the gem with the cold, vast feel and played with it. The cold matched with the cold clear night, but there was something more there I couldn¡¯t yet sense. Since learning the mental skills needed to form a bond, I am aware I could bond with Felix. Yoboc told me people usually bond with young animals as they will live longer. A bond''s formation will extend the life of the animal you bond with. Felix is old and only expected to live another 2-5 years, according to Orir. This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it I am setting myself up for a loss like Yoboc went through if I bonded with Felix. Then again, Sheila died unexpectedly. She had another 10-15 years of life expectancy because of her bond, but now she was dead. I don¡¯t know how long a bond with Felix would extend his life, but either or both of us could be dead tomorrow. Felix is the kind of animal I would like to bond with. He is not demanding. He is just there with his quiet presence. I always considered myself a loner, and our species are loners. We don¡¯t form long-term relationships or bonds. Why would I change that? I looked down and saw that he was curled up beside me. He wasn¡¯t asleep. He was just there. I enjoyed that. I liked having him there. That doesn¡¯t mean I have to bond with him, though. I sat and looked at the stars and moon and thought. Yoboc''s navigation lessons taught me a lot more about the stars and planetary bodies, and I find them even more interesting now. The sunlight reflects off the moon, the orbit of the moon around this planet and in turn, this planet orbits the sun. It is a lot to get my head around, but it explains so much about how the stars and moons move. My mind is flitting all over the place tonight. I rolled the gem between my fingers. Why is my mind all over the place? The gem, the stars and Felix? What is going on? Yoboc thinks the Skill Identify is linked to our subconscious. I use Identify on myself. There is something close, but I can¡¯t seem to bring it to the surface¡ªtypical subconscious. Yoboc is probably right. I use Identify on Felix. Husky dog, low threat level. What am I missing? It has to be something with my Spiritual Sensing. It must have changed somehow now that it is Journeyman Level, but how? What am I sensing, or is it just weird feelings I should ignore? I use Spiritual Sensing on the gem. No change. I use Spiritual Sensing on Felix. That is weird. He has what I would call the sense of a dog, but he also has the sense of the gem. Cold and Vast and something else. It is there. Do the other dogs have it? I don¡¯t know. Then, a thought comes to mind. I use Spiritual Sensing on myself. Then, I stopped and emptied my pouches of all the spiritual materials. I do it again. I am getting that sense, too. I am cold and vast, and something else? Is that what is driving my connection to Felix? We have the same spiritual signature. How am I sensing Felix? I don¡¯t remember getting anything from the other people or the dogs when I was trying to use my spiritual senses to track movements. I wasn¡¯t specifically looking for it, but I am sure I would not have missed that. Spiritual Sensing has just hit Journeyman. Does that mean I can now get that sense from others? That is easy to test. I slip into Stealth and check the patrol circuit that takes me near the entrance to the mine where Sinmot is on watch. I see how close I can get before he sees me. This is a challenge we do. My circuit is at random times, and occasionally, he will walk a circuit, and we see who can catch the other out. The Commander, Eric, and Yoboc have the highest stealth skills and are the hardest to find. I am much, much better at spotting stealth since I got Clearsight, and now that it is at Apprentice level, I am really good in all sorts of weather. Sinmot has several spiritual items on him that show up, but from him, I get nothing but a sense of dwarf, which is a species sense. It is why they didn¡¯t know what sort of Kin I was when I first found the camp. They had never sensed bear-kin before. So why can I sense this from Felix, and why do we share the same spirituality as the gem? Sinmot does not have it, or if he does, I can¡¯t sense it. Is this part of why Felix was drawn to me? Because we shared the same spirituality? Can animals sense that better than people? I pondered this until I got back to the main watch post. There are so many questions. Why have I never used Spiritual Sensing on myself before? Or maybe it would not have helped as it was not Journeyman, and I was running with minimal Spiritual Perception. I don¡¯t know. What was still bugging me was that I was still missing something. First things first. ¡°Do you want to bond with me, Felix?¡± I reached out mentally the way Yoboc taught me. I wasn¡¯t sure if this was right for me to bond, but I was going to do it anyway. I reached out to Felix and felt his mind right there. He was ready and waiting. It is almost like we were halfway to bonding anyway. Felix¡¯s mind was calm and happy. It was like he was wagging his tail in my head. I could feel him in my mind, just like I thought of him when he was lying beside me. His personality was like he knew we were best friends, and he was happy and wanted to play and be with me. I could feel in his mind that his body was tired. Would our bond reinvigorate him? I hope so. We will have to see. He was my buddy, and we would be together till one of us died, and that was OK. All of it was OK, or better than OK. Felix had been living with the expectation of not living very long and not being able to play and work like he used to. He loved to run and be running at the front leading. Now he was tired, but maybe we could run together? I looked at my status, and I now have Animal Bond level 1. As the bond grows, we will get to know each other better. Felix had four skills on his status: Endurance Running, Power Running, Cold Resistance, and Team Leader. There were no levels on the skills that I could see, and they were probably reduced as he was old and not in the best health. Maybe our bond needed to grow for me to see more. I should ask Yoboc. I was interested in the Running Skills, as you don¡¯t normally get a skill for something like running; you just do it with your attributes. Apparently, that is not totally correct. Felix has been running and pulling sledges most of his life, so Endurance Running and Power Running make sense. They seem to boost his stamina and strength, and there is a component boosting his Mental Strength to keep going as well. I can¡¯t see his attributes, though, only this limited skill list. Cold Resistance is expected and is the same as mine, but I can¡¯t see how high it is. Team Leader is interesting. It gives a boost to the Mental Strength of the team members and a small boost to learning and growing skills. ¡°I guess you are our Team Leader,¡± I told him. I reached down and petted him and I felt his contentment through the bond. I was also happy with the decision to bond. We settled down to watch in the light of the moon, and I pondered what was missing. 22. Awaken. Before I could settle back into considering things, Felix raised his head, and my Olfactory caught a whiff of Sinmot sneaking up on me. That was careless of him. I looked around carefully and didn¡¯t see anything upwind. I made sure to check all around as I had been tricked before, and then my Clearsight spotted him downwind. Clearsight had bonuses for seeing through stealth, but I had to be looking, and these dwarves generally had journeyman-level stealth as opposed to my apprentice-level Clearsight, powered by my Physical and Spiritual Perception attributes. ¡°Evening,¡± I greeted him. ¡°Morning, actually,¡± he replied, ¡°The scent tipped you off, didn¡¯t it?¡± I nodded. ¡°I pissed upwind and thought it might give me time,¡± he said. ¡°Eric got me that way once,¡± I said. ¡°I learned that lesson.¡± He nodded, ¡°Good. Only a few hours to go.¡± I nodded, and he left. I have had them double back before as well, so you don¡¯t stop watching. This is part of training as a Guard, always being alert, even in the long hours of a watch and even when you are thinking about other things. One moon was setting, and the second was skimming the horizon. The stars were clear to me even though whisps of clouds were forming. This was the missing piece: the stars, moons, and, I guess, the sun in summer. The vastness of space and the objects in space resonate with me, and this is the feeling I get from the cavern. If the cavern was a creature, I am sure it did not come from the ocean but from the stars. My knowledge of the stars and the void between them is pretty rudimentary. It is only enough for me to navigate with them, and then it has large margins of error without instruments. I don¡¯t need to know a lot to feel an affinity with them. I shuddered as a feeling of cold and emptiness flowed through me, followed by a rush of heat. I had plenty of cold resistance, but I had no heat resistance, and it felt like fire burned through me, touching every small part. I heard Felix whimper in pain beside me, so this was affecting him as well. I should have waited before bonding, but it was too late now. I lost awareness of what was around me, which was dangerous. I didn¡¯t know this was going to happen or how long it would take. It was an idiot mistake on my part. Sinmot has just been, so he won¡¯t be back for a while. We have several hours on watch left before we are replaced. The cold was there, and the heat burned through at the same time. It seemed to go on and on, with a feeling of vast emptiness. My pain resistance will be going up. Funny how my mind flicks to things like that, like it is disassociating from the pain. We didn¡¯t pass out, but it was a near thing. When I became aware, I immediately checked my surroundings. It all looked quiet. The wind had picked up and lifted loose ice particles and blew them around. The clouds were thickening and obscuring the stars. I checked again carefully, especially the places somebody with stealth would choose to hide. It looks like I got away with the lapse. I know nothing has happened for weeks, but