As Alex slept, the rest of the group were gathered around the map table in the dining room, but they weren’t talking about the plan now, they were discussing Alex and the amazing rapidity of his advancement. Far surpassing any expectations they had held when they first bought him through the Veil, Whittaker and Nieve had started to argue about how hard he could be pushed in preparation for the plan.

“Nieve, I’m telling you! Alex can take FAR more than I have given him so far. If what he has said about his time and gravity manipulations are correct, we can EASILY ramp up his training, speeding him up to almost the point of catching up to us.” Whittaker argued heatedly.

“I don’t feel that we can ask that much of him! He has only been here for a few days as it is, and has readily accepted any and all we have told him. Asking him for more, pushing him harder than even YOU could handle Whitt? What's to say that we don’t push him to another power spike like that first time? It could be our undoing!” Nieve responded, casting an extra harsh chill to the air to emphasise their point.

Yas and Iclyn watched the pair sparring verbally, but kept their thoughts to themselves, sparing each other just small glances as each side presented another argument. After realising that they had begun repeating themselves, Iclyn decided they’d heard enough and stood, “Have either of you even ASKED Alex himself yet? Told him what you suspect he may be able to do with his powers? Stop bickering, and perhaps give him the information, and trust that he will do what’s best for us all?” Without raising their voice, Iclyn had once again cowed both of the lower leveled Fridigians. Iclyn had been the one to gather them, and also the one to assign them each their role in the group. Whilst Nieve may be the leader of their little band of rebels, Iclyn had been the conduit that drew them all together. At level 100, Iclyn had been just a few days away from being reintegrated into normal life when they had asked their commander what the process required, expecting something simple. When the commander had responded that they would be shipped to the other end of the continent first, Iclyn had been shocked. When pressed for answers as to why this was needed, the commander had snapped that it was none of Iclyn’s business and to just do what they were told by their betters. Not elders, not rank, but betters. This had grated badly, as all Fridigians were meant to be on equal social status whilst in the force, so Iclyn had done some covert digging in the days before they were meant to be shipped off. This had led them to uncovering some serious issues that just didn’t fit with the narrative they had been told. Unsettled enough to risk it all, Iclyn had pretended to join the transport, but ducked out and set up this site. Using discrete contacts and favours, Iclyn had recruited the others, and here they were.

“Sorry Iclyn, you’re right as usual. We should put it to him once he wakes up. It really could mean all the difference.” Nieve bowed their head in shame.

Alex woke up with a smile, his eyes seeing the panel still open in his vision. Hopping to his feet, he rolled the last of the residual stiffness from his neck and shoulders before heading towards the kitchen for breakfast. As he reached the door, he saw that everyone else was already awake and sat around the map table. Having learned his lesson from the previous day, he loudly pulled the door open and headed in.

“Morning peeps! Is there anything I can grab for breakfast before getting started on today's training?”

Whittaker waved at him and pointed at a bowl of what looked like warm porridge set at an empty space on the table. “This is for you bud. Sit down, we need to run something by you quickly and wanted to see what you thought.”

Alex plonked himself down in the indicated seat and examined the bowl in front of him.

Lukewarm Gruel: Not as bad as it sounds, this gruel provides all needed nutrients and grants +10% Stamina regeneration for 6 hours.

Shrugging, Alex shoveled a couple of mouthfuls in before turning to look at each of them in turn; “Sho, wha’s up?” he managed to say around his food.

“You mentioned yesterday that your new class grants power over both gravity and time, correct?” Iclyn asked.

“Mmhmm, das wha’ the Veil said”

“Other than that rather hilarious attempt to mess with gravity yesterday, have you tried any other experiments?”

Already finishing his bowl, Alex swallowed his last mouthful before responding. “Not yet, I had planned to do that today. Why?”

“Because if what we think is possible actually is, we may have a way to drastically speed up the amount of levelling you can get done in the next few days.” Nieve answered.

“Seriously? Awesome! If that's the case, why do you all look like you just got hit in the gut?”

“It could potentially be VERY hazardous to your health. We don’t know the full ramifications of your new class, and a misstep could be lethal.” Iclyn cautioned, emphasizing the risks to Alex to make sure he gave them full appreciation.

Nodding his head slowly as he digested this new information, he chided himself for not realising he could potentially use his new class in this way. “So, theoretically, how would it work?”

