The area around Mount Frost Peak was extremely busy. Players had been setting up shops, mining Frost Iron Ore, and killing the mobs that surrounded the mountain. The cave system located within the mountain was currently being explored, with many players getting lost or accidentally backtracking. A group of players had just walked into a huge cavern that looked to have a wooden wall erected with a few buildings next to it. The players were confused about why such random building were placed within the mountain. They decided to check it out and walked towards the area, heading for the building closest to them. As they walked in they were greeted with the sight of many tables set up to look like a restaurant. The tables were all empty and there was a lady wiping off a counter with many stools placed next to it. She looked slim and gentle but the look in her eyes screamed danger.

“Greeting adventurers, is there anything I can help you with today?”

“What exactly is this place?”

“This is my inn of course.”

“No, I meant what the area around here. Is it some sort of town?”

“Oh, this is a property owned by Lord Ethereal, The Honored and under the protection of ‘Phoenix Rising’.”

“Th-thank you for the information.”

The group was surprised to be the first people to find his territory. Sure it was a little shabby but it was the only territory owned by someone other than the game's factions. The group said farewell to the shopkeeper and decided to explore a little more. They stopped by the blacksmith and was happy to see that they could repair their weapons here, since they had lost durability since they left from Var. The blacksmith was located directly across from the inn and had a burly man that was hammering different weapons and armors. Near the giant wooden wall was a small shop that had many goods for sale, with a kind looking old man standing behind the counter. The group decided to go ahead and restock on supplies while they were here and bought things like health potions and repair hammers. The only thing left was the wooden wall that had a large gate that was opened slightly. The group went to walk through it and was stopped with a confirmation message of whether or not to pay 1 silver to pass. The group was a little upset because of the fee, although it was not a lot of money to them. They decided to go ahead and give it a shot since they were the first ones there. Right as they stepped through the gate they saw a huge cavern that spanned across the entire cavern. Enemies that had a black and purple miasma coming from them could be seen scattered across the entire area. The team started to head down the narrow path that jutted out from the side of the chasm.

The team fought the first enemy and was pleased with the amount of EXP they had been given. Just that alone was enough to make the fee worth it. They started to explore every nook and cranny of the chasm, finding Frost Iron Ore spawns, wildly growing plants, and more and more enemies that gave a lot of EXP. The team finally came up to a cave that had a pool of water that was cold to the touch, located right next to a wall with a simple door reading ‘Frost Peak Springs’. The team entered the door, paying the 1 silver fee. A giant pool of shallow water that was emitting steam was located directly in front of them. Stone benches could be seen at various locations, submerged in the warm water. Another area had what looked to be waterfalls that someone could stand under, with the extra water draining back into the main body of water. There was even an area that had a large stack of clean, white towels that people could take from. The team decided to relax for a while since they already payed the fee, one even started to compile a video of the area so he could post it on the forums. It didn't take long for a swarm of players to start trying to make their way towards the outpost. Some players even started a business of guiding players through the maze like cave to reach the outpost. Thousands of players could be seen coming and going through the caves, reaching the outpost and happily paying the 1 silver fee to go through the gate and enter the hot springs.

…..

Sora and his group had been traveling through the dark tunnels in the dungeon, using only the sound of Sora’s footsteps to keep track of their direction. After a while the team came up to another exit that was much more well lit than the other rooms they had seen. The team finally made it through the tunnels and were now positioned right outside the boss room. The next cavern was filled with ice, creating a world that glittered beautifully as the nearby torches cast their light onto the crystal looking substance. The only parts of the cavern that wasn’t covered in ice were located near the torches and most of the floor. In the center was a large chunk of ice that towered over everyone in the party. Sora had to get a little more serious on this fight, since the mechanics were a little tricky if the party couldn’t follow directions. He decided to go in blind and see how the party adapts, since he can’t really start giving out strategies that countered the boss perfectly.

“We will just adapt as we go, all we can assume right now is that the boss is ice based. If that is the case then the only areas that seem to show some significance is the areas near the torches that don’t have any ice nearby. If things get out of control we can try to use those areas to our advantage. Use the basics until we need to switch up our strategy.”

The group didn’t have any complaints, that’s all that could really be done before fighting the boss for the first time. Nobunaga didn’t think about the torches much until Sora pointed them out. Once he had it pointed out he was able to see that the area around the torches did seem a bit off. Almost like the ice had touched every part of the ground except those specific spots. LeeLee had noticed the areas but couldn’t put any clues together as what they might be, her guess was as good as what Sora’s explanation was. The group readied themselves in the basic formation with Sora leading the charge.

Level 43 -Iglis, The Glacial-

The large chunk of ice shook slightly as the ice attached to the ground broke apart, letting a golem made of ice rise up and let out a deep roar. The temperature of the air seemed to drop and bits of ice shattered and fell due to the roar that the boss let out.

Sora was a little worried about the boss since it had an AOE attack that could possibly seal the fate of anyone caught within it. He also had another skill that was randomly used, along with basic attacks that were extremely hard to parry. Sora could only try his best to keep aggro and hopefully be able to kill the boss before any mistakes can occur. He started using [Slash] as it came off cooldown, since he didn’t really have any other reliable means of damage.