it is the one time you slip up that it will happen. Except this time, I seem to be OK. Or not. There is movement out on the ice. Is it animal or people? This is where Farsight is needed, and I don¡¯t have it. Time to get someone who does. I check on Felix. He seems OK, but I can¡¯t send him with a message. I scoop him up and push my stealth with speed. Sinmot, who is stationed above the mine entrance, can¡¯t see out on the ice, which is why my guard place was chosen. I am not blowing a whistle, as that will alert whoever is on the ice if it is not animals. Sinmot sees me coming fast and is alerted. I give him the hand signal for unknowns and point to the direction. He signs back, ¡°swap posts,¡± and moves out. I take his position and wait. Sinmot has Darksight and Farsight. The blown ice might interfere with his sight, but none of us have everything. He is certainly more experienced than me. Stolen novel; please report. While I wait, I catch a quick look at our statuses. We both now have Heat Resistance. I assume Felix¡¯s is about the level of mine, which is 5. My Pain Resistance has risen, and Felix now has that as well. The big thing, though, is we now both have an affinity. It is one I have never heard of. We have an affinity to the Astral. I assume it is an affinity to the stars, moons and void of space. I am seriously going to need to learn a lot more about them. Nobody here knows more than Yoboc, and he has taught me what he knows. He is a scholar of the natural world, not the stars. He only knows enough to navigate. This means I need to visit a city with a large Lore Society. Without the cavern, I would never have discovered my affinity¡ªor maybe awoken my affinity. Come summer, a shipload of specialists will arrive to study the cavern. The chances they have somebody with knowledge of the stars and astral are slim, as they think the monster is from the ocean. They did take samples with them. This is now a priceless find. This is unique. Where else would you find the carcass of a space monster? And that is what I am sure it is. This news will get out. They have smart people, and I am sure by the end of summer they will know. Wars will be fought over this. Wars will be fought over me if they find out about my Astral affinity. Affinities are rare anyway. Someone with a previously unknown affinity? Everybody will want to control me. I looked down at Felix. Controlling him is the obvious method of controlling me. I assume they will come with rich offers first, but the threat will always be there. This has to stay hidden, and I need to work on ways to escape if I need to. I don¡¯t even know what the affinity does, and now I have to work it out on my own. Yoboc will help if I ask. Should I ask? Will he let it slip or tell his bosses? Dwarves do silly things when they are drunk. There is an even bigger problem. The Forgemakers home city is Obalno in the Kingdom of Kirghiz. It is also the easiest city for me to get to. However, they have five years of compulsory military training for all affinity users. I am not a citizen, but I am not sure that will stop them. Affinity users are key national resources, and they won¡¯t want a loose one wandering around. Can I even keep it a secret? Displaying unknown abilities will trigger questions. People have sensing skills I have never heard of. How do I protect my mind, status and Spiritual signature from being sensed? I don¡¯t have to decide now. I have time. The spring thaw is still a month or so away. What I have decided is that I don¡¯t want to stay here next winter. I need to get away from here as I am quite literal when I say there will be war over this. The Kirghiz Kingdom and the Nystad Empire are both within striking distance of here. The Forgemakers are from the Kingdom. How am I going to pay for passage out of here? Maybe I just need to keep wandering along the coast. The trouble with that plan is it does not help my lack of knowledge. For that, I need a Lore Society or something similar. From what I hear, the Nystad Empire is worse than the Kingdom. However, I must remember that all my information has come from citizens of the kingdom, so they are probably biased. The fact that the Nystad Empire keeps slaves turns me off, but I need to keep an open mind. What I want is not to have to join anybody. I just want to live my life in peace. Wandering the Arctic alone is looking increasingly attractive. Just me and Felix. The trouble is I now know how weak someone with a lack of knowledge is. Look at how far I have come with the dwarves. Peace could come if I have a powerful backer. I could join the Kingdom and do their training. Or the Forgemakers are a large clan, maybe they would protect me and I could work for them? If they know about my affinity they will not have me working as a simple guard. They will want to make use of it. I will be bound to them. That means I will not be free. Pause, Ivan, I tell myself. Take some deep breaths. We don¡¯t have to decide anything now. Learn from Felix and chill. I see Sinmot returning. Felix stirs and gets up. He rubs himself against my leg. ¡°Definitely animal,¡± he tells me. ¡°In fact, I don¡¯t know how you even thought it could be people. Your eyes need fixing. Wait here, I am going to get the others. They are all going to want to see this.¡± I waited, and soon, those not on duty appeared, and we went to see what it was. Sinmot was right. I am not sure how I could have mistaken huge 4m-6m tall multi-ton mammoths for people. Long shaggy fur and huge tusks. It was a family group with two adults and one small one. The ground shook when they moved. They were an amazing sight to see. Mammoths were monsters with a core, but nobody even suggested attacking them. These things could probably fight off griffons. We watched as they meandered along the coast, staying near the shore and using their trunks to pull off some branches to eat. Majestic. This was the pull of the Arctic. You don¡¯t see this anywhere else. Why shouldn¡¯t I just stay here? The clear starry sky, the empty space and the majestic monsters. The reason is I am not strong enough yet. My thoughts went back to the Sabertooth tiger. It was strong, but I don¡¯t really know how strong. You don¡¯t need to be able to beat everything here. You just need to be able to hide or run if necessary. 23. Decisions. ¡°So you bonded with Felix, did you?¡± Orir asked. I should have known he had the skills to tell. He had worked with Felix since he was a pup, so it was not surprising. I just nodded. ¡°I knew there was a connection, but I assumed you would want a younger companion.¡± I just shrugged. While we were talking, I was using Spiritual Sensing on the other dogs here, trying to see if any of them also had this affinity. They just came back as dogs. Why was Felix different, and why could I sense it? Nobody sensed I was different here. At least, I couldn¡¯t tell if they did, and nobody said anything apart from ribbing me about needing to see a healer for my eyes. What I did decide was to stockpile as much strong Astral material as I could. I had limited pack space, but once the summer team got here, my access to this place would probably be restricted. They will have a team of experts and miners, and they will want to protect their investment. In my spare time, I mined the ribs and some scales, but the ribs were stronger, so that is where I focused. I found my Tremor Skill useful. I had to chisel a start, use the Tremor to widen the cut, and then keep going like that. I searched the cavern for other strong sources hoping to find the remains of a core or something, but I was out of luck. In my time on watch on the surface, I carved a piece of rib into a pendant I could wear with one of the Rock Elemental gems in it. Then, if people sense the Astral on me, I can show them the pendant I carved. This is where that strange spirituality is coming from. This also pushed my Carving to the Journeyman Level. I was planning to make the pendant cord large enough to stay on my bear form. I was also going to make a collar for Felix with the second gem. I also worked on understanding my affinity and trying to figure out a skill with it. I thought about my Tough Hide and my Spiritual Toughness. Could I infuse these things with the Astral affinity and make them stronger? I kept failing. What is the Astral? It is the emptiness of the void, the cold and the heat. Trying to fill something with the void is the wrong way to go. I should be doing the opposite. I know the cold better than the heat of the sun. The empty void might be a way to hide my affinity. Can I create a void around me? I tried to gather the astral energy around me and hold it in place and I kept failing. Again. No. It is not a failure. I learned a new Skill: Spiritual Manipulation. It is not what I was going for, but it is certainly progress. I found it was much easier to manipulate the spirituality outside my body with this skill. One of my dilemmas was Yoboc and Goldie. They noticed I was not spending a lot of time with them anymore. Goldie is smarter than she lets on. It should have clued me in when she was so good at limericks that she was mentally sharp. Yoboc and Goldie normally had the outside watch as they were Hunters and Foresters. ¡°What¡¯s up?¡± Yoboc asked when we were all off watch. I shrugged, ¡°Just carving,¡± I said as that was what I was doing. Felix was asleep at my feet. ¡°You are avoiding me, lad,¡± Goldie said, ¡°I feel like a jilted lover.¡± I am not sure what a jilted lover should feel like, but never mind. These two were my best friends here. Could I trust them? I was frustrated at my lack of progress. Both of them were smart and could help, but would they tell Thomwea? I don¡¯t know. I am going to need help. ¡°Let¡¯s go hunting,¡± I said, nudging Felix with my foot to get him up. Felix¡¯s energy is improving slowly. Yoboc and Goldie shared a look and then went to get their cold-weather gear. It was cold and cloudy, and there was a light falling of snow¡ªwinter. We moved away to check the first trap. It was empty. The second had a hare trapped and frozen solid. We cleared the trap and reset it. The third trap was in a sheltered area and had been triggered but not caught anything. Goldie reset it as Yoboc turned to me and said, ¡°OK, spill, lad. You have found some secrets. I assume it has to do with the cavern because of all the time you spend in there mining.