Whittaker chimed in on this one. “Theoretically, you could keep repeating training exercises, or defeating the same enemies. Because you are still doing it each time, and it's a feature of your class, you would keep the stats and levels gained from each attempt.”

Alex let out a low whistle. This really was a game changer. He could potentially fit months worth of grinding into a few short days… “And what downsides would this have to me? Because I've gotta be honest, this sounds pretty awesome right now!”

“We aren’t too sure, but your cells may experience increased rate of decay. You might slowly accrue some form or temporal poisoning as your body rejects itself after repeated exposure. Or nothing happens, and you become the most potent weapon in existence in just a few days. None of us would risk this ourselves, and we don’t expect you to either, but we did feel you deserved to know what we suspect.” Whittaker said bluntly.

“Okay, and is there any way we could limit the risk of any of those downsides at all? If it's not rude to ask, but do any of you have a class that could impart abilities that help?” Alex probed, hundreds of ideas flying through his head.

As one, all eyes except his turned to look at Nieve. Nieve smiled and turned to Alex. “I may do. I’m a level 30 Combat Medic. There is an ability called Avenging Strike that works whenever myself or an ally is hit by an attack. It basically causes my next attack to restore the damage I deal the enemy to my own HP. We also gain a passive ability at level 5 that enhances the bodies natural healing processes, speeding up our inherent regen by increasing amounts as we level.”

“Wow, that sounds like it could certainly be useful in negating any physical damage I receive from doing this. Would you be willing to grant me the class Nieve? I know Whitt said that its a very personal thing, which I don’t really understand to be honest, so please don’t feel pressured!” Alex made sure he emphasised the last part as he really didn’t want to break some unknown code.

“Only the first imparting of a class is generally seen as a personal thing, which is why we were all surprised Whitt granted it to you so quickly. I would be honoured to help you in any way I can.” And Nieve reached over and touched Alex’s chest the same way Whittaker had done.

You have gained the Combat Medic class. You gain 5+Mentality HP per level, You gain +2 Mentality per level.

“Thank you Nieve, really… Is there anything else you can tell me about the class to get me started as quickly as possible? I really want to try and see what I can do now.”

“Once you decide how you would like to fight, and with what weapon, You can mark that weapon as your Medi-Weapon. It will grant you +Mentality damage to your blows, which stacked with your Maelstrom class will really boost your damage output. To activate Avenging Strike you need to be wielding your Medi-Weapon, and focus through it to feel the vitality of the opponent. You can then syphon whatever damage you dewal back into yourself. Once you reach level 5, the passive will kick in automatically. It levels every 5 levels, and grants greater regeneration.” Nieve listed everything they could think of that would allow Alex the greatest chance of survival.

“Wow, that's amazing, thanks Nieve. Now, who wants to see just how much i can mess with time?”

Alex stood and headed back to the other room where the matts were still laid out from his previous days training. The others followed behind him and arrayed themselves around the room, settling in to watch with interest. Standing in the center of the matts, Alex closed his eyes and tried to work out how to access his power over time. Gravity had been easy, and almost instinctive, but for some reason he found the concept of time a lot harder to grasp at. Deciding to just start working out, and wing it a bit, he started on a new calisthenics routine. Throwing caution to the wind, he altered the gravity so his body weighed twice as much to hopefully increase the effectiveness. Keeping a closer eye on his Stamina this time, he made sure he kept himself from bottoming out. As he finished his first set of pushups, he tried to imagine in his mind's eye that he was rewinding to the start of the exercise. Suddenly it was like he was watching himself from another position, and everything reversed like he had hit the rewind button. As soon as it reached the point he had been at the very start of his exercise, time restored and he popped back into his body. His stamina had actually restored, but his health had decreased by the same amount, and it felt like he was covered in a swarm of mildly pissed off bees.

“Okay, so the health damage theory was correct… Not pleasant, and that was just a minute or so.” Alex noted to the spectating group. “But this could really work as long as I’m careful!”

“Okay, stop there Alex, we need to get you some EXP so that you can get Combat Medic up to level 5 ASAP.” Whittaker exclaimed, leaving no room for argument.

Alex was outfitted in a basic set of gear that looked kind of like the second skin lycra stuff athletes wore, but was made of some Frigid-enhanced material similar to carbon fibre.

Frosfibre Suit: Designed as an all-in-one answer to personal protection, this suit increases overall damage reduction by 30.

Over this, Alex equipped the coat he had been given at the start of his time in the Frigid.

