It was just as well everyone with me had a natural sense of direction, because I didn’t have a clue. I just couldn’t seem to orient myself here without the sun in the sky, which through long experience I knew traveled the sky from southwest to northeast. But every time we came back up to the surface of Kalabri since leaving on this journey, it had been overcast.

We marched in something approaching high spirits. All of the beast kin with us other than Sania had reverted to their animal forms and ranged ahead and out wide, pretending to scout, but in reality, we all knew they were fucking around and stretching their legs.

The sky darkened a few hours out of Rattayak, but we pushed on through the barren rocky land, wanting to put distance between us and the Dwarves and, though we didn’t speak of it much, Laga and apparently her good friend Cushec.

We stopped around midnight, our forward scouting group taking us slightly eastward to a small, wooded area they’d found. By the time we arrived, the Wultr who had gone ahead had already collected a pile of dead branches, which the elves quickly had blazed in minutes. Many of the Fensalfar moved around the forest, many out of sight. They began to return slowly.

I beckoned Rella over. “What have they been doing?”

“They communed with the trees and asked them to provide warning of intruders among other things.”

“Ah, cool. Well done for getting them to come with us. This will help us massively.”

“They didn’t take much convincing, my lord, but I am happy that you are happy.”

Once Rella had gone back with her original group, Sania and I snuggled up next to our fire. I couldn’t really feel the cold, though I was aware of it. The Hoodie of Darkness kept the light wind that blew through the trees off me.

“You know,” I said to Sania. “The Dwarves can track us with these clothes, right?”

“I do, but does it really matter? We’re still technically allies, and it isn’t Darkness who has a problem with us. They know where we’re going, anyway.”

“True. We’re not actually trying to hide from them. We just don’t want to walk with the dodgy fuckers anymore.”

“Exactly. Now go to sleep. I think the next few days are going to be interesting.”

She was wrong.

The next few days consisted of a bleak, endless march across barren, windy terrain. We saw no one. I hadn’t even seen any animals other than the occasional eagle. That didn’t mean they weren’t there, and on the third night's camp, the ranging Wultr had hunted five reindeer for dinner.

I quickly overcame my reservations over killing and eating Rudolph when my stomach growled. I still carried food we’d stored from the restaurant on our last night in the Nideland, but we were rationing heavily.

To my vast irritation, I was also well overdue to produce my next available permanent boost. I’d kept my three remaining portions of the perfect mint back for just such an occasion. I had no pots to cook with, so after helping with butchering the carcasses up with my cleaver, I de-boned a leg joint and stuffed it with the mint and some dates from my void pockets.

An hour later, I happily devoured the stuffed reindeer leg of Intelligence, bringing the stat up to forty-five.

Level 44

Physical statistics:

Strength: 55

The capacity to exert and resist force.

Dexterity: 23

Skill and ease in hand-based activity.

Agility: 23

How effectively the body can move into a range of different positions.

Speed: 53

Rate at which the body can move.

Stamina: 53

Period over which the body can effectively sustain prolonged activity.

Constitution: 113

The ability to withstand physical punishment.

Mental Statistics:

Intelligence: 45 (-5 Racial Trait)

Knowledge and its application. Warning. You have reached the limit for Intelligence.

Charisma: 38 (-5 Racial Trait)

Charm, coerce, inspire.

Perception: 23

Awareness of surroundings

Spiritual Statistics:

Ethereal Awareness: 0

Attunement with the Gods and spirits of Gulithea. (Necessary for Ethereally supplied magical ability.)

Internal Connection: 50

Attunement with oneself. (Necessary for cultivation of one’s own inner power)

Singularity: 5

Innate understanding of universal essence (Neuma). Will increase with personal level. (Cannot be leveled by other means.)

World sense: 6.4%

Knowledge of Gulithea.

Experience Points to next level: 2100/2200

The amount of XP I needed to the next level jumped out at me as I allocated the points from the reindeer. If I could find an easy singular enemy before we faced a big battle, it would be a big boost, providing Danivra didn’t make me put it in Charisma again. I mentioned it to those around me as another notification popped up. Sania had started speaking, so I pushed it to one side for the moment.

“We’ll find something for you, Clive. That’s for sure.”

“We shall,” Danivra agreed. “I have my own news to share, too. Lord Clive, did you just receive a notification?”

“I, er… yeah, how did you know?”

“Would you mind checking it for me, please?” she said with a mysterious, unreadable expression. Everyone in earshot around our fire was now looking our way with keen interest.

“Sure,” I said, pulling the notification back up.

Congratulations: Aspirant Danivra has met the requirements to be elevated to Rank 3 (II) having provided the requisite 200% of their overall Neuma pool. They have chosen the Cleric Class.

Do you accept the choice and increase in rank standing? Y/N.

