The night was miserable and I didn’t catch a wink of sleep. Time passed slowly but eventually the darkness faded away. The hole to my little enclosure had shrank considerably and I struggled to get out.

At last, after a great deal of wriggling I burst from within like a butterfly from a cocoon. Brushing the snow from my clothing I rose to my feet. I had survived the night, but my hopes of things looking up in the light of day were dashed. This area wasn’t called the Frozen Wasteland for no reason. There was nothing – absolutely nothing – to see in any direction. Not even the sun was visible. Nor were there any soul signatures that I could detect.

All that was before my eyes was the falling snow, white streaks on a grey background that drowned out everything else. My only option was to pick a direction and continue moving. My first concern about leaving the forest had been that water would be hard and difficult to obtain: I had been wrong about that.

The snow around me could be melted, but my food supply would vanish soon. With no beasts to slay, I had no source of food. I couldn’t help but check my pack and look at my rations. At most I had food enough for three days.

Three days wouldn’t normally be that bad, except that I was lost and moving very slowly. Moving through this fresh powder was more arduous than jumping from tree to tree. My feet sunk deep with every step and it wasn’t easy to pull them out.

I walked for over thirty minutes before coming to a solution, albeit an uncomfortable one. Fastening branches to the bottom of my shoes kept me from sinking deep, but it made my movement awkward.

The temperature was much more manageable during the day, but still dangerously low. Keeping my feet above the snow helped tremendously, and feeling returned to my toes after my blood started to flow.

With nothing to do but walk, my mind began to turn to all that had happened since the apocalypse. I was in a stupor as I replayed my decisions over and over. Even those from before the event. Was there anything I would have changed? Hindsight was 20-20.

I regretted going to college and not finding something I loved to do. At least I would feel as if my life wasn’t wasted. Would I die here and accomplish nothing? Absolutely not!Words were cheap, though.

It was hard to gauge how long I had been walking for. The dense snow made it hard to see the rising sun. My stupor continued and I nearly didn’t recognize the glaring mountain in front of me. There was finally something; anything was better than trudging through the featureless snowfall.

This at least confirmed that I had gone the wrong direction. I could turn around now and begin making my way back within the three days of my food supply. Relief washed over me and I stood in place for a moment to collect my thoughts.

Just as I went to turn back, I felt a growing warmth on my body. I patted myself and found nothing, and then turned to my inventory. It was that peculiar stone I had received from a glass case at theKing Slithereen store room back in the Hidden Jungle.

The stone looked no different to always: smooth, amber colored and flecked with dark green, like marble. I grasped it in my hand tightly. The heat it was emitting felt heavenly, something delicious compared to this hellish wasteland I had been stuck in. Was it reacting to something? Was this entire situation irrelevant and some timer was at work, triggering the warmth of the stone? The only new feature that I was aware of was the mountain.

My eyes shifted away from the marble in my hand and towards the rising ground ahead of me. I felt no new longing, no desire. The dark outline ahead held no particular interest at all. I took a step forward, and then another.

Out of pure curiosity, I walked towards the mountain, concentrating on the stone. A mile or so would not cause me any problems in the grand scheme of things. I could afford to lose a bit of time in order to test whether something about this mountain was special.

At first it was unrecognizable, but the warmth the marble emitted grew in intensity. By moving in this direction I had triggered a reaction. I couldn’t help but think of Josh, the shop owner who had introduced me to enchanting. When I’d shown him this stone, he’d known absolutely nothing about its material. He had never even seen anything like it, despite working with rare stones daily. Whatever was causing the stone to warm up had to be special in some way.

Eventually, I reached the foot of the mountain and found a clear pathway leading onwards. It turned back and forth as it crisscrossed the face of the steep slope and with the snow having eased a little, I could see the path went up at least halfway. Convinced now that this was significant and worth my time, I put my head down and trudged upwards for several hours.

The path came to an end mid-way up the mountainside, where a gigantic cave opening presented itself to me.

I squeezed the mysterious rock in my fist as hard as I could and tried to force any reaction. Was this the place I needed to be? There was no response at all, but where else could I go? My eyes scanned the side of the mountain as far as I could see.

