Despite the monsters still coming strong from the other river, the air itself was silent. Even the Dungeon-made monsters stared openly at the frost, an innate fear seeming to come over them.

Alvar shuffled his large legs forward, wondering if he should take this chance. It was clear that they stood no chance in the later stages of the Dungeon with such a thing around. Space tensed around him as he prepared to warp forward and strike with his greatest spell. They needed the rewards at the end of this place.

How could they ever compete against such an impossible thing? Unless they took action when they had a chance. And ensured that his later spawning would be taken advantage of.

As if knowing his actions, the originally stiff Human slowly turned his head around, his eyes two twisting pools of darkness. Alvar felt himself rooted in place, even his Mana escaping him, pushed down by some unseen force that held his body, his magic, and his Soul in its grasp.

And just like the idea of attacking this monster, the force vanished with it.

The Giant blinked his single eye, trying to get the sweat out of it, as he turned back around. It seemed they were not fated to conquer this Dungeon. Now that he truly thought of it, assuming that the creature capable of such magic was exhausted was quite foolhardy. He had been an adult for many ages; did his fear of the violet frost make him a child once more?

Rainer breathed slowly in and out, controlling himself as his Soul healed. The pain of it was still fresh but so was the power he felt. Using what he learned from [Absolute Frost], he had applied [Soul Presence] to [Void Manipulation] as well. With the added affects, he could do like Francis had once done to him, pressuring not only that Giant’s body but his Mana pool as well. The strengthening, however, wasn’t anything like with [Absolute Frost] which seemed to naturally accept his Soul.

In fact, he was quite sure that if the first attempt had been strengthening anything other than [Absolute Frost], he might have assumed it was impossible and didn’t work that way. In that, he was quite lucky.

He also felt that with [Soul Presence] as the medium, the enhancement was not all it could be. Only when he could truly wield his Soul to influence his Manipulation directly did Rainer think he would either reach level 10 or achieve a new skill all together.

He put his attention back to controlling and enhancing the frost further. Despite the stunned silence of his grandfather, the old man still pushed more Arcane into the air for his use.

Talvara quickly entered Aurora’s body and had her exit the newly granted skill of Rainer. She appeared behind his back, noting the air seemed temperate in the sort of no-man’s land between fire and ice.

She had watched the encounter from the Void, as she often did - there was little else for her to truly do. While peeking into a Dungeon was a difficult feat, it wasn’t as if she was doing the impossible and watching a Trial.

Rainer’s casting of the spell had sent a chill through her body. And the way he stood tall despite taking egregious damage to his Soul was hard to miss. She knew full well how painful anything affecting the Soul could be. But he likely didn't even note it.

She had seen the spell once before, during the event that made her current vessel a Defier, but it was nothing like this. And she had felt too, his Soul touching upon the spell. Just like anyone else, her manipulation of the Void was stuck at level 9. Hers may have some ungodly repeating .9 at the end of it but was nonetheless below 10.

And yet for the first time she witnessed a way forward. Could she use her Soul in such a manner? She had always viewed her luck as terrible, but she wondered if an Aspect of Fortune shone down on her when she decided to befriend rather than try and kill the person who had caused her so much damage and pain.

And just what was the limit of Rainer’s power? Unlike many of the audience, she knew that this was a spell of his own creation. More so that it was imperfect and far from its full strength. How scared would these tiny things be if they knew the truth?

In fact, the two most impressive powers of this young man were of his own creation. One may be by accident, and the other may be a build off previous masters, but it was nonetheless something that belonged solely to him. Three, she supposed, when counting the [Blade of the Void]. How it both irked and confusingly pleased her for him to have a skill of the Void that was stronger than anything she could manage in Aurora’s body. And she couldn’t even copy the skill given that it was partially a spell based off of [Arcane Blade].

Unknowingly she licked her lips as she glanced at Rainer, still focused on the spell, before turning back to the stunned audience, Dungeon monsters included.

Her eyes a swirling Void, she glanced across the crowd, sending a threatening feeling into each of their minds.

The moment of shock and awe seemed to break as the monsters and Dungeon goers returned to fighting one another. From a distance this wave’s final monster rose slowly from the lava. It took only a glance from Talvara to realize that this one’s Soul was touched and it would be far stronger than the ones before it.

It turned into a ball of fire and dripping lava as the massive hound flew forward, correctly determining the biggest threat to its existence.

The Void Will in Aurora’s body quickly depleted as Talvara used a combination of [Void Manipulation], [Void Mastery], and [Void Call]. She carefully suppressed the skill to avoid the feeling of dread any would feel before such a skill struck them. In a single flash of blackened void, the massive ball of fire vanished in a single [Void Call]. The entirety of it was caught within. An Undead leaped into the air soon after, grabbing at the beast’s Soul. A fine idea.

She turned back to the yet again staring audience. She doubted they’d have thoughts on attacking Rainer any time soon.

[Wave 46]

[48:23]

[Parties Remaining: 76]

The Flame-touched boss hounds had done some serious damage. But with everyone focusing on one side, and Talvara eliminating yet another one, they were distracted. And with some more Mana potions and time to recover, it wasn’t long before Rainer managed to repeat his feat. With a Talvara-possessed Aurora guarding him towards the end of the spell, it had been easy enough.