The boss required more attention than usual since his attacks were so hard to parry, meaning the only option left was to dodge. He would let the attacks hit him for the most part, since he now had a healer, but sometimes he needed to dodge to help ease the stress put on her. This slowed down the team's damage since he was having difficulties keeping his aggro meter higher than everyone else. As Sora was fretting over his damage and lack of skills, the boss seemed to inhale a large breathe. Sora quickly checked behind him, where Athenes was positioned, before vaulting off to the side. The boss let out a large breathe as icicles and a biting wind assaulted him, just barely brushing by the side of Athenes. Sora had frost resistance from his Band of Ice, so his main concern was keeping the AOE from hitting Athenes. Now that everyone had seen the attack, they started to position themselves at different angles, making sure to help reduce the amount of people hit by an AOE.

The fight progressed somewhat smoothly since everyone knew not to stand around Sora when the boss started his AOE attack. Sora was able to get into a nice rhythm, increasing his damage and aggro values enough for the rest of the team to start dealing even more damage. The boss was almost at 75%, making Sora a little nervous since he knew what was coming. He could only hope that his team responds well or else they could possibly have a party wipe.

The boss dropped to 75% and let out another large roar, creating a shockwave that made hanging icicles fall all around the battlefield. Ice could be seen slowly creeping from under the boss, spreading outwards. Sora started running and looked back to start shouting instruction, but he was stopped his voice when he saw that each person had already started running towards the torches around the room. Everyone was able to make it to a torch area before the creeping ice had made it to them. Once the ice got to the area around the torch, it stopped spreading before slowly retreating back towards the boss. The icicles continued to fall rapidly, covering every inch of the cavern. If anybody had been caught in the ice, they would have been bombarded by the falling icicles and probably killed.

The team didn’t dare to move from the safety of the torches until the last icicle fell. They all ran back towards the boss and started to attack with the same strategy. Sora slightly lost his rhythm but quickly regained it as he started to tank the boss. LeeLee had been the one to signal for Blossom to run earlier when the ice started to spread, while Nobunaga had signaled for Athenes to run. LeeLee had sacrificed some of her focus to make sure Blossom wouldn’t die, she felt it was a good sacrifice since Blossom did more damage than her and wasn’t very good with noticing her surroundings. Nobunaga had always been protective of his little sister, leading him to also divert a bit of attention so he would be able to help her. This helped Athenes focus on healing Sora, meaning he had more moments where he could take a hit and gain more aggro. Each person had a strength and weakness that was compensated for by another person, making the team very efficient and adaptive.

Two more rounds of falling icicles came and went, forcing the damage of the party to slow down and the boss to remain with only 25% health. Sora couldn’t help but feel a little proud of his party. Even pros would sometimes slip up when first fighting a boss with these kind of mechanics. Everyone had each other's backs and gave the real feeling of a guild. The boss wasn’t really a threat anymore and ended up falling apart, sending chunks of ice sliding across the floor in every direction, and leaving a pile of loot.

The party all collectively let out a sigh of relief as Sora started looting. He could hear laughter coming from behind him as the rest of his party had started to thank each other for looking out for their backs. Nobunaga and Athenes were able to level up, giving Athenes the ability to equip the Silk Robe of Apprentice Sage she had gotten from the first boss. Sora, Blossom, and LeeLee all had a generous chunk of EXP added towards their next level.

[x1 Chain of Frost obtained]

Rarity - Rare

Durability - 45/45

Requires - Level 40

“The metal looks like it’s made from ice yet it feels extremely comfortable when worn. The intense cold it gives off helps fend off other forms of cold.”

+10 Spirit

+15% Frost Resistance

The necklace was the counterpart of the Chain of Embers that LeeLee was currently wearing, except it gave Spirit instead of Strength. Every person here would benefit from the necklace and rolled for it. The necklace went to Athenes, giving her some extra mana for healing which benefited the entire party.

[x1 Obsidian Bloodsteel Gauntlets obtained]

Rarity - Set Rare

Durability - 55/55

Defense - 10

+15 Strength

+15 Constitution

*Set Bonus*

2 / 5 = +20 Constitution

4 / 5 = +30 Strength

5 / 5 = Attacking converts 5% of damage dealt into a shield that caps at 10% of max HP

Another case where the party knew that Sora needed the gauntlets occurred, resulting in Blossom and Nobunaga passing and having them go directly to him. He could only thank them as the last set piece was equipped, giving him the passive shield generation. He took his old Hardened Darksteel Gauntlets and put them up as loot so that Blossom and Nobunaga could have something for their sacrifice. The gauntlets were enchanted so they actually gave better base defense than the Obsidian Bloodsteel Gauntlets. Nobunaga was able to secure them and equipped them while giving Blossom the same smug look that she had given him earlier, when she had won the Obsidian Bloodsteel Leggings. He quickly realised the face he had just made when his little sister started to chuckle at him.

“Hahaha, This is the first time I’ve seen big brother have such a look on his face.”

“...”

Sora picked up the last couple pieces of loot as Blossom started teasing Nobunaga, who looked irritated.

[x1 Obsidian Bloodsteel Leggings obtained]

It was another pair of leggings, this time Blossom and Sora both passed, letting Nobunaga secure another piece of gear. The last thing was a book that Sora had purposely left for the end.

[x1 Skill Book: Greater Healing]

-Use this item to gain the skill Greater Healing.

This skill was a very big boost to the survivability of a party. The skill book went straight to Athenes who gladly learned it. Sora divided up the coins that boss dropped and looked towards an area in the cavern where the ice had melted away, revealing the next passage.