Frostbound [LitRPG Apocalypse]-Chapter 221 - Humble

Chris

The ensuing battle with both Dungeons was rather fun and cathartic. The upgrade waves didn't carry the same feeling that the Dungeons did. Level 95 Bosses, whose bodies were a step above the rest that their level didn't indicate, with Tier 2 Laws were a tough nut to crack.

It wasn't as effortless as mowing through the previous Eighth Floor Bosses had been.

My new stats alone made those nearly a breeze.

The monster itself was always different along with the elemental Law they used, but it was always only Tier 1. On the off times it was something I had an advantage over, it was near effortless to dispatch them.

One poor Yeti-looking creature even tried to use an Ice Law against me one time.

I laughed in its face.

Of the Laws I'd battled against, Venom was my least favorite with Poison being a close second. Sorry, Mitchell.

The reason was because the effect lingered. It wasn't over when the thing was dead. It continued to churn away long after the offending monster was crushed to oblivion.

Other Laws were harder to face head-on, but none were as annoying as those because it would stay lingering even as I faced off against the next beast. Plus, all my Ice did was slow it and make it less effective. It didn't have a way to get rid of it.

Lightning wasn't fun either, as it could go through my Ice armor and shock my body with relative ease, but nothing in the Dungeon had a Tier 2 Law back then which made the shock easy enough to push through.

Light was another I was beginning to find annoying. It made me change my idea of perfection for my Ice.

Skills followed the will of their user, which meant my intent played a role in how they manifested. My idea for the perfect Ice used to be the perfect crystalline structure, clear as glass and as hard as steel.

Getting [Light Beams] shot straight through it with little more than token resistance made me change that ideal. Foggy and clouded Ice worked better, but Light found a way through that too.

Blood was another annoying one, but that came in a few different shades. One monster used its Blood Law to heal itself, sucking the blood leaking out of it back in and sealing the wound. Some tried to control mine as it leaked from wounds, but freezing it was enough to stop that from happening.

Watching blood re-enter a wound had been nasty to watch happen.

While there were Laws that countered mine, there were just as many I dominated.

Nature and Water specifically, as I could freeze both and turn them against the wielder. Nothing could touch my authority over Ice yet but Wind was still a struggle. It was almost fun to battle against the Dungeon monsters in that respect.

It did a lot for my control over the element. The fact my body was near imperviousness to the weak Winds gave me a little more leeway with those fights.

Fire was another that was fun.

It was immensely pleasing to see the monster's face when their beloved fire petered out and wouldn't ignite. Those fights usually ended with the beast frozen solid to make a point.

One that stood out from the rest, not because I countered it or was weak against it, but because we were evenly matched was Stone.

I could freeze Stone with [Permafrost] but that didn't give me enough leverage to compete for its control and only made the stone stronger. My Wind could wear down on it but not in any significant amount of time.

Those fights usually turned into a slugfest as their Stone constructs battled against my Ice ones. Theoretically, Stone was stronger than Ice, but I sure as shit didn't believe that and I liked proving it at every opportunity.

Metal was fun for the same reason, but I had an advantage over it that made it easier than Stone. When fighting against Metal Laws for an extended period of time, the Cold made them brittle and the fights didn't last much longer after it shattered. They weren't helpless, as they chipped away at my ice and could cut through it if I wasn't careful but given enough time, I would win.

While the fights were all well and fun, it was the rewards that truly ramped up. The first few floors gave out pittances compared to the Ninth floor.

The First gave out barely a single copper and the Second was hardly better.

It wasn't until passing the E-rank threshold on the Sixth Floor that the rewards matched expectations.

The Ninth was nearing the peak of E-rank and the rewards given matched. It gave nearly a silver just in coins, not even including the worth of the material.

The metal that one of the Dungeons gave was filled with mana which Vincent and I bought up all of it we could to work with.

High-quality materials were one of the only reasons I leveled my Profession so quickly. I didn't spend as much time on it as I should have. It paid to be rich... or get a portion of the material through taxes.

On average, from the texts Abigail had, it took anywhere from half a year to three years to make it through E-rank. 50 levels in both in 6 months sounded impossible, but those people probably didn't have to actively rebuild civilization at the same time.

I wondered how far ahead I'd be if fighting was all I did and only focused on advancing. It was an idle thought because it wasn't something I cared much for. It would take as long as it took. Rushing wasn't the point, building a firm base would take me much further.

D-rank would cause things to slow down. To get through all 100 levels of both Class and Profession would take anywhere from 5 to over 20 years. C-rank was even worse.

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D-rank was also where most people would start to fall off.

Souls could only go so far. Everyone had a different Soft Cap they would eventually hit. The weight/strength/robustness -however you wished to phrase it- of their soul could only hold so much essence.

Forcing more essence in wouldn't result in more levels.

The only way to go further would be to keep pushing and experience new things. Rote repetition wouldn't lead to Godhood after all. Some would last longer than others, though. I imagined everyone in harder tutorials and who had faced death more than others would make it higher than those who hadn't.

Once the limit was reached, it would turn into not only accumulating essence to level but strengthening the soul to be able to hold it. The speed everyone was rising through the levels now was lightning fast compared to the rest of the Universe.

Living through the end of the World had a way of doing that. Nothing gives experience like everything you know and have grown accustomed to getting turned on its head and everything under the Sun wanting to kill you.

That had a way of forcing people forward.

Those born after the Change would have it harder, as they didn't have the lovely experience of nearly dying countless times.

It made me wonder when my limit would come. Would I make it through D-rank? C-rank?

I did nearly die a lot and for some reason, I don't think the Demons will be the last time.

