Frostbound [LitRPG Apocalypse]-Chapter 230 - Past Experiences

Chris

I'd read Abigail's precious books enough to know the difference between one grade to the next was more than the percentages signified. A Perfect Ignition was so much more than a few percentage points than a Full Ignition.

A Mana Heart was more than only a mana pool. It linked the physical aspects of my body to my magical aspects. A melding of both flesh and blood along with arcane. The percentages only referred to one side, while there were benefits for both that the grades didn't explicitly come out and mention, leaving percentages the main way to break them apart.

Mana Cores weren't like that. They were rather simple in their execution. Their grade was solely based on how well the Core was forged. That was only a start of the two techniques differences.

If Body Refining could be considered the Pure Physical side of the Body Path, Mana Cores could be considered the Pure Magical side.

Forging a Core would forever keep the two separate.

Igniting a Mana Heart would start the process of linking the two.

One book even stated that Mana Cultivation and Body Refining didn't use to be separate. That once, long ago, they were one and the same. It was why they were both considered part of the Body now even though for most, they were entirely separate.

If Capacity, Concentration, and Regeneration were the absolute goal, Mana Cores were hands down the best. They were those three ideals taken to the extreme at the expense of everything else and failed to offer any other benefits.

Cores did those three things the best, but only those three things.

Mana Hearts, while also increasing Capacity, Concentration, and Regeneration, did more than just that. Where they fell behind in that area compared to Cores, they provided other benefits that made it more than a worthy trade-off.

It was the Path a Warrior usually took while Cores were the Path of the Mage.

Mana Hearts got their name from what the process entailed. To form one, or ignite one as the process described, the mana pool was both moved and transformed. It took the mana pool from just above the sternum and placed it inside the heart.

Which was the reason why the worst-case scenario was death. A failed ignition could rupture the heart.

Doing so also removed the need for separate mana channels as moving mana throughout the body was done naturally through blood flow.

After forming a Mana Heart, the second step was to merge the leftover mana channels into the circulatory system, strengthening them and making the entire system more robust. Not doing so would cause undue stress on arteries and veins that they weren't designed to handle.

Linking the physical with the magical would empower both to a certain degree depending on which foot led. If the Body was significantly physically stronger, the arcane side would gain more of a benefit. The reverse would happen if the opposite was true.

Seeing how my Body Refining was a step ahead of my Mana Cultivation, and my Strength, Fortitude, and Endurance towered over my Wisdom and Intelligence, the outcome was obvious.

The scales being so lopsided as they were was common in Warriors and why this path of Mana Cultivation was dubbed so, but it didn't mean that all of the benefits were magical.

The link also worked in reverse to a lesser degree. Where Hearts lost out to Cores in one regard, they made up for it here. Having mana, along with blood, coursing through the body empowered what was already there.

Not only did the blood carry oxygen to muscles, it also carried an alternative fuel source in mana boosting the flesh past what it could once handle.

While it made the Body stronger, there were trade-offs other than being less effective than Cores.

The lack of dedicated mana channels made advanced spells harder to form and activate, but I had none of those. The only people I knew with 'advanced spells' were Rachel and Gabriel.

I hadn't even known what they were at first and it wasn't until Gabriel described them to me that I realized I didn't have any. He said it had something to do with the spell matrix but without an example, it was hard to understand.

If I did get any in the future I wasn't that worried about it. Harder did not mean impossible.

Overall, the trade-off was worth it.

Mana Hearts made the body stronger and all-around more enduring, which was exactly the kind of thing I needed, while also raising my magical abilities. It made spells harder, but I wasn't going to be doing those anyway.

It only took a brief thought to dismiss forming a Core when the choice was originally proposed. Not least of which because my technique didn't allow for that. The Stars of Primordial Frost didn't even have forging a Core as an option, not that I wanted to anyway.

Calm down, Christopher.

I was getting ahead of myself again. Waiting for the mana to peak allowed time for my mind to stray and it was starting to spiral. I didn't need to rethink my decision to form a Heart over a Core. The choice was obvious and I didn't need to rehash it.

The Gathering Formation reached its cap of pulling in more mana and the density inside my Dome peaked.

It's time.

I was unsure exactly what day it was, as they blended together with so little sunlight to go off of, but it was the day I would ignite my Heart.

Darkness was all that my eyes could see and other than the well of mana to my senses, there was nothing else I focused on.

Taking a few deep breaths to center myself, I began.

Time had already lost meaning when the sun stopped coming up and darkness reigned endlessly, but even if I wanted to keep track of it now, I would be unable to. My undivided attention was focused on the process as I wouldn't allow any slip-ups.

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My full pool of mana was drawn out as I sent it looping through my flesh. I had plenty of practice feeling it with [Jotun's Resistance] that doing it manually only took a few attempts.

It was hard to expend and control my entire mana pool, but I eventually got the hang of it. While I drew it out, I sent what regenerated into my heart.

The process hurt, both my mind controlling so much mana at once, and my heart as the Arctic mana freeze burned the beating organ, but I pushed through. My modified heart reduced the pain but it was still there.

The first step was to move my mana pool and that required time and dedication.

Changing the point where the mana I generated originated from, however small, was painstakingly hard. It kept wanting to snap back to where it used to be and it took my entire control to keep that from happening.

It was not without failure.

The small specks of mana took a firm hand to keep in place and did everything in their power to snap back to where they used to be. Like grains of sand slipping from my hand, the mana squeezed past my mental grasp dragging all I worked for down with them.

All progress I had made in moving my mana pool over was lost and the pain started anew as I started over after the failure.

If I didn't have experience holding so much mana together while engraving, it would have been that much harder. Repeated failure would make it take longer and a lot more painful, but what was a little pain? I wanted this to be flawless.