¡± Goldie turned to look as well, ¡±My coin is that it has to do with Felix. You taught him to bond but never expected him to, then instead of a young pup, he bonded with¡­ an older pup,¡± she finished with a grin. I looked at them and studied their faces. I was delaying. ¡°This is very personal, and I don¡¯t want it to go any further. From what I have learned from you, this is also something a war will be fought over.¡± ¡°I think we had better sit down then,¡± Yoboc said. ¡°Fucking Troll shit. It is the cavern,¡± Goldie said. ¡°There goes my coin.¡± As we sat, I said, ¡°It is both, so your coins are safe. Are you under contract to the Forgemakers?¡± Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. ¡°Yes, but only for hunting and camp work. We are under contract for secrecy about the mine, but not to help with the mining or, I am guessing from your question, to reveal things to the Forgemakers. We are simple hunters and foresters and have only a distant relation to the Forgemakers.¡± ¡°Aye. That''s the truth,¡± agreed Goldie. Anyone who thought they were a simple anything was blind and deaf. ¡°What about loyalty to the Kirghiz Kingdom?¡± ¡°You weren¡¯t kidding about a war, were you?¡± Yoboc asked. ¡°You will be a better judge than me on that, but no, I was not kidding,¡± I said. ¡°Double piles of Troll shit,¡± Goldie swore. ¡°What have you found?¡± ¡°He wants to know our loyalties to the kingdom,¡± Yoboc said. ¡°It is our home, lad, and while it is not perfect, we will not side against it. On the other hand, it is not perfect and doesn¡¯t necessarily need to know everything.¡± ¡°We are not in the kingdom here,¡± Goldie said, ¡°but Yoboc is right. It is our home and not a bad one. The Forgemakers produce metals for the Kirghiz Navy, so while this is privately funded, the Kingdom will have a keen interest. If you have found something so big, it will be revealed this summer. We will keep your secrets if we can.¡± That was about as good as I was going to get, and they certainly weren¡¯t going to let it go now. ¡°So you know how Undoth thought the cavern was the carcass of a giant sea creature? It isn¡¯t. It is an Astral Monster.¡± ¡°A fucking what?¡± Goldie asked. ¡°Astral monster. It came from the stars,¡± I said. ¡°How do you know this?¡± Yoboc asked. ¡°Because Felix and I have awakened an Astral Affinity,¡± I said, ¡°You what?¡± Goldie exploded. ¡°I think it best if you start at the beginning, lad,¡± Yoboc said. So I did. I told them everything. If they turned me in, then I would have to deal with that. When I finished, there was silence. The Yoboc said, ¡°You weren¡¯t kidding. There will be a war over this.¡± He thought for a bit. ¡°It is fifty-fifty whether they will have worked it out from the samples they took. They will know it is not a sea creature. When the Empire hears about this, a battle fleet will come this way. We will know if they have worked it out when Thomwea arrives because if she knows, she will be bringing the Kirghiz Navy.¡± ¡°It is not just the Kingdom and the Empire that will fight over this,¡± Goldie said, ¡°The Mer People are strong enchanters, and they inhabit the northern waters. The Avion has a large northern Nest, and they can fly here easily. They are not great miners, but they will want a piece of this. The Elven Forests are a long way away, but they will also want this. The Elves have a long memory, and when the Star Metal was discovered, they entered a golden age for half a millennium.¡± ¡°Star metal?¡± I asked. ¡°A rock that fell from the sky with unique spiritual metal. Well, they thought it was unique at the time,¡± Yoboc said. ¡°What are these minerals used for?¡± I asked. ¡°Many, many things, but the most game-changing thing, fuck, I mean a kingdom-changing thing, is dimensional storage. There is an absolutely massive amount of mineral in that cavern. Enough to change the world,¡± Yoboc said. ¡°Dimensional storage?¡± I asked. ¡°Enchanters can leverage the properties of Astral minerals to make something bigger on the inside than the outside, which is massive for an army on the move,¡± Goldie said. ¡°The only source to date was the Starmetal that fell in the elvish forests, and that has long been used up,¡± Yoboc said. ¡°Even if this is not the same, they will be able to do amazing things with it. It is probably very similar.¡± ¡°Shall we try to contact Thomwea and tell her to bring the navy?¡± Goldie asked. ¡°The Commander probably has an emergency beacon.¡± ¡°As soon as the Navy gets here, nobody is leaving for security reasons,¡± Yoboc said. ¡°And this will be where the war is fought. I don¡¯t want to be here then. This war will be worse than all the previous ones combined.¡± ¡°But won¡¯t Thomwea want to keep this for the Forgemaker Clan?¡± I asked. ¡°She can¡¯t, and she won¡¯t try. They have registered this as a prospecting area and probably by now a mine, with all the metal they have taken home. Therefore, the Forgemakers will be credited with the discovery, and they will get a cut from everything that is extracted from here. They will be rich beyond their wildest dreams and probably be the primary forging clan.¡± Yoboc paused, ¡°That is all dependent on it remaining in Kirghiz''s hands. If she knows, she will bring the navy.¡± ¡°If she doesn¡¯t know, she will be sending for the navy as soon as she finds out,¡± Goldie added. ¡°This doesn¡¯t sound good for me,¡± I said. They both looked at me. ¡°It''s not,¡± Yoboc said. ¡°If they find out about your affinity, you will be locked down tight as a national asset. If they don¡¯t find out about your affinity, then you are an unknown and a potential leak, even a spy.¡± ¡°Even when I have no idea what I can do?¡± I asked without hope. ¡°They will help you find out, and you will have no choice. They will pay you. You will be rich,¡± Goldie said. ¡°Not that it will do you any good,¡± Yoboc said. ¡°You won¡¯t be free to spend it, and you will always be watching out for assassins and kidnappers from the empire.¡± ¡°Assassins?¡± I asked. ¡°If they can¡¯t get you to work for them, they don¡¯t want you to work for the enemy. They will want you dead, and dead is easier than kidnapping,¡± Goldie said. ¡°I need to run,¡± I said. They both looked at me for a minute. ¡°You probably do, lad,¡± Yoboc said, ¡°but if you disappear without a reason, there will be a massive manhunt for you and a bounty put on your head. You probably need to die. There are dangers here. We can stage your death.¡± ¡°You know I am not too keen on hanging around for this,¡± Goldie said. ¡°This is way more than I signed up for.¡± ¡°Me too, lass, but we can¡¯t all disappear.¡± Yoboc turned to me, ¡°Give Goldie and me some time to think about this. There is a month or so before the thaw starts, and therefore, Thomwea is probably about two months away, depending on the weather.¡± ¡°You are sure this is how it will happen?¡± I asked. ¡°Ninety percent sure,¡± Yoboc said. ¡°I can¡¯t hide my affinity, can I?¡± ¡°Not for any length of time. There will be specialists here. The Navy will also have their suspicious, sneaky bastards here, and if you are not an asset, you are a liability,¡± Yoboc said. ¡°You don¡¯t want to meet them.¡± I really didn¡¯t. ¡°Give us a week, lad. We will come up with something.¡± 24. Something. It had been only two days when Goldie approached me and said, ¡°You and I will be getting away. We need to get some gear out of camp so we can collect it later.¡± That¡¯s right, dwarves need to carry lots of stuff. Some food would be good in this late winter period. I like my axe, and I want to take some of the ore. I have been influenced too much by the dwarves. I now want things. We started a cache well away from camp. Yoboc was the hunter, so he made a couple of trips, once with Goldie. Felix went as well, but he snuck out and met them in the woods. He could then lead me to it if things didn¡¯t go according to plan. Goldie started to teach me a way to hide my status from others so their Identify skill wouldn¡¯t reveal my secrets so easily. There were several different versions of this, and the simplest was Mask Status, which was used to hide from the Identify skill and similar. It was also the only one for which I had the mental attributes. While I had some free points, I wanted them for my spiritual attributes, so I learned Mask Status. Mask Status relied on my Mental Strength and the Skill level to block access. A high-level person would still get through, but it was something, and I would know about the attempt. I realised this was why my Identify was not giving me information on the dwarves. They all had this or better. I kept working with my Astral Affinity. Yoboc suggested that since I knew cold, I should start with that. This wasn¡¯t an ice affinity, so I was not creating ice. This was the deep cold of the astral. I also realised my mistake before when I was gathering the Spiritual energy around me, and I got Spiritual Manipulation. I would not always be where there was astral-aligned Spirituality around me. I needed to use my own astral-aligned Spiritual Energy. The first step was to get it out of my body where I could manipulate it, and that was not as easy as it sounds. The only skill I have that uses energy outside my body is Spiritual Manipulation. Even Spiritual Sensing is me sensing what is around me. It is internal looking out. I was on watch in the Cavern with Eric when the temperature suddenly dropped, and my Spiritual Sense felt a surge in cold energy but it was different from the Astral cold. It was less intense. I looked around for where it was coming from. Eric didn¡¯t hesitate to set off the alarm to alert those who were off duty. My Guard training has instilled a fantastic awareness of my surroundings. Although my Nightsight hampered me in the Cavern, my training without sight has enhanced my other senses, even my non-skilled ones. The slight change in the breeze made me look up, and a spider was dropping toward me with a line of silk... something connecting it to the ceiling. ¡°Above!