Yas’ Coat of Insulation: Created by Yas, this coat is designed to negate extremes of temperature from affecting the wearer. It looks pretty good too.

“Yas, this says you made it? Is that part of your class?” Alex asked, taken aback by this little revelation.

“Indeed, I’m a Frigidtech, so I can use the Frigid to produce pretty much anything. Downside is that you can’t take it back to the Nexus, as it would disintegrate as soon as the Frigid influence ends.” Yas responded with a hint of pride at their work.

Finally, Alex was lead to the little Armoury in a room off to the side of the front entrance. Inside was an array of weaponry all tinted the same colour blue. He could recognise a fair amount of them from his time playing various RPGs back home, but there were a couple that he just couldn’t fathom. One such weapon was what looked like a small kite shield with a small blade poking out of the top and bottom. Alex had always played Tank classes in whatever games he played, so this caught his eye immediately.

“Whitt, what’s the deal with this shield? Those blades seem a little small to be much use.”

Whittaker picked it up and settled into a combat stance. They thrust the shield forward almost like a punch, and the bottom blade extended by a few inches, then receded. Whittaker then reached around the edge of the shield and grasped a point in the middle between both blades. With a flourish a small double-ended sabre came free, and they executed a spinning slash, with each end extending as it would have hit the imaginary target. Satisfied with their demonstration, Whittaker replaced the sabre into its recess in the shield and turned to smile at Alex.

“That’s the deal. It takes some practise to master the timing of the extension, but it's a formidable pairing once you've practised with it. I have to be honest, this isn’t what I would have expected you to pick. Colour me impressed Alex, combining offence and defence with your skillset could make you an incredibly formidable opponent.”

“Hah, thanks Whitt. That’s high praise coming from you!” Alex laughed at the display and the slightly barbed comment.

Now fully kitted out, Alex and Whittaker headed out the front entrance to the building. Alex was stunned at seeing his first taste of Fridigian Earth. It was like someone had taken the same warehouse district from his Earth, removed the structures and replaced them with a trees so dense they could have been lifted from the biggest snowy forest on Earth.

“Alex, follow me. I know of a den nearby that should be respawning shortly. I cleared it out a few days ago, and so it should be fully repopulated shortly ready for you to get some EXP grinding done.” Whittaker heads off on a winding route through the trees and snow.

A short while later, as Whittaker bends down to glance at some tracks Alex hears what sounds like running water nearby, punctuated with more intense crashing sounds. “Whitt, wha.. Mmph” he cuts off as a hand smothers the sound coming from his mouth. Spinning to look at Whitt, he sees them gesturing for silence and pointing through the trees ahead. They both creep forward trying to create as little noise as possible. Cresting a small ridge in the treeline, Alex gets his first view of the source of the noise; a fast-flowing meltwater river. The crashing noises are the sound of various chunks of ice hitting rocks on the rapids just up from their location. Sweeping his eyes across the clearing, Alex notices a nicely formed cave entrance has been formed in the rock by the rapids. The tracks Whittaker had been following lead towards this opening, and strewn around the entrance are what looks to be cracked bones with the marrow sucked clean.

Whittaker tapped Alex’s shoulder and leaned in whispering “We’re here. The cave system isn’t too long, but there's lots of branching tunnels so stay close. If there are any hostiles on their own you deal with them. If there are more than one, I’ll always take the left side, you take the right. Hit one hard and fast, take it out, then rotate through the rest. No talking once we get in.”

Alex nodded, glad to have the plan laid out in advance. “What are we fighting in there? You still haven’t told me.”

“We call them Ursu. To you, they will look like a small bear, but they are wickedly fast and have huge claws on their front legs. Get in, hit hard, and get back out. If you stay toe to toe with them they will cut you to ribbons in seconds.”

“So fast bears… Awesome. After you.” Alex smiled widely as he moved to the side to let Whittaker past.

As soon as they entered the den, a stench akin to rotten flesh mixed with a public toilet hit Alex like a physical wave and he had to suppress a gagging cough. Littered along the edges of every tunnel were bones and piles of scat. The roof of the cave was just high enough for Alex not to need to duck his head, but it did mean the pooling stench was held at head height. Whittaker had pulled slightly ahead and Alex rushed to stay close, but in his haste failed to notice a bone that was laid across the path. He caught his boot on it and sent it clattering deafeningly down the passageway. Whittaker whipped their head around accusingly, and Alex shrugged apologetically. From deeper into the cave a roar echoed towards them, followed by the sound of claws scrabbling for purchase.