A day passed. Or maybe it was two.

I wasn't sure and didn't care. My heart burned from the freezing cold and tears welled up and froze around my eyes.

The small trickle of regeneration took hours to fill up in its new place inside my heart and even though it was the only mana I had to control, it still slipped and raged to go back. Every failure extended the suffering.

It was like trying to hold a tiny magnet away from its opposite and with every passing second, another set needed to be kept separate.

Even worse, it gelled like liquid, sneaking past the firm hold I tried to have.

Soon, but not soon enough, my mana's need to go back diminished ever so slightly. My heart and body grew... not accustomed, but tolerant to what I was trying to accomplish and the changes began to settle.

It didn't make it any less difficult though. Just because the force was lessened didn't mean it went away. All I had to do was hold everything in place.

Hold!

Any speck of mana that tried to escape was ruthlessly grasped and sent back to where it was supposed to be. My mind was on fire from the exercise and that said nothing of the continuous pain it caused.

It reminded me of being torn apart in the Wind Chamber for days on end.

The pain made time seem fleeting and my brain delirious.

The process became incrementally easier as things settled into place but after clamping down on it for so long it ended up being harder. My mind was worn out. My body was worn out.

And this was only the first step.

It would only end when the ignition was over.

Eventually, after an unknowable amount of time, everything stopped.

My mana stopped attempting to leave my heart and all of it settled into its new home. The pain remained, as Arctic mana was still saturating the organ, but my mind could rest.

Not completely, if I lost control things would snap back, but the effort to keep things how they were was minuscule compared to what it used to be.

The only thing that could force the change to be permanent was to finish the process.

I kept a vigilant watch over everything while allowing my brain to rest as best I could. Sleeping would let me recover completely but that would also make everything fall apart.

The next step was make or break time and I wanted to be at my best.

As ready as I could be, I began again.

Ignition required a critical mass to occur. The mana held inside the organ had to go far above and beyond what my pool normally held to kick-start the process. Once critical mass was reached, the ignition process was mostly natural.

Stuffing so much mana over my normal capacity into a space that couldn't accommodate it was not.

Pain seared my chest as mana escaped the space I was stuffing it into. It shot out as the pressure built, sending waves of pain behind in the trail of what escaped.

I needed to reach a point that was triple my normal capacity. Only then could I begin the process the technique described.

Which felt impossible.

The booklet described the more mana at the point of ignition the better odds of achieving perfection. The steps detailed didn't even allow for anything less, as it would fail.

It was Full or Perfect Ignition, or bust. There wasn't even an option for anything less.

If I'd known how hard the technique would be, I would've chosen something else.

That's a lie and you know it. I wouldn't have.

Still, not even having the option to choose an easier technique annoyed me, not that I would have. That's what I get for letting the guide decide on which technique was best.

The Formations pumped a continuous stream of mana inside the dome and made it that much easier to stuff more inside me. The mana I used and stuffed down was endlessly replaced with new mana to work with. Without them, it would fall on me to gather the surrounding mana instead of the Formation.

If I were like Rachel, with the manipulation skills to drag in mana from leagues around, the Formations would be pointless but I couldn't do what she could. It also made it so I had one less thing to worry about.

All I had to do was reach beyond my body and yank the readily available mana into me.

Stuff it down.

And keep it there.

Mana that escaped left a line of frost that burned through my body but I couldn't falter due to pain.

It had been a long time since I faltered because of pain.

My mind replayed every time that fate tried to get me to falter and I stood tall in defiance. I weathered their challenge and I was the one to remain standing.

It was my Anchor. It was who I was.

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I was someone who had stood at the forefront of an avalanche of beasts that would try to get past and I denied them. It was me that stood strong and this was just another trial.

One that I would dominate.

Pain was forgotten and I channeled everything I had into stuffing the mana down.

Compressing what was already there to give room for more.

Just how my Law was first formed. I needed Ice that was denser. Stronger. And the same applied now.

It felt like everything I had was coming together to help me now. How I first gained my Law, my Anchor, my experiences. All played in my head leaving behind the lessons I learned, and the skills I gained.

Colder.

Denser.

Stout and Enduring.

Unconsciously, my Spirit rose to the challenge and its energy cascaded throughout my body. My heart included.

What felt like would be the maximum my heart could go moved even further. My Spirit extending what it could take that much further.

The bar moved, and I continued sucking in mana.

It was the process of making my Hammer in reverse. Instead of having everything I had drained, I filled everything I could in. Yet another experience to draw on.

I burned my Bloodline next. The newly strengthened and purified energy provided a rush of Vitality through my Heart and pushed things further.

With the bar raised again, I kept going.

The total mana pushed well passed double my capacity. Blew beyond triple. Even quadruple.

When I could go no further, five times as much mana as I usually held was stuffed inside my heart, roaring to get out or be let go. The only thing keeping it from igniting was my willpower keeping it so.

The mana was mine and it would not ignite until I told it to.

With my body filled to bursting, and my heart metaphorically tearing at the seams, I willed it to ignite.

Without my will keeping it from doing so, and long ago reaching critical mass, the Arctic mana exploded out, furiously raging through my body.

It raced down my arteries and veins, bursting out my capillaries and into flesh. Every blood vessel no matter how big or small was scoured by the gushing mana. This was what would determine how well I did.

The mana that stayed behind and began the process scoured its new container of my heart and began converting my mana pool into something more.

Without the need to guide the raging mana any longer, I began inscribing my Heart in frozen Runes as my technique described. I didn't know what they did nor what they meant. They weren't even in the Runic Language I knew, but I'd drawn them so many times I could do it even with my mind feeling like mush.

Inscribing them felt like I was taking a hot knife straight to my insides but I pushed through the pain like I had countless times before.