¡± I alerted Eric. ¡°Frost Spiders!¡± he identified them. Then, a shadow briefly covered the light gem above Dave, and I saw more spiders crawling down the walls. ¡°Back to the tunnel!¡± Eric ordered as we both jabbed a spear at the spider above us. I was taller, and my spear skittered off the carapace, whereas he made the spider flinch as he had aimed for the eyes. A wave of freezing cold enveloped us. I had the highest Cold Resistance of all the dwarves by about 10 points. Wandering alone for a winter certainly jumped my cold resistance, and I got a few more when I awakened my Astral Affinity. I am still not sure what those points mean. They seem like mini levels only for resistance. It would be more helpful if it was a percentage of resistance, but it is not. The Cold seemed to affect Eric, so I shoved him back out of the way, stepped in front of him, and lengthened my fur. I jabbed with my spear again. The spider landed and skittered sideways to avoid the strike, but I still clipped a leg. On the ground, the spider came up to my waist, so it was about the height of the dwarves'' chest. The legs spread out to each side, and it had a large bulbous rear end with a stinger. It was ice blue in colour, with frost continually forming on the outside and flaking off. I assume the frost was the atmospheric moisture freezing and giving the spider its name. Then Eric''s spear flew past me as he had thrown it. It slammed into the spider and cracked through the carapace, and it collapsed on the ground. Its legs were moving ineffectually, but it was dying. ¡°They are not hard to kill, but that can be fast. Stay out of the frost breath at the front and the ice web at the back. Their stinger will freeze you from the inside out,¡± he told me as he retrieved his spear, and we started to retreat to the tunnel. If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. Poor old Dave had three spiders crawling around him, and he was looking decidedly frosty but still standing strong. The problem for me was they were working at the Light Gem as well. That meant unexpected shadows and that they were attracted to the light or the Spiritual Energy of the gem. This meant I was not keen to put a light gem on my helmet. I had the ground in this area well memorised and was used to moving in this area without my Nightsight, so I relied on my other senses. My Journeyman level Spiritual Sensing showed the main body of the spider as a cold blob, and I could trace the webs which were growing in the cavern. There were a lot of spiders flooding the cavern from the crack in the ceiling. I hope this wasn¡¯t the ¡°something¡± that Yoboc was going to come up with. No, it couldn¡¯t be. I don¡¯t think. Eric and I were fending off another one that was between us and the tunnel. At this point, I think he has given up on defending Rock Eater. Spear thrust. The shield is used to deflect leg strikes, and it also shelters from cold blasts. Unfortunately, the shields we use are about the size of a dwarven torso, so Eric could crouch behind it, but I could not. I didn¡¯t need to do so as much due to my resistance. ¡°Axes will be better, lad,¡± Eric said as he threw his spear and pulled out his axe. The spider skittered sideways, so his spear only removed a leg and didn¡¯t kill it. An axe required us to get close, but this was not a bad thing. The Spiders liked to keep us at a distance that was good for their front legs to strike. Rushing past the leg strike zone put us in reach of the mandibles, but a Shield Bash followed by an axe strike was very effective. My Seismic Smash worked almost as well as Eric¡¯s much higher-level Shield Bash. The axes would take out the forelegs in one strike for Eric and two for me. The axe spike would go through the hard carapace. Eric and I started to fight our way to the tunnel. He took the lead, and I defended our rear. We both watched above. The Tunnel wasn¡¯t far, but Eric went in to kill the spider already there, and I defended the entrance. The dwarf-sized tunnel hampered my fighting, but the open entrance and top of the ramp were good for me. Then Dave¡¯s light went out. I dropped a small light gem on the ground by the tunnel entrance. I had difficulty seeing the spider legs with only my Spiritual Senses. It was getting more difficult to sense in the cavern with all the crisscrossing ice webs. Eric soon joined me, and he took the front and the ramp while I took the wall above the tunnel. Being tall has some advantages. Then, there was the sound of running feet, and the Commander was there with all the others. ¡°Report!¡± ¡°Frost Spiders, Sir. Probably a nest on the move, attracted by the Spiritual energy. A big one by the number.¡± ¡°Bloody Troll shit. Why now. We almost made it through the winter. Yoboc reported frost spider signs outside yesterday. We were hoping they would just pass by.¡± He did? Could he have lured them in? No, he wouldn¡¯t go against the company. It won¡¯t be him. It will just be a coincidence. That sounded weak when I thought about it to myself. I looked around and couldn¡¯t see Yoboc, but Goldie was there. I let Sinmot take my position and moved over by Goldie. I sat down in the tunnel with my back to the wall, ¡°Where is Yoboc?¡± ¡°On watch outside. You might want to send Felix to guard the gear. There are spiders around,¡± she said. ¡°Felix can¡¯t fight these.¡± ¡°The gear¡¯s not near here,¡± was the quiet reply. ¡°Orir,¡± The commander called, ¡°You have the outer watch with your pack. We will need Yoboc and Hadal in here.¡± ¡°Yes, Commander,¡± and Orir left. ¡°Are Frost Spiders monsters?¡± I asked Goldie, as The Commander, Eric, and Sinmot were busy strengthening the defensive area around the tunnel and there was no room for more people there. ¡°Yes. However, only the Matriarch will have a Monster Core, and she is birthing these. There may be a junior Matriarch working with her, but they soon get chased out to make their own web. They all have high spiritual energy.¡± Interesting. My knowledge of monsters is very limited. ¡°They are Spiritually Cold,¡± I said, ¡°what are the venom and webs?¡± ¡°Yes, a freezing cold,¡± Goldie informed me. The webs are some sort of frozen silk. They are easy to break when they are new, but they will gather more and more layers of frost and get harder to break. The venom is the killer. It is something that will freeze your blood, and you will soon have frozen limbs drop off. Fortunately, the stinger is easy to avoid; just don¡¯t get ambushed. This is my first time encountering Frost Spiders, so all that is only theory.¡± At least she had the theory. We sat quietly while Eric and the Commander assessed the situation. From what I overheard, the spiders will look to make the cavern home. It is easier to oust them now than to let them get established and wait for the summer team to oust them, although that was a viable option. The option to wait also leads to the almost certain destruction of Rock Eater. Now, Rock Eater is just broken. After two months in a cavern with Frost Spiders, it will be beyond repair. The fate of Rock Eater was only a small consideration for the Commander. Everybody surviving was the most important thing for him. He had already lost a dwarf on this trip. Can I use the Frost Spiders as inspiration for my own affinity? 25. Inspiration? I crawled forward, grabbed the severed leg of a Frost Spider and crawled back to be by Goldie. I wanted to compare colds. My Astral cold was deeper and more intense than the Frost Spiders. They could breathe out their cold, but I couldn¡¯t get mine to leave my body. Could I copy them and breathe it out? What did I want it to do? Did I want to breathe it out like the frost spiders? That wouldn¡¯t help me fight against them like their cold wasn¡¯t very effective against me. Did I want a barrier of my astral cold? If I did, I wanted it to protect more than just me, as I am already resistant to their cold. The first thing was to see if I could breathe it out and use Spiritual Manipulation to keep it close to me. I felt this was getting closer to working. ¡°Goldie,¡± The commander called, ¡°Switch out for Eric!¡± Goldie moved off with her axe and shield, and Eric came to rest near me. I can¡¯t practice with him close. That will give everything away. Then Yoboc and Hadal arrived. ¡°I have food!¡± Yoboc announced. ¡°We will set up a camp back in the tunnel a bit,¡± I moved to help him while Hadal moved forward, ready to switch out for one of the others. ¡°Is this something?¡± I asked as we set up the keg. ¡°This is definitely something,¡± he confirmed. ¡°It¡¯s not my something, but we can use it. It''s serious, but not too serious. We now also know the upper crack exits to the surface. ¡± He raised his voice, ¡°Sit, lad and eat. Your lack of Darksight limits you.¡± ¡°So does this small tunnel!