“Oh well, there goes the stealthy approach. Get ready Alex, I’ll hold the bulk and try to filter off a single one for you to deal with. Here they come!”

For a few seconds they waited there for the oncoming Ursu, until the first one came barreling around the bend. It did NOT look like a small bear. It looked like a BIG bear had sired some mutated offspring with a skeletal demon. Huge serrated horns protruded from its head like twisted antlers. It had no skin covering its wiry musculature, and the claws on its front legs were more like 12 inch carving knives. Behind the first were at least 3 more that Alex could see from his position.

Ursu Ravager lvl 18

Ursu Ravager lvl 16

Ursu Ravager lvl 20

Ursu Defiler lvl 23

“Whitt, these things are going to completely destroy me! You said I’d be able to handle this!” Alex screamed as he readied himself behind his shield.

“This should not be the case… I cleared this den myself just before we brought you here… They should all be low level after respawning!” Whittaker yelled back as they met the first Ravager head on. Their 2 handed hammer was a blur as it slammed into the lead Ursu and sent it flying back, blood and fangs flying. Whittaker then activated Jump Charge and rocketed towards the next in line, spinning mid charge to add some extra velocity to the swing before bringing their hammer down hard enough to shake the entire tunnel causing debris to fall onto Alex. The third Ravager, the level 20 one managed to slip past Whittakers charge and made a slavering beeline straight towards Alex.

Refusing to give ground, Alex ran forward to cut the Ravager’s assault short. Punching forward with his shield, Alex tried to emulate what Whitt had demonstrated earlier. The blade shot out like a spear and concentrated all of the force into a far smaller area, but against such a powerful enemy Alex still found himself shoved back, the blade barely making any noticeable impact. Hastily retracting the blade, Alex braced the shield against his shoulder to mitigate as much of the damage caused by the oncoming Ravager, but his arm still went numb and his health dropped by 50%. Spinning to disengage and try to regain some space between them, Alex grasped for the double ended saber and activated his Medi-Weapon with a quick burst of intent. Continuing the momentum of his spin, Alex lashed out and managed to score a grase along the flank of the Ravager as it thundered past him. During this brief contact, Alex let himself feel the cutting of the flesh and PULLED. He drained the resulting damage into himself and watched his health top back off. Realising he was vastly outmatched by an opponent that wanted nothing more than to slurp his lifeblood like water, Alex tried to think of how to combine his skillset and stop this beast. Seeing that he needed to be faster to stand a hope of dodging any of this things attacks, he envisioned liquid fire filling his muscles. Pushing off with his own Power Charge boosted by the power now coursing through his limbs Alex flew at the Ravager just as it turned to charge again. Pouring every ounce of his power into his strike, Alex also added some extra weight to his shield just at the point of impact. Stacking this many effects into one blow had a devastating multiplicative effect on the damage done to the Ravager. For that split second Alex hit with more power than even Whittaker could bring to bear, and the Ravagers chest concaved with a disgusting crunch. Blood exploded from its mouth as its internal organs pulped instantly after being hit with more force than a car.

Alex collapsed, his stamina completely spent on that one attack. Looking over at the Ravager, he saw it still wasn’t dead yet, and was trying its best to get back on its feet, snarling at him through the blood dribbling from its mouth. He glanced over and saw that 2 of the other 3 Ursu had been killed by Whittaker already, but the last one was holding its own, meaning no help was coming. Stamina slowly replenishing, Alex stood again and ran at the damaged Ravager in front of him, desperate to finish it off before it got fully back to its feet. Stabbing and slicing at its eyes, Alex had to jump back as it suddenly slashed out at him, enraged that such easy prey had managed to wound it so severely. Pushing off its back legs, it launched itself at Alex one more time, determined to take him down with it. Still recovering himself, Alex had no hope of getting out of the way in time. He roared back at the Ravager and pushed all of his will into making it STOP. Everything around him froze. The Ravager, Whittaker and the other Ursu all just… stopped. Feeling his own life force ebbing away to power this, Alex embedded his saber into the Ravagers eye and shoved with all of his might until he felt something in its head give. He pulled his blade back out and did the same to its other eye before releasing his hold and allowing time to resume. The Ravager slammed into him and dragged him to the floor. He felt his head crash into the floor and everything went black.