Now he sat in between two lands of frost, carefully augmenting and controlling each. The core of life constantly grew stronger in it’s fighting back but with his grandfather’s additional Arcane in the air to draw from, he suppressed it. The frost grew only stronger with time. It seemed with every touch with his Soul, he himself grew better at controlling it.

With a small empty space in the middle of the land of frost, the two spells combined.

“Luna, watch out!” Rainer playfully called out as he manipulated the frost into a small hound. The Fairy, who had been using Spirit spells to make and play with snow, quickly flew behind Kara. The Wolfkin sent a glare Rainer’s way as she punted the small ice creation straight towards him.

He casually dissipated it before it hit him.

“Only Kara is nice to Luna,” the small Fairy complained, shrinking and sitting beside one of Kara’s ears.

The little show hadn’t gone unnoticed. Rainer glanced at the the three parties standing across from his own. Fai’Etah’s were on his side whereas the relationship with the others seemed like just a moment from coming to blows. A feeling where they had to strike first lest they be next.

Seeing his casual display had only made them that much more afraid of him. Was the entire field of violet ice only a moment’s thought from consuming them?

Apart from Fai’Etah’s group, the rest tightened their grip on their weapons, and despite the now temperate environment, sweat could be seen on several of their brows.

Rainer just smiled at them and returned to reinforcing his ice. He saw little reason to get rid of them. That they were so scared of him would only be useful in later rounds.

“So. How are you going to pay me to remain here,” he grinned and asked a few minutes later as he saw them tense even further, looking at the surrounding frost as if it were a wild beast.

“What did those leafed ones pay you?” the Spatially-inclined Giant asked. The same one who nearly attacked him earlier.

“A mark of the Soul. So that I might visit their planet in the future.”

While the group of Elves and Humans thought it over, the Giants had one of their own step forward immediately.

Rainer smiled and quickly used [Soul Presence] to put a [Soul Mark] on the unresisting Giant’s Soul. He wasn’t sure why they were so okay with him visiting their world, but he accepted it nonetheless.

A female Elf stepped forward soon after a whispered argument in their group. He repeated the action.

“Remain as you please,” Rainer said, waving his hand and clearing up more unfrosted ground for them to stay at. With the heat and frost both held back, the space was quite comfortable.

Time passed and it wasn’t many more waves until only 50 parties remained. The cores stopped thrumming and the wave timer for number 51 stopped at 2:33. Rainer guessed the wave 50 bosses might have reached the beginning of 3rd tier in terms of strength. Combined with the nearly immortal bosses from the previous waves, most groups would simply be overwhelmed.

[The Test of Fire has been completed. Rewards shall be given in Rest Area.]

[Compete for further rewards Y/N?]

[Assuming lives are remaining, the first death will send you to the Rest Area. Should your Party not be the last one remaining, rewards for this stage will be forfeited.]

Rainer stared at the messages. His party had already since exited his [Living Storage]. It seemed having so many people taxed the [Living Storage] similar to a Soul. He could bolster and ‘heal’ it with his own Soul, but on top of strengthening the frost, it had been too much.

He glanced at his other party members and the answer seemed obvious. The other parties in the area said their goodbyes and left for the rest area. Mentally selecting yes, another wave appeared in front of him.

[Wave 52]

[60:00]

[Parties Remaining: 7]

The cores covered in frost thrummed with power anew, and Rainer nearly exhausted his Soul and his current Arcane Power to push into the frost once more.

He let out a nervous laugh as he sat back down. It seemed he couldn’t lose focus for even a moment.

Kaltek The Imperishable slammed into the ground as several massive flame-covered hounds bit and burned his body.

He ignored it as always, sinking into a meditative state. The rest of his party had long since fallen and headed to the rest area. They were depending on him in the first place to keep surviving. Feeling a little more burnt than expected, a golden Aura covered his body as he dashed away, taking careful steps to make sure he didn’t go too far and trigger the Dungeon’s attack.

He frowned at the chasing balls of fire. The wave 58 boss was stronger than expected. He had once wiped out an enemy army protected by a 3rd Tier. The warrior could do nothing to hurt him as Kaltek systematically wiped out everyone else. Yet this monster had hurt him.

The tall Human rubbed his bald head, wondering if he should bother regrowing his hair.

He glanced once more at the wave timer.

[Wave 59]

[34:21]

[Parties Remaining: 2]

How were they surviving? Did they have someone like him? Or were they somehow able to kill these boss hounds? Ever since wave 40, even his party had little choice but to let him distract the final hounds.

Was it a Flame-Touched? Or a strange race at home in such heat and fire? He could see one of those Magi who sacrificed their chances at the 3rd Tier Trial surviving such a thing. If that was the case, Kaltek felt regret about losing this stage’s reward, but then he had little worry about the later stages. He should have considered a Flame-Touched to be among the Dungeon goers. It was silly of him to try and win this stage completely.

But if they were truly winning through power...

He sighed once more in regret, knowing that the next boss or perhaps a few after that would be his end. Either way, he would survive for as long as he could.