¡± I said. It was not the first time I had complained about the size of the tunnels. I had gotten taller, topping out at 2.6m high. I had also bulked out with the Dwarves'' good food and lots of vigorous training. I think I massed more than my mom did, and I used to think she was huge. Dwarves top out at 1.5m, so the tunnel was sized for them. I am told humans average about 1.8m and elves at around 2m, so I am going to stand out wherever I go. Orcs are often 2.2m-2.4m. There is more variation in Beast-kin and Mer. The funny thing is that Mom thought I was small for a male polar-bearkin, and I am sure my dad was bigger. The problem is not my size. I have a lot of muscle on me now but very little fat. I need more fat. Fat is necessary for a Polar Bearkin. I pondered Yoboc¡¯s reply to my question about him causing this. Could he have manipulated this? I decided this was not in his nature. He would not go against the other dwarves to get them killed. For that insight I earned an attribute point in Mental Perception. Mental Perception is about understanding people, and it is my lowest attribute for a reason. Maybe I am improving. Mental Perception also powers things like Identify, so that is also a reason I lack information on others. I sat as they discussed things and protected the end of the tunnel. I practised my breathing and Spiritual Manipulation. I wasn¡¯t aiming for anything in particular. I was just getting my astral energy outside my body and keeping it close. I was doing it too. I kept it close. I checked with my Identify Skill. I was close to something. I am not sure what. I felt I needed more Spiritual Agility to make it work. I started to add points to Spiritual Agility, which also immensely helped my Spiritual Manipulation. When I got it to 20, a skill clicked into place. Cosmic Aura. I poked at the skill to try and understand it. It was an aura of astral energy that surrounded me, but what did it do? The aura strength was a function of my Spiritual Strength. This controlled how far it could extend from me and how strong it was. I think the distance was a tenth of my Spiritual Strength times the skill level. My Spiritual Strength was 25, so at level 1, it would extend 2.5m from me, but at level 5, it would be 12.5m and at Journeyman level 10, it would be 25m and even more if I grew my Spiritual Strength. It was only as strong as my Spiritual Strength. Controlling the size and shape is a function of Spiritual Agility, and I could change the size by making it smaller or changing the shape by reducing one side and extending another. It seemed to be volume-based rather than a cylinder-shaped around me. The cylinder shape was the default. I did have to be inside the aura, as it is my aura, which would limit what I could do until I levelled the skill. But what did it do? It didn¡¯t seem to do what I wanted it to. It didn¡¯t make the area freezing or warm, for that matter. It didn¡¯t increase my senses in any way¡­ or did it? My Spiritual Sensing did expand to fill the space. It didn¡¯t get any more sensitive or powerful, but it also didn¡¯t cost anything to fill that space. Sure, it was a small space at 2.5m around me, but it was my space. That is the key. It is my space. My Cosmic Aura is an area infused with the Astral. When I got the astral affinity, I was afflicted with cold, heat and void, but I don¡¯t seem to be able to change the aura to any of these. I have an inkling that astral is also more than just these three, but I have to learn more. I do have a sense that I might be able to add these things to the aura if I learn the skills. Add on skills, if you will. This is strange. This is not what a Fire Affinity user gets. They can create fire, and they can use fire for all sorts of skills without addon skills, like Firebolts and fire arrows, flaming touch etc. I get a cosmic aura that sounds impressive but doesn¡¯t seem to do much. Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. Earth affinity users can move the earth to create barriers, shields, and spikes and strengthen their bones. I get an aura that does none of those things. Is it of any use in the coming fight? I still don¡¯t get what it can do, or is it just something that is there? It might be something that is just there. The Astral is there and always has been. What does this mean for me? I don¡¯t have any boost to my Constitution or my mental or¡­ wait. It does boost my spiritual energy. Level one does not boost it much¡­ maybe 10%. If each level boosts it by 10%, then by Journeyman level, I will have double the Spiritual energy I would otherwise have. This is not boosting the attributes; this is boosting the total energy level. I have never heard of a skill that could do that, but I have to admit there is a lot I have not heard of. That is all well and good, but why do I need an Aura for this? A simple skill will do. Why does it have an aura around me that expands? There is more to it, as shown by Spiritual Sensing. I am not going to solve this now. The short answer is great in the long term but not helpful for this fight. Goldie interrupted, ¡°The Commander, Eric, Sinmot, and Hadal are going for a test excursion down to the Rock Eater. You, me and Yoboc are holding the tunnel entrance.¡± ¡°Ok.¡± I got my axe and shield and followed her. Yoboc had his bow and was going to provide support fire for the excursion, so it was really Goldie and me holding the entrance. ¡°What do they hope to achieve?¡± I asked. ¡°They are testing the strength of the spiders. The Commander wanted to see if protecting the Rock Eater was viable. They also want to know if they can spot the Matriarch and get a judge of her strength.¡± Yoboc replied. ¡°If we can kill the Matriarch, then we can take our time clearing the cavern and protect Rock Eater because the number of spiders will not replenish.¡± Goldie explained, ¡°We can reduce the number of spiders, but the matriarch will be laying, and in three weeks or so, small ones will appear and start growing.¡± ¡°Only three weeks?¡± I asked. They both nodded. My lack of Darksight was a problem, and my Spiritual Sense was a blunt instrument at the moment. My Olfatory helped, and my training in the dark helped me with my un-skilled hearing. The spider''s legs against the rock did make a slight noise. Yoboc started firing the occasional arrow. I was envious of his Darksight and Farsight combination. I couldn¡¯t sense the other team at all. Yoboc and Goldie didn¡¯t seem to sense my new aura. I had it on full to test that. It might be masked due to the amount of that aura in the rocks around us. ¡°Do you guys sense anything spiritually around me?¡± I asked. They both took breaks at different times to check. ¡°No,¡± said Goldie ¡°Not really? Do you have a new skill?¡± asked Yoboc. ¡°I will let you know when I do. Just keep an eye on me as I am trying different things.¡± ¡°Sure,¡± Goldie said. ¡°It wouldn¡¯t do for you to be leaking like you lost control.¡± She looked at my groin for some reason. I passed my axe through a spider web, and it cracked and came apart. It did draw a spider out, though. Goldie and I killed it. The web was a cold fibre of some kind. So cold that frost and ice were building up on it. It was quite a strong fibre, which I guess it had to be to hold the weight of a spider. Yoboc was outside my aura when he checked, but Goldie was inside it, and she still hadn¡¯t noticed. Those two had pretty good senses. I picked up the section of the cut web. Goldie noticed. ¡°There is good money for decent lengths of that.¡± I didn¡¯t care about coins. This was an item of spiritually charged material that I was bringing into my aura. I could sense it. I shut down Spiritual Sensing momentarily, and the feeling lingered. It was less apparent, but I certainly felt it as a foreign substance in my aura. Question. Does my Aura enhance my skills within it? Spiritual Sensing is not better in my aura, but it fills it with no effort, which will be great when my aura is bigger. Maybe the improvement is so small because the aura is only level 1, like the Spiritual energy? Do I have a 10% improvement in the skill? No, I would have noticed that when I turned my aura on and off. I checked, and there was no difference. Are skills cheaper in my aura? Spiritual Sensing is if I restrict it to my aura. The aura is too small at the moment. What other skills can I test? There is only Tremor, really. I put my hand on the wall above the tunnel and let loose a Tremor. Then I turned off my aura and did it again. Tremor is a function of my Spiritual Strength, so it is a spiritual skill. There wasn¡¯t really a noticeable difference. ¡°Shit!¡± my tremor dislodged a spider that fell on us. ¡°Ivan!¡± Goldie complained. I spun my axe and severed some legs. It tried to freeze us. Goldie got behind her shield, and I also stepped in the way. It was really noticeable that foreign spirituality was entering my aura with the cold blast. Can I block it with my aura? I tried to thicken my aura and stop the foreign energy by focusing on my Spiritual Strength. It did seem to lessen it a little. The skill seems to be focused on the spiritual. A Cosmic Aura which interacts with other spiritual things, if only slightly at level 1. Together we killed the spider. The spiders were not focussed on attacking us. It is like they were exploring the cavern and occasionally came across us. ¡°The Commander is almost back,¡± Yoboc warned. I shrunk my aura to fit my skin using my Spiritual Agility. The Commander and Eric are the two most skilled here, at least as skilled as Yoboc, probably more so in the Commander''s case. They may have different skills than Yoboc or Goldie, and maybe different sensing skills. Shrinking my aura levelled it to 2. This will give me a 5m radius, but I can¡¯t test it now. The Aura definitely improves my Spiritual Energy and has an effect on Spiritual Sensing and foreign Spirituality in my aura area. That is the conclusion I have come to. I don¡¯t think it is necessarily opposed to foreign Spiritual energy, but I can use it to oppose it. I don¡¯t know how undetectable it is, but it must be fairly undetectable, as Goldie couldn¡¯t tell when she was in it. 26. Good or Great? ¡°This is a huge web of Frost Spiders,¡± The Commander said, ¡°These are the relatively young ones. They are easy to kill. We went as far as the curve, and there was no sign of a matriarch.¡± They had got back with only one serious injury. Hadal had a broken arm and had frostbite. He might lose a couple of fingers. Eric was tending to him, ¡°There is no way we can protect the Rock Eater; there are just not enough of us.¡± The Commander continued, ¡°The only way we have a chance is if we can take out the matriarch, and I am not convinced we have much chance at that with the number of spiders.¡± ¡°It might still be on the surface or near the surface,¡± Yoboc said. ¡°It is possible only the small ones can negotiate the passage to the ceiling crack for now. With this number of spiders, I can find the entrance that leads to the crack in the ceiling. They will have left plenty of signs of their passing, and they may well be still on the surface.¡± ¡°You didn¡¯t find it scouting the surface, though,¡± the Commander said. ¡°Frost spiders have senses we don¡¯t. And it might be further away that I went. There could be a long network of tunnels. The tunnels are big enough for these spiders to get through. They might be widening it for the larger ones, including the Matriarch. We are lucky they haven''t found our mine.