There was nothing but this opening in sight. I could either turn back here, or head inside and try my luck. My resolve hardened, I pocketed the stone and walked forward one step at a time. What little grey daylight there was faded to darkness ahead by my twentieth step.

Almost immediately, the situation was different from that which I had expected. The huge opening narrowed very swiftly into a pathway with the roof just barely above my head. Using a fireball, I couldn’t help but study the walls closely. Some of them had striking similarities to the Tanyros mines: they seemed to have been excavated by hand.

Something else became apparent as well. There was life inside of this mountain. Soul signatures began popping up sporadically all over. The strength of each varied, with those which were farther and deeper inside the mountain being the strongest.

The temperature also rose considerably as I ventured further in. Was it possible there was a vein of the same kind of peculiar marble as my stone generating heat from below? Whatever the reason, the increase in temperature explained why the strength of the soul signatures grew larger as they went deeper. The strongest mobs got the warmest spots to reside in.

I couldn’t stop myself from running my hands along the cave walls. There were large sections of smooth rock and then bursts of chiseled areas. As if pickaxes had torn through intermittent obstacles to break into new tunnels.

It seemed more and more likely as I walked deeper that this mine was once excavated, but just how long ago would that have been? I had never heard of any civilization living in the Frozen Wasteland.

Judging by the harsh weather, how could anyone even live here? Was this area once lively with vegetation and life? Or was there something more to it that I didn’t know yet? I continued deeper, feeling a distinct slope downwards.

My first encounter occurred within a mere five minutes of slow walking. A giant yeti stood in front of me. Judging by its soul signature it was an elite similar in difficulty to the mobs I had been fighting north of Skuld’s Hand.

That alone provided me some information. It was very likely I had traveled straight north and not northwest or northeast. The level and difficulty of monsters climbed drastically as you headed west towards the shore.

Frost Yeti* LEVEL: 37 BEAST WATER

HP: 22356 MP: 125

STR: 52

AGI: 18

DEX: 23

VIT: 61

INT: 16

A Yeti often found in extremely cold environments.

Perhaps I had, in fact, traveled ever so slightlywest. The shaggy monster was three or four levels higher than those I had been fighting further south. Not only that, its stats were incredible for its level.

Just by judging its muscular appearance and those STR and VIT stats, it would be a tanky beast. I needed to be incredibly careful not be grabbed by it. The hands resting on its sides were as big as my torso and would have no problem mangling my flesh, or ripping me limb from limb.

The Yeti’s strength was not my only concern. Its abnormal MP value of 125 made me question whether it had any special ability I needed to be concerned with. Regardless, I would have to fight blind.

The yeti was just three or four meters ahead of me, staring me down. Its facial expression turned from one of surprise to one of excitement, as if I was a toy to play with. I could only imagine how it would play with me if I ended up in its grasp.

I pulled my rod and immediately activated Mana Scythe. A large chunk of my mana disappeared instantly and I aimed the weapon between us. The cave here was wide, but not enough to effectively maneuver in.

Would that be an advantage to me? Or to the Yeti in front of me that could nearly not turn around. I didn’t know yet how strong its defenses were. There was nothing to it but try, and so I made the first move.

My feet launched off the cave floor as I leaped in the Yeti’s direction. I would hold nothing back with my initial attack. My potion supply was dwindling and no one would find me here if I fell.

The Yeti seemed excited at the prospect of battle, in an almost childlike manner. My scythe came crashing down like a gust of wind, and the Yeti raised his fist in response. The deep wound I hoped to inflict did not happen.

There was a gash in the Yeti’s hand, but it was pitifully small for the mana and force I had attacked with. The Yeti let out a growl that shook my eardrums as it waddled back in immediate fright. Had it not seen an Adventurer before? Had it any wariness towards humans?

The monster shook the fist that now had a gash across the knuckles. I hadn’t severed a finger, or even cut through tendon. The Yeti looked at its hand and then back at me. The playful eyes turned a blood red as it realized I was not a friend.

I found myself on the defensive. It charged me like a raging bull with the gigantic fists pummeling in my direction. While fast, it wasn’t so fast that I needed to use Phase Step.