I was on my way back from the Dungeons when my train of thought was interrupted. A runner that Abigail had hired flagged me down.

"Sir, word from down South that the fighting is over and there are sealed letters for you to open." They said quickly and succinctly and barely caught themselves before bowing.

I trained them well. Quick, to the point with no fanfare.

That had nearly been an exercise in futility but I managed to get through to everyone eventually.

There would be no bowing in my City.

"Good, tell Abigail I'll be right there after I clean up."

The man nodded and ran off back toward the City. As much as I wanted to rush off with him to read what happened, I didn't think everyone would appreciate the smell of the blood and gore covering me.

One bad thing about the Dungeon monsters being real was their guts didn't disappear off you when you left.

Washing up was routine by this point and took little more than a few moments. Leaving my armor for later helped cut down on the time it took.

With the excuse of having to make another set, I held nothing back on its design. I wasn't quite at the point of being able to carve four Runes on it yet, but the three I did were all my best work.

Nearing Peak grade in Rune engraving.

Runes I used a lot, like Durability, Frost, and Protection gained enough practice to reach High grade in carving them long ago.

The push to keep getting better was a slow one, as most of the easy flaws and subtle flow issues had already been worked out, but I was slowly moving toward being perfect.

It was hard to go further as I didn't have the skills necessary to even see the flaws, let alone fix them. [Formations Mana Flows] was the only reason I had come so far in such a short time.

Along with the Runes being my best work, I used the best metal we had available coming out of the Dungeon. There was an endless buy order out on any Ice-aligned metals but those were a rarity and I didn't have enough to make a full set from it, but I did have enough to make just the breastplate.

Before the Demons, we didn't have enough people who could clear the entire Dungeon which meant getting metals from the Eighth Floor was rare. Now, though, a lot more were coming out after full clears which made all the Smiths happy.

Instead, I had to use Neutral metals or ones easily influenced to Ice and [Infuse] them with the affinity I wanted.

It worked well enough, even if it wasn't as good as being Ice-aligned to begin with.

Beggars couldn't be choosers.

The craftsmanship was much better than my last set and would hopefully last me a while. At least until enough Ice-aligned metal was built up so I could make a full set.

After taking off the armor, I picked out from my wardrobe what had grown on me immensely now that the weather called for it.

Furs.

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Whenever I'd seen them depicted in shows or films, they always looked too thick and heavy to be practical but that wasn't the case. After walking around in full plate, furs felt like they weighed nothing and the freedom of movement was astounding.

Plus, they were soft.

I wasn't like the others. I didn't have to wear anything for the cold but I liked to and the attire had quickly become my favorite. Sam and Ashley, while Healers most of the time, had done a fantastic job on my clothes.

They'd managed to save bits of the Wolf Leader I fought so long ago and it was its fur that lined the top of my cloak. Bits from other animals had to be used on my tunic and the rest of my clothes, but there was enough of the ferocious beast for the cloak.

The furs settled in nicely and I was off to find out what happened. Austin had been keeping us well apprised even before we sent more down there to him. His descriptions were usually filled with curses at the bugs but they were clear enough to get a good picture.

It made me want to go down there but I stopped myself from the urge. I didn't have the time.

"Finally! We were waiting for half an hour!" Abigail shouted when I finally entered the room. It was more crowded than expected, nearly everyone was there.

Had it taken that long?

"I'm here. I'm here." I said, "Where are the letters?"

A stack of neatly folded parchments was thrust into my hand as Abigail tapped her foot impatiently.

To add security to our messages, Gabriel and I had come up with an enchanted seal. It was quick work, as I had been in the middle of carving the Wards, but it was simple enough that I doubted people would be able to break it without time to research it.

The downside was I had to open them, as no one else could do it without the letter going up in flames. There were other inefficiencies to work out, as we had to send them with the enchanted paper so they could write their letter on it, but we would work out something better in time when things slowed down.

The seal didn't really do anything other than combust if someone who wasn't me opened it.

"This one's for Sam," I said after opening the first one, "It's from Alice."

"This one is for... Connor?" I looked closer to make sure I had it right. "It's from Mitchell."

I tried to picture why Mitchell would write to Connor but couldn't before I had to move on.

I opened and handed out all the ones that went to other people and was left with two that were addressed to me while Abigail had four. I eyed her stack, then looked at mine, then at hers again.

Aren't I supposed to be the Leader?

Of the two I had, one was from Austin and the other was from the other City Lord.

~~

Chris,

You would not believe the bullshit I just pulled. It was like I was impersonating you out there. I won't go into the details as I want it to be a surprise, but I will tell you that our next spar won't go as you imagine.

I may finally win.

The fight was difficult, but we pulled through in the end. Marcus led well and made everything all the easier. Maybe you could take notes?

I wanted to take back the treasure I found for you guys but that won't be possible. It's tied to this area and can't be moved or else I would have tried. Apparently, Abigail has already discussed terms for its use.

Not sure when she did that though.

This is usually the point where I'd wax on about my exploits but I thought I'd wait to do that in person. My armor is pretty much scraps at this point and while the Leatherworkers here are decent, I want the best.

Maybe I can ask a special someone to enchant it for me again?

To their credit, the Leatherworkers here don't have a lot of material to work with. The bugs eat anything that comes close and don't exactly leave the hides out for them to grab. None of their Dungeons reward it either! It's bad form to think that's funny, but I can't help it. This place hasn't exactly been the fun adventure I pictured.

Maybe tell Jonathan to bring Leather when he comes to trade?

See ya in a few months, Asshole.

Yours truly.

~~

Huh, not what I expected. I can't tell if he's gotten more or less humble.