¡± Yoboc said. ¡°We are,¡± agreed the Commander. ¡°This is beyond us. We need to scout and get as much information as we can, but I am going to set off the emergency beacon. Thomwea shouldn¡¯t have left yet, and she will bring a larger force, possibly even the navy, if this is a significant enough mine, and it probably is.¡± He looked at Yoboc, ¡°Scout only and report back. We will reinforce both mine entrances and hunker down to wait for Thomwea.¡± ¡°I will take Goldie, plus the lad, as he is better on the surface than in the mine,¡± Yoboc said. The Commander nodded in agreement, ¡°Tell Orir to pull back to the mine only. There is no sense in losing dogs. They will discover the entrance eventually. We may need to collapse part of it. We will leave a dwarf-sized gap if we have to do it before you get back.¡± ¡°If you have to close the entrance, we won¡¯t get through the spiders,¡± Yoboc said. ¡°If we think they are close, we will just turn back, and the summer team can deal with it.¡± The commander nodded, ¡°It is your call.¡± ¡°Come on, you two,¡± Yoboc said. We went back to the staging area and loaded light emergency packs. You travel light when scouting. We took spare weapons. Yoboc stopped and talked to Orir, who hadn¡¯t seen any spiders yet. I stayed away as I didn¡¯t want him asking where Felix was. He was the beast master, and he would notice that sort of thing. Then we headed into the bush and up the mountain. After about two hours of hiking, Yoboc stopped. ¡°See that?¡± He showed me and Goldie. ¡°Frost spider tracks. They are very clear in the snow, so spend some time examining them so you can recognise them when they aren¡¯t so clear. We will stop for a bite to eat.¡± ¡°What is the plan?¡± I asked. ¡°Are we just going to leave? The gear is in the other direction.¡± ¡°We could circle back, pick up the gear and go. There is a hunting and fishing village 3-4 weeks hike south. I would prefer to leave at least some evidence of our death, and I really mean your death, Ivan,¡± Yoboc said. ¡°It has to be all three of us, Yoboc. Otherwise, why didn¡¯t we go back to the mine?¡± Goldie said. ¡°Once the war starts, nobody will care, but that is probably a year or two away. That is a year for Military Intelligence to try to keep it a secret and stop any leaks. Two missing dwarves are a leak. We need to leave evidence of our deaths.¡± Yoboc stroked his beard in thought, ¡°Yeah, you are right.¡± He sighed. ¡°This is getting complicated.¡± ¡°If we are heading to Obalno, we will spend six months getting there on foot,¡± Goldie said. ¡°We will be recognised there,¡± Yoboc said. ¡°There are other towns. You realise it will probably be two or three years before we can show our faces at home.¡± ¡°We can kill Ivan and head back to the mine,¡± Goldie suggested. ¡°I have wandered the Arctic alone before. I can do it again,¡± I said. ¡°It won¡¯t work,¡± Yoboc said. ¡°As soon as Military Intelligence gets here, we will all be interviewed by somebody with a truth-sensing ability. It is all or none. Or Ivan goes wandering and doesn¡¯t ever show himself in the kingdom. There will be a bounty put on him by the Mercenary Guild, and we will need to come clean that he did a runner.¡± I looked at them, ¡°It is up to you two. I have no need to go to the kingdom.¡± Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. ¡°Your affinity will come out, and you will be hunted,¡± Goldie said. I shrugged. They looked at each other. ¡°I don¡¯t want to be in the middle of a war or locked down here,¡± Goldie said. ¡°I am a Forester, and that is what I want to do. Three of us together will have a better chance at survival than any of us alone.¡± ¡°If we stay, we will be rich. If we go, there is nothing,¡± Yoboc said. ¡°We could possibly get a ship to Obalno before the navy gets here. Thomwea will be bringing more than one ship this time.¡± ¡°Thomwea is likely to be bringing the navy,¡± Goldie replied. Yoboc nodded, ¡°She likely is, even for the Frost Spiders and a rich mine with Lightsteel ore. She definitely will if they worked out that the scales are Astral-aligned minerals.¡± ¡°Undoth is smart, and he won¡¯t be the only expert they have on it,¡± Goldie said. ¡°He clicked right away that it was a creature and valuable.¡± ¡°We run?¡± Yoboc asked. ¡°We run,¡± Goldie confirmed. ¡°And the fact I like Ivan¡¯s hairy sexy ass has nothing to do with it.¡± ¡°Of course not,¡± Yoboc said. ¡°Your ass isn¡¯t bad either,¡± she said. ¡°That is good to know,¡± Yoboc said, ¡°at least you will be invested in saving it.¡± ¡°I will certainly be watching your ass,¡± she said. They were getting off track again. It is this sort of thing that made me think they were a couple, but I haven''t seen anything else to support that. Also it is not my business. ¡°So what is the plan?¡± I asked. ¡°We continue to look for the entrance and get as close as possible. Preferably, kill a few spiders and leave evidence we were there, such as a ripped pack and its contents and dropped weapons. We then circle to the gear and Felix and head south,¡± Yoboc said. ¡°Simple,¡± said Goldie. ¡°And now you have cursed us,¡± Yoboc sighed. I didn¡¯t really understand this cursing stuff. I have had it explained, and it is not real, but everyone believes it is? Bad things happen when you say they won¡¯t? I don¡¯t get it, yet I have done it. I chose to do what I had always done and ignored it. Yoboc led us off again. Now that we were confirmed in Spider territory, we were more cautious. I let my Cosmic Aura out to its fullest 5m range, and Spiritual Sensing filled it like before. I could sense further than 5m. It just cost me more energy. The energy cost is why people don¡¯t have it on all the time. It is not like your physical senses, like ears and nose. They are always working at no cost. It costs to always have Spiritual Sensing on. Because of my Aura, I can have Spiritual Sensing on all the time. It is just limited to the size and shape of the aura. As the aura levels, it will be increasingly useful. I need to invest in my Spiritual Sensing and in my Spiritual Attributes to make the most of the energy increase. I am curious about the dimensional storage for which the Astral minerals are used. Will my affinity let me do something like that? I don¡¯t know, and now is not the time to ask. I doubted Goldie and Yoboc would know anyway. We moved forward slowly, not together, but close enough to help each other if it became necessary. Yoboc sometimes ranged ahead. My stealth skill was stopped at the top of apprentice levels, and I am waiting for the bump to send it to Journeyman levels. Three more hours later, we crested a hill and found Yoboc waiting for us. ¡°I found the entrance,¡± he said. ¡°How far?¡± asked Goldie. ¡°Step this way and see for yourself,¡± he replied. We moved to where there was a gap in the trees. I didn¡¯t have Farsight, but I could even make out the Griffons circling and diving down. Some would fly back up with something in their claws. I assume Yoboc could see much better than I could and that they were preying on the spiders. ¡°What now?¡± I asked. ¡°If I were scouting, I would get closer and see if the matriarch was there,¡± Yoboc said. ¡°Evidence of us in a griffon attack with the spiders turns a good death into a great death.¡± He looked at me, ¡°What is your stealth like? Griffon''s eyesight is renown.¡± ¡°Top apprentice. Almost Journeyman.¡± He frowned. ¡°I would have preferred Journeyman level. We can get closer, but if you feel uncomfortable, you stop and go into Arctic Camouflage. We can take your gear closer and leave it.¡± He looked at Goldie. ¡°Empty what you want to keep into Ivan''s pack. We will keep his pack and leave ours with a spear, a couple of axes, and a shield. We can possibly leave my bow as my spare is with the other gear. I like this bow, though.¡± We shuffled the gear around as some of my gear needed to be left. We kept all the food. And we have most of what we need at the backup site. Then we set off again. I am not sure that they just wanted me to carry the heaviest pack. We moved on again. Goldie was keeping a close eye on me. I am not sure if it was my ass or that I was carrying the food. It could be either. It was another four hours of slow, careful movement before we got close. My Stealth went to the Journeyman level. The griffons were still circling, but they were not diving as often. Have the spiders gone underground? The sun was on the horizon. Spring was on its way. I appreciated Yoboc¡¯s leading as he took us around so that we were downwind. This meant my Olfactory was picking up all sorts of smells, including a lot of blood, and our smell was not in their noses. The first corpse I found was a spider that had been dropped from the air and did not survive the fall. I stopped and went into Arctic Camouflage and looked around. I had been doing this periodically. I watched as a griffon swooped down to land on a spider corpse to feed. I think this is my limit, or maybe I am past where I should have stopped. I waited in the shadow of a tree and watched. The griffon held the corpse steady with a front paw as the beak ripped open the carapace. It raised its head and swallowed some innards. As we are leaving, I will not get a chance to find out what parts of a spider are edible. As a scavenger, I have eaten lots of raw innards of many creatures. What happened next left me in shock. 