Phase Step as an ability was amazing, but I also needed to continue to train my natural reflexes. I didn’t want to make it a crutch I always used. It seemed that the Yeti was the perfect opponent for me to use my evasion skills against. Just from this outburst I could tell it had very little experience with fighting, and even less with humans.

Not one fist that came flying in my direction ever managed to disturb a hair on my head. The cave shook repeatedly as the Yeti slammed up and down haphazardly. It was a hit on my pride to admit it, but the monster’s self-inflicted wounds from smashing down into solid ground did more damage than my own slash with the scythe.

It was possible I could win this battle without even striking out again. That didn’t sit well with me, but I was keen on continuing to dodge without using Phase Step. This alone was useful of practice and I had seen the limits of the spell’s physical ability.

Regardless of how I was succeeding with this encounter, my senses were on edge. I had learned from that strange porcupine beast to not let my guard down. My intuition was proven correct when the Yeti suddenly came to a stop.

Its chest began to bulge as a frosty breath blew from its mouth and in my direction. While I didn’t want to use Phase Step, it didn’t mean I wouldn’t. My constant battles had honed my intuition. There was no hesitation as I Phase Stepped past the cloud of frost breath and appeared directly in front of the beast.

My scythe came directly towards its throat, but my method of attack was slightly different to my last blow. I had no intention of slicing the blade across its furry neck, but instead tried piercing. The tip of my scythe burrowed through its coat.

There was only a slight moment of resistance before I felt the thick leathery hide of its throat give way. Almost immediately, the frost breath ceased and instead a spray of warm bloodshot from the Yeti’s throat and also poured down from its new wound.

I didn’t wait to see its reaction and darted backwards several feet. It only took a moment before the Yeti fell backwards on its back and ceased moving. The reward was a hefty chunk of EXP which I gladly took.

Only after seeing the 5,800 EXP message did I dare move forward and cast Harvest Soul.

Current EXP: 33600/109000 LEVEL: 35 Soul Harvester Eternal

HP: 2129/2129 MP: 612/942

STR: 30+2

AGI: 32+11

DEX: 35 +5

VIT: 30 +4

INT: 55 +21

Available: 0

Harvest Soul: 248 HP: 366 MP: 366

A total of 15 HP and MP were added for this single Yeti. I was incredibly excited. This place was a potential treasure trove for increasing my stats. An entire area just for me alone to farm.

I looked at the beast and wondered whether it could be a source of food. The thick fur covering its already leather-like hide made me dubious I would get much meat from the body. For now I would leave it in the hope there was something more obviously edible down here to sustain me.

Stepping over the Yeti’s limp arm, I decided to head further inside. Almost immediately on doing so, I heard a droning sound. It was faint at first, and made the walls vibratelightly. I stood in place and likened it to the sound of buzzing bees.

Reaching out, I placed my hand along the frosty cave wall. A gentle tremulous motion was under my palm, and it was growing in intensity quickly. Something was moving in this direction. What could it be?

The vibration was steady and rhythmic, like a choir humming. My mind didn’t have time to think before a cloud of black raced directly towards me. I had no other option but to drop to the floor right next to the Yeti.

Hundreds upon thousands of bats darted overhead. Screeching and squealing as they shook the entire cave chamber with their flapping. Even on the ground I could feel the brush of their wings and bodies as they passed overhead.

Dozens of seconds passed before the vibrating stopped and their screeching vanished with the falling snow. Only then did I dare uncover my head and glance around. Everything returned to normal just like that.

I stood and dusted myself off before glancing at my rod now sitting on the ground. I felt sour knowing I had wasted hundreds of MP on a single kill. In my dive, I had lost hold of the rod and therefore lost my Mana Scythe in the process.

Besides the small amount of guano, the bats had left nearly no trace they had even passed through here. I suddenly felt a bubbling excitement to travel further into the cave. There was something here—something special.

That was the feeling I was getting, and so I ventured deeper. The tunnel slowly opened up into something remarkable, something manmade. I had entered a marvelous chamber. A swirling staircase that led deeper presented itself to me.