âTroglodytes?â Caleb asked Bog, who was occupying himself licking his wounds.
Caleb reviewed his improved skills as they left the area, skirting the outside of the forest to avoid an ambush. His failed attempts to use Power Attack in battle seemed to have yielded no results, but he was glad to see Vortex leveling up. The mana-fueled skill was enhanced by its own skill level, his willpower and his Wind Affinity.
He wasnât sure if that affinity could progress beyond Major, but heâd been disappointed to see the skill hadnât scaled with his Mana Manipulation. It seemed that mana-using skills, once learned, became divorced from the skill of manual manipulation. When he used Wind Affinity, it was almost effortless, but he could force the skill beyond its limits if he used his Mana Manipulation. He suspected that outside of using it to kill creatures, forcing its limits would be how he leveled it, meaning his Mana Manipulation would still be beneficial.
His hammer too had been more effective as a weapon than heâd expected. As a smith, he knew it was important to use the right tool for the job, and blunt weapons were the right tool against plate. What he hadnât expected was for the ice to crack under his blow. The Power Attack of his spear ought to have been enough to crack the armor if his normal attack with the hammer had done so.
It must be the cold aspect, he realized.
The tools in the forge had all been either earth- or metal-aspected, depending on their purpose. That must have a greater effect than Caleb had suspected. Thinking of it made him eager to return to the forge and try out the metal-aspected hammer heâd seen there while forging.
This all went through Calebâs mind as he guided Bog around the frozen forest searching for a way out.
Bogâs nose caught signs of the attack an instant before it came. The dragon took a sniff of the air, and sent surprise through their bond just in time for Caleb to dive down into the water behind him.
The near-freezing water shocked Caleb more than any blow heâd received in the last battle, and he had to fight the urge to exhale all his breath.
The water between Bog and the forest froze in an instant, turning into spears that shot at the pair. Those aimed for Caleb found nothing, and those shooting for Bog crashed into his side, shoving him closer to Caleb.
The spikes shattered on impacting that iron hide, but still Caleb sensed Bogâs pain through their bond. Underwater, Calebâs wind sense was completely cut off from him, and even though heâd only had the ability for a day, he felt suddenly claustrophobic in a way that made the terror of his initial foray into the cavern seem childish.
He jumped up from the water, reveling in the return of his magical sense, and relative relief from the chill. A dozen meters away stood two more frost troglodytes, these wearing snow-white cloth instead of the ice armor of the others. They held their hands out before them, and mana surged from them into the water.
Caleb didnât want to see what magic these two were working and cast Vortex at full power, focusing on the skill to empower it beyond anything heâd done before. The air around him exploded into motion for an instant, taking half of his remaining mana with it. The blast lasted only a second before Caleb lost his mental grip on the skill, but that was enough. The two foes were thrown backward into the water, their spell disrupted. Bog ran after the pair, and Caleb followed.
The dragon leaped onto his target just as it breached the surface, lifted by a pillar of ice forming behind it. Bog crashed on the ice man, crushing it against the icy pillar of its own creation.
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Caleb took advantage of the fact these two were unarmored, and threw his spear at the second foe, striking it in the chest with an Imperium-enhanced throw. The spear pierced clean through the chest, pinning the creature to its own pillar.
âWe need to get out of here,â Caleb said to Bog as he tried and failed to pry his spear from the dead troglodyte, but the ice held it too tightly.
Bog spat a glob of molten iron at the pillar, causing the ice to explode on contact and freeing the spear.
Caleb sent gratitude through the bond even as he moved on.
They continued out along the perimeter until suddenly the cavern face theyâd been following ended. Here Caleb learned what kept the water level at its constant depth of twenty or so centimeters. The water poured continually over the edge into a void of utter darkness.
âI donât think this is a way out,â Caleb said, getting agreement from Bog.
He reached out with his wind sense and felt the wind being pulled down into the depths by the falling water. The drop continued beyond his ability to detectâwell beyond his ability to survive a drop.
Caleb turned around to the forest, looking for any signs of egress. From this vantage point, further away from the forestâs edge, he saw a large central pillar, thicker by far than all the rest, extending up into the darkness. As he squinted with his essence-enhanced vision, he thought he could make out an irregular pattern to the pillar making it different from the smooth, subtly tapered pillars that made up the forest.
âI think that big one is a stairway,â Caleb said to Bog.
The dragon sent the mental equivalent of a shrug, and stood looking at him for direction.
âLetâs go there,â Caleb decided.
A quick look at his mana showed him that he was below 100, but the ambient mana in the area had gone from average to high and he was regaining 3.82 per minute.
Caleb took a bite of a mushroom and watched as the rate of mana regeneration increased. The effect was short-lived, but he kept chewing on the mild-tasting fungi as he guided Bog into the forest of ice.
It only took a moment for Caleb to realize he had a problem. He was going to freeze to death.
âIâm t-t-t-too c-c-cold,â he chattered to Bog.
The dragon looked at him with concern and then stopped, concentrating for a moment. It started out as a faint hint of color, but soon the gaps between the scales on Bog began to glow red, and with that glow came radiated heat.
Caleb stepped towards the dragon and had to stop himself from hugging himânot because he thought it would be odd but because he was certain he would burn himself if he touched him.
Bog made a grunt and gestured to the forest. Caleb followed his gesture and saw that deeper within, the water ended and a floor of ice began, made up of the conjoined bases of the pillars. Steam boiled up from the water around Bog as he made his way to the dry land. As soon as his glowing claw touched ice, it rapidly melted and his claw sank in. Caleb noticed, however, that the ice didnât explode, showing that the dragon was far cooler than his molten spit.
Concentrating once more, Bog dimmed the glow around his claws, and the rate at which he melted the ice slowed. Caleb felt a noticeable lessening in the warmth radiating off of his partner, but it was still sufficient to keep him from freezing to death.
Together they fumbled through the forest, Bogâs claws and weight digging into the ice and countering the melting effect he was still having despite cooling his feet. They encountered two more pairs of troglodytes as they traversed the ice. From the demeanor of each, Caleb suspected the alarm had been raised and whatever constituted the community of troglodytes was aware of the interloperâs presence.
The first pair ran right into Caleb and Bog, and Bog took one of the ice-armored variants out before the troglodytes realized who they were, with Caleb skewering the unarmored, magic-focused companion. They got the drop on the second pair. Caleb and Bog had been hiding, resting in a cavern formed of ice flows as they waited for Calebâs clothing to dry. The pair walked past their hiding place and were taken out with a well-timed spear throw and a glob of molten metal to the head.
By then, Bog was running low on his internal metal stores, and to Calebâs disgust, the dragon ate the cooling metal off of the corpse of the troglodyte. With each kill Caleb watched his notifications, disappointed that no skills progressed. He felt the energy inside of himself after each encounter, but it built up without purpose.
Once Calebâs clothes were dry, they made their way to the central stair, moving slow and paying attention to the wind to avoid any further encounters. After dodging two more patrols, Bogâs nose shot up into the air, and sniffed once before he spun around in a direction perpendicular to their target.
âNoâ¦â Caleb said, but it was too late.
Bog had scented a rare metal, and nothing Caleb could do would stop him.