27. Frosty. Four large spiders jumped from four different trees around the griffon, one of them only ten meters in front of me. They all trailed frosty webs. I had no idea they could jump so far. All the spiders were larger than the ones in the cavern. The griffon must have seen something, and its wings stretched to fly away, but it was not fast enough. Three of the spiders landed, and one was bounced away by a wing. Three stingers went down, and I think at least two penetrated the lion fur on the body. I am not sure about the third, as it was near the feathered neck. The griffon let out a scream, and its beak came around to grab the spider on its neck. It only managed to grab a leg and tore it off as all the spiders moved in the same direction they jumped. Their trailing webs were getting caught on the griffon''s feathers. The griffon flapped its wings, snapping one of the webs but not generating enough lift to get off the ground. The deflected spider darted in on this side, stabbed its stinger into a leg, and skittered away from a claw strike. It also had webbing trailing it, and more and more webs were entangling the griffon. I am pretty sure it used its frost breath. This didn¡¯t do anything to the griffon as it probably had similar resistances to me. What it did was add a layer of frost to the webbing, making it stronger. The griffon snapped at something on the far side of it, and I heard a crunch. The beak came around with a crushed spider in it, which was spat out on the ground. The griffon staggered forward and struck out with its two rear legs, ripping the legs off one side of a spider. It staggered again as a spider on the farside jumped onto its back, and the stinger went down again. The wing of the griffon flapped down, and I heard a crunch, and something was crushed on the other side. The griffon moved and I saw a spider with multiple broken legs. The griffon tried to take off to get rid of the last spider on its back, but the leg that had been poisoned gave way, and the webbing hampered the wings. It flopped sideways as it tried to reach the spider with its beak. It used its wing to stop itself from rolling and stumbled to its feet again. The spider worked its way down the back of the griffon, and the stinger went in again. Then, an arrow sprouted from the spider near the mouth as Yoboc joined the fray. I am guessing used arrows was good evidence. Then I saw Goldie waving me forward to fight as she dropped her pack and went forward with her axe and shield. An arrow went into the griffon''s hind quarters as I dropped my pack and Sprinted forward with my shield and axe. Goldie had gone for the wounded Spider. I went for the griffon¡¯s head. I saw one more arrow sprout from the griffon and another deflect off its feathers. Then I was at the head, moving with speed as I activated Seismic Smash with my shield against it and brought my axe down on its eye spike first. This ruined the eye but didn¡¯t kill it. It tried to turn to look at me, but I moved to stay in its blind side, and I chopped down with the axe on its neck. The axe skittered off the feathers, so I Seismic Smashed the head back away from me as I brought the axe in at an angle against the contour of the feather, and this time, it bit into the neck. I did it again and again until I had severed the spinal cord, and it went limp. I had my Cosmic Aura active, and I could sense a bright, airy and spiritually strong point somewhere in the griffon''s chest. Now was not the time to investigate. I looked around and saw that the spiders were dead. The wounded ones were now sprouting arrows, and Goldie had cut several. Yoboc was coming out of the trees and watching the sky. That is right, there are more griffons up there. ¡°Cut out the monster core from the griffon, then we have to go,¡± he said to Goldie. I hope he was talking to Goldie because I had no idea where the core was. Probably, it was the bright spot I felt with my aura. Interesting. Goldie used her axe to cut open the chest and got out a knife to dig around. ¡°Grab my pack,¡± she said to me, ¡°we need to rip it and scatter things.¡± I jogged back to where she had dropped her pack. I felt much safer under the trees. Then I remembered the spiders jumping from high up in the trees, and I suddenly didn¡¯t feel so safe. On my way back, I saw Yoboc rip his pack with the claws of the griffon, and items spilt out, and then he just dropped it. Goldie was elbow-deep in the griffon. Both were watching the sky frequently. I grabbed a Spider leg, stabbed it into Goldie''s pack and left it there. I ripped the shoulder strap and dumped it. Scavengers would come sniffing. Yoboc said, ¡°You two dump your shields and axes as they have been used in the fight.¡± I tossed my shield near the griffon and dropped my axe. The next snow would cover it, and it will probably be found in the thaw in a few months when the next lot of scouts come. I saw Yoboc cut his hand, drip some blood on his quiver, and then drop it. I guess he is being thorough, although I see he has kept hold of his bow. He did grab the remaining arrows from the quiver. Goldie pulled away from the griffon with the monster core in her hand. She grabbed some snow to wipe the blood off, and then we dashed for the trees'' cover. When we got to where I left my pack, Goldie and Yoboc both had huge grins. ¡°That monster core is worth a lot,¡± Goldie explained as she stored it in our only remaining pack. ¡°And we didn¡¯t have to stage a fight,¡± Yoboc said. He turned to me, ¡°You should have the monster kill, which should open up class options. Let''s wait until we are safer to sort that out. You grab the pack, Goldie, and Ivan will be free to use his claws.¡± Goldie lost her grin but picked up the pack, and we moved away from the fight very carefully. I watched the trees very carefully, and I spotted a couple of spiders. We were fortunate we moved into the area with such caution. Four Frost Spiders took down a griffon. Yes, it was mutual destruction, but they are more dangerous than the small ones in the cave would have suggested. We didn¡¯t stop until we got to the backup gear. I would say Felix was happy to see me, but he was asleep when we arrived. What a fantastic guard dog. ¡°Did the monster kill trigger any specialisation class for you, Ivan?¡± Goldie asked after we had a bite to eat. ¡°You did get the monster kill, right?¡± Yoboc asked. I nodded. ¡°I did. I am not sure what to make of this specialisation class, though.¡± ¡°What is it called? Your Identify skill should give you some details,¡± Goldie said. ¡°It is called Kill Thief.¡± Both Goldie and Yoboc burst out laughing. ¡°What?¡± I asked. ¡°A Kill Thief is someone who steals other people''s kills. They are not generally liked. That definitely sounds like it came from a Hunter-Scavenger class,¡± Yoboc said. ¡°It is a specialisation of that class.¡± ¡°What did you need to get it?¡± Yoboc asked. ¡°I needed the Hunter Scavenger Class, Stealth and Camouflage at Journeyman, three perception powers and a monster kill.¡± They were nodding, ¡°That sounds like it makes sense, even though I have never heard of the class before. Tell us about it.¡± ¡°It gives four attributes per level, like the Hunter Scavenger Class. One is in Physical Perception, and then one each in Spiritual Strength and Spiritual Perception. One free point.¡± ¡°A Spiritually focussed Class?¡± Goldie said, ¡°That doesn¡¯t sound right. It sounds like it should be physically focused.¡± ¡°Maybe it is influenced by his affinity,¡± Yoboc speculated. I hadn¡¯t actually told them about my Cosmic Aura yet, nor about how much it syncs with Spiritual Sensing. Spiritual Sensing uses Spiritual Perception. Yoboc is scarily perceptive. This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version. ¡°I got a skill with the class,¡± I said. ¡°It is called Death Strike. It Spiritually empowers a strike at a critical area. Its strength is based on my Spiritual Strength, and each skill level multiplies the amount of my Spiritual Strength in the skill. It also used the full amount of my base Spiritual Strength in Spiritual energy, so that is about a third of my energy.¡° At the moment, it is about a third of my Spiritual Energy, but as the Cosmic Aura levels up, it won¡¯t be. They don¡¯t know that. ¡°That is pretty costly,¡± said Yoboc. ¡°You would only be able to use it once a fight.¡± ¡°It sounds like a skill an assassin would get,¡± Goldie said. ¡°Except there is no requirement to use it from stealth, is there?¡± Yoboc asked. I shook my head. ¡°That makes the difference,¡± Yoboc said. ¡°Assassin power kill skills always have the requirement to be used from stealth, or be a hidden strike or something. This class and skills are all new to me,¡± he said excitedly. ¡°I love learning new stuff.¡± ¡°Hey,¡± Goldie said, ¡°How do you level up Kill Thief? Do you have to steal someone¡¯s kills to level it?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t actually know,¡± I said. ¡°I will have to test it.¡± I glanced at Felix. Yoboc saw me look at Felix. ¡°It might work by stealing his kills, but because he is your bond, it may not. Does whatever you are attacking have to be damaged by someone else? That would make you have to be on a team¡­ unless it works with Felix.¡± ¡°We will have to test it,¡± I reiterated. ¡°Specialised classes are slower to level than Basic classes as they have more specific requirements. My Monster Hunter Class only levels when I hunt Monsters, which are few and far between,¡± Yoboc said. That was new to me. I never knew he had the Monster Hunter class. I only knew he was a Hunter and Scout. Then, it occurred to me how little I knew about these two dwarves. I knew Goldie was a Forester and, from what she said, an Axeman, but that was all. They have not shared their skills or attributes. In comparison, they knew a lot about me. Maybe I should be more careful what I share as it can be used against me. Now I realised it: none of the dwarves shared more than basic information with me. We decided to rest and get a few hours of sleep before moving on. I had also levelled the Hunter Scavenger Class. This meant I had two free attribute points to spend. I was a bit worried about my mental attributes, but I will have to wait and sort it out later. I had a number of skill levels rise. Skill growth slows when they get to Apprentice and then really slows when they get to Journeyman. It is a bit depressing. Nightsight is closing in on the Master level, but I have been pushing it very hard in the cavern, and it is not there yet. Still, I have come a very long way in a year. My goal for this long wilderness trip will be to work on my affinity, although a lot of that will need access to a decent Lore Society.
Ivan Medved Level Physical Mental Spiritual Totals Free
Str Agi Per Str Agi Per Str Agi Per
Base Attributes 15 12 13 13 8 10 14 9 10 104
Earned Attributes 5 4 5 5 9 3 5 2 6 44
Hunter Scavenger B 11 11 11 14 5 2 43 1
Kill Thief S 1 1 1 1 3 1
Guard B 5 5 5 5 6 4 25 0
Totals 36 32 38 18 17 13 26 20 19 219 2
Constitution 106 48 65
Resistances: Cold +35, Pain +5, Heat +5, Skills: Novice: General Weapon Repair 4, First Aid 2, Cooking 4, Trapping 2, Animal Bond 3, Spiritual Manipulation 2, Mask Status 1, Fighting Crushing Bite 3, Death Strike 1, Senses Lore Monster Lore 2, Anatomy 3, Troglobite Lore 2, Astral Cosmic Aura 3, Apprentice: General Fishing 7, Tracking 9, Tremor 6, Dwarvish 9, Identify 8, Mining 8, Drawing 7, Subterranean Camouflage 5, Fighting Quick Claws 5, Unarmed Combat 7, Shield 7, Spear 6, Throw Weapons 7, Axe 8, Tough Hide 6, Small Blades 7, Spiritually Tough 6, Seismic Smash 5, Senses Clearsight 7, Lore Arctic Lore 8, Animal Lore 6, Plant Lore 5, Herb Lore 5, Mineral Lore 5, Journeyman: General Common 13, Sprint 10, Arctic Camouflage 10, Transform 10, Carving 10, Stealth 10, Fighting Senses Nightsight 13, Olfactory 10, Spiritual Sensing 10, Lore Master: Affinity: Astral Monster Kills: 1 Bond Felix. Huskie Dog. Resistances: Cold, Pain, Heat, Skills: Endurance Running, Power Running, Team Leader, Bond, Affinity: Astral 28. Wilds. A hiker set off with a pack, So heavy it hurt her poor back. She groaned up the trail, Like a ship with no sail, Wishing she''d packed just a snack! What I didn¡¯t expect was to be treated like a mule in my bear form. We had more gear than we had packs. These Dwarves cart a lot of stuff around, or more accurately, I am carting a lot of stuff for them. Yoboc had the smallest pack, as he claimed he had to scout ahead and hunt for food. Goldie had a pack that towered over her head. I had everything else in saddle bags made from the tenting material. Felix carried nothing, and he was the one who was experienced in pulling loads. I am going to make him a harness and sled as soon as I can. I had a feeling he was laughing at us, or more specifically, at me. We were walking south. Because the thaw had not yet started, we could walk across the ice between what would be Islands in the summer. The ice creaked a bit, especially with my weight. Because I am loaded down with gear, of course. My Clearsight could see through clearer sections of ice, so I got an idea of how thick it was. I didn¡¯t mind swimming, but Yoboc and Goldie did, and there was all this gear to consider. It has been a week of fairly simple travelling. Instead of following the coastline like I had, we were heading south as fast as possible to make the best use of the frozen ice. We were trying to get to the mainland. This will probably not happen without having to swim, but Yoboc was hopeful. Dwarves can¡¯t swim. They just sink. They have heavy bones or something. Yoboc had his map and had been to the fishing village we were headed to so he could keep us going in the right direction. Some idiot named it the World¡¯s End, and it seems to have stuck. It is in a bay, and ships often stop, and can shelter from storms. The town has a winter population of a couple of hundred or so dwarves, humans, and Merpeople. With the summer shipping, this often triples. Hunters come to sell their pelts and whatever else they have found to the trade ships that pass through. Fishing is the main food source. Apparently, the World¡¯s End is in the ¡°northern wilds,¡± and technically, neither part of the kingdom nor the empire, although ships from both pass through. The trouble was that World¡¯s End was a long way southwest, and Yoboc had travelled by ship, so he had no idea about this area we were trudging through. He did know there was a 5-6km channel we had to cross, and it would not be iced over. Crossing several kilometres of icy open water bothered them both. That was the future. I was not worried, and we would find some way to get them across. I could swim it, and Felix probably could as well. Felix would probably hang on to me if he needed to rest. Some of the islands we have crossed are large, and we tried to camp on them rather than on the open ice. These dwarves are not that good at surviving here. I carried their excessive gear. I had to dig the snow caves. I did the majority of the fishing for food. My Clearsight was great at seeing through the ice and water and spotting the fish. My claws were better than their fishing lines. At least Yoboc brought us some fresh non-fish meat occasionally. I think Goldie''s main function was complaining through limericks. I will admit she was the best cook out of all of us. She also chops wood the fastest. And that is another thing: they wanted a fire most nights to keep warm and cook food. That took time and effort. Just dig a cave and sleep, you idiots. Apparently, that was not the dwarven way. They needed to talk for some reason, and the fire made them feel better somehow. I was tempted to leave them, but I would need them when we got to this Worlds End. Yoboc had thoughts about getting passage on an independent trading vessel back to the kingdom. I was happy to walk. I would need them when we got to a larger town, though. They knew how to get access to information, and that was the whole point of me going with them. My size and weight are going to be a problem when I get to civilisation, and that is where we are heading. I also have all this fur. I can play around with my Transform skill and remove most of my fur, but it makes me feel very exposed and vulnerable. It is also very cold here without fur. I don¡¯t want to look human, but I don¡¯t want to stand out either. I will stand out because of my height and weight, but white fur is more obvious. I tested this one evening and removed all my fur except my hair, trying to look human. Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. My skin was actually very dark in colour, which made my white hair stand out. Yoboc said it was dark in order to absorb heat, but I didn¡¯t know much about that. What I did know was that I could see all my muscles, and I needed more fat. It was so cold. No wonder humans and dwarves wore clothes. I much preferred my bear form and, as a second option, my humanoid form, which has fur, claws, and teeth. Humans, like dwarves, don¡¯t have claws or sharp teeth. No wonder they are so reliant on weapons and knives. ¡°Could I pretend to be an orc instead?¡± I asked. Orcs are closer to my height and at least have muscles and teeth. ¡°Orcs have green skin and tusks. You won¡¯t pass as an orc, and the orc clans are very protective of themselves. Besides, you don¡¯t speak orcish,¡± Yoboc said. ¡°If you meet another orc, they will take offence, and orcs are common in the kingdom. It won¡¯t work. Elves are too skinny, so abnormal human is your best choice.¡± ¡°And dwarves are too short,¡± I added the jab. Yoboc huffed, ¡°The main thing is not to look like a Polar bearkin,¡± he said. I was not convinced but had to rely on their experience for now. I would need clothes to hide my hairless body. Humans only weigh about 100kg up to maybe 150kg at most, and I weigh over 500kg. And I was 2.6m tall to their 1.5m - 1.9m. Dark skin and white hair. I didn¡¯t think it would work at all. I could go bald like Yoboc said some humans do, but I liked my fur. Goldie suggested I dye my hair. However, that was a problem for later. For now, I was in my bear form and plodding south with Goldie and Felix. Yoboc was scouting ahead. We were currently crossing a large section of ice and some of it was not that thick. Up ahead was a hill with scattered trees. I assume it was an island, but I don¡¯t know. I have been playing with my Cosmic Aura for the last week. It is now level 4 with a radius of 9.6m, as my Spiritual Strength is 26. That means I can make it go 18m in one direction. My constant use of Spiritual Sensing has pushed that up a level as well, and the best thing is that Yoboc and Goldie can¡¯t detect it. I have not told them about it, but I have asked them to use all their senses while testing things with my affinity. The ice cracked beneath my paws. I stopped. I was not a lightweight. I focused on my aura and sent it below the ice. I was following Yoboc¡¯s original suggestion and focusing on the cold part of the Astral Affinity. I was close. Identify was telling me I was very close to unlocking a skill, and I didn¡¯t need any more attributes for it. I focused my Spiritual Strength and Agility inside the aura. I was focusing on the cold I felt when I got the astral affinity. I concentrated and pushed. I didn¡¯t push it into the ice¡ªI learned that lesson¡ªbut into my aura, which went through the ice and into the water below. Cold. Cold slows everything down. The vastness of space is cold and hot, depending on where you are, but the heat comes from the sun, and everything else is cold. I know when the sun goes down for the long Night, the temperature drops, and the freeze starts. That''s all I know at this point, but the Astral is more cold than hot. I can channel that cold, the cold of the void, and I can flood my Cosmic Aura with this cold. That is what I do, and the ice strengthens, and the water under the ice freezes, thickening the ice. I have focused my aura, so Goldie is not included. Felix sniffs at the edge of my aura. He can feel what I am doing more and more as the bond between us strengthens. He can¡¯t do what I am doing, at least not yet, but he can sense what I am doing. Felix strengthens our bond and pushes his astral energy through to me as he feels I need it. I didn¡¯t know the bond could do that. I think Felix has a better innate understanding of our bond than I do. The bond clicks over to the apprentice level. I feel a skill snap into place. Finally! Frigid Void is an Astral Skill, and it drops the temperature based on my Spiritual Strength and Skill level. Obviously, it is easy to use here in the icy north. A warmer climate would affect the rate at which the temperature would drop. I will have to experiment with living things as their body heat will slow it down as well. Once I had stabilised the ice, I started to play with the skill. ¡°What was that?¡± Goldie asked. She felt that, huh? ¡°I was playing with Yoboc¡¯s idea of the cold of space and made a skill to stabilise the ice.¡± ¡°Just like that? You made a skill?¡± ¡°Well, I have been working on it for the last week.¡± ¡°A week?¡± She sounded disbelieving. I shouldn¡¯t tell her about Cosmic Aura, then. ¡°What does it do?¡± ¡°It freezes things,¡± I said. She rolled her eyes but didn¡¯t ask any more questions. I found the Frigid Void hard to control. It was much easier to let it fill the Cosmic Aura and use that to control it. The smaller and more focused I made it, the quicker it froze something. Using Frigid Void outside the aura was possible, but the spiritual cost spiked. I think the cost of the skill was so high, both in and outside the aura, because it was so powerful. It would need more testing, but I saw a fish under the ice. I extended and shaped the aura around it. I had frozen it and encased it in ice before it could escape. The water was barely above freezing already, but that seemed powerful. Using it in the aura was cheaper, but not so cheap that I could keep it on all the time, like Spiritual Sensing. With the skill level, It would become cheaper to use and easier to regulate the power. Now, I basically had it on full or off, and there was no middle ground. That would change at the apprentice level and be even more flexible at Journeyman.