I chose yes without a thought, then faced Danivra with a confused smile. “How is it possible that you reached Cleric first? Surely your Neuma pool is the largest by far.”

She smiled as her identifier changed, now showing Cleric of Clive.

“Indeed, it is, but the base level of Neuma we send you is a percentage. Therefore, if we all only provided the base level, we would all reach the next rank standing at the same time.”

“Okay, that makes sense, but it’s like 3% and it’s only been five days since you all became Aspirants.”

“I received 10% for each referral. Which means I had a head start.”

“Okay, Danivra, but that still doesn’t add up.”

“Very perceptive, Lord Clive. I have also been praying regularly to you.”

I was flabbergasted. I wasn’t the only one, as muttering among some of the other followers sprang up. Not among the Dokalfar, I noticed.

“You’ve been praying to Lord Clive?” Grigor said, his tone somewhere between outrage and disbelief.

“The notifications you all received will have indicated the possibility to pray and provide more energy to Clive.”

“But you don’t even get anything back!” I said almost as disbelievingly as Grigor.

“Very true at the moment. I’m certain that will change. But I lose nothing by providing you with the energy, and it ensures your Ethereal stores are filled for whatever our future holds.”

“I… I don’t know how to use the Ethereal stores. I haven’t even checked them.”

“Perhaps you should,” Danivra suggested.

I gave her a weak smile and a thumbs up before focusing on the thought of Ethereal Storage much like I had focused on Follower Rank. Thankfully, my mind knew what I wanted, and a line of text sprung up in the golden lettering.

Ethereal Storage: 100%

“Well, there’s not much point praying anymore because I’m maxed out, Danivra. Now I just need to work out how to use the damn power. Can you use what you get back from me?”

“I have only just been granted my own store as a Cleric for your returning power. I’m convinced that, as you develop, you will be able to give us access to the power you bestow. I’m must admit to being intrigued by the chaotic nature of it.”

“What do you mean?”

“I only have a miniscule amount, but it is a blend of Gold and Black, Light and Dark.”

“Damn. That is interesting,” I said, rubbing at my beard thoughtfully. “Now I really have to work out how to use my stored Ethereal energy so that what you send me doesn’t go to waste.”

“Perhaps. But that is akin to continually using the Neuma stored by your core because it can be replenished by the surrounding atmosphere. I would suggest caution before using it as the other gods may notice the use of divine power.”

“That is actually a really good point. I’ll hang fire until we’ve coaxed Stada to our side.”

The conversation flowed long into the night, everyone happy to have eaten well again. The camaraderie and general feeling among those with me was much more upbeat, despite being out in the open where danger could find us more easily.

Halfway through our journey northwards, we reached a mountain range that offered a border of sorts between Kalabri and the lands beyond which sounded like the Arctic. Apparently, the area still constituted as Kalabri, but it was devoid of all but Isthalings—which I still had no real idea what they were—penguins, seals, and Stada the Gran.

The going became much tougher through the mountains and the nights far harder to enjoy with miniscule rations and the ferocious wind whistling into every nook and cranny we found to sleep on a near permanent basis. There was no reprieve, and whenever we did stop to rest, it was to sleep, and only briefly, at that. The Dokalfar and Fensalfar, despite being well wrapped up, found it the hardest to bear with their slender forms, but they were resilient and kept ongoing without complaint.

As we descended the narrow mountain range two days later, I hoped for the wind to die down somewhat, and for the first hour of walking, it did.

We crossed the flat field of snow at a much faster pace than we’d moved through the mountains. The elves could walk over the snow like it was a solid path. The beast kin all still traveled in their animal forms and also seemed to glide over the surface. Similarly, the Nystiobek seemed to be in their element, ploughing through the snow. I, however, was not in my element as I found that my demon feet, despite being much wider than my original feet, still didn’t cut it as snowshoes due to the bulk they were carrying.

Within a few minutes, I realized that I had no choice but to use Neuma and fly over the surface. Sania joined me, though we kept pace with the Nystiobek who were now the slowest. Though, slow wasn’t really befitting their progress. Then came the wind and with it a brutal, blinding blizzard. We had to bring in those that were ranging around scouting and keep an eye on those around us. The day turned to hell as we pushed on, still not completely sure where we were going other than further north.

After a few more hours of pushing on, we had to give up. The visibility was too poor and there was too high a risk of us losing someone.

I wasn’t sure what the plan would be to camp, but it seemed like now was the time to arrange something. Thankfully, we could communicate still across the bond, because trying to talk normally in the blizzard was pointless.

“We should dig out into the snow at an angle facing away from the wind,” Danivra said. “Depending on how deep it is, we might hit soil.”

“The Nystiobek, Krysan, and Wultr will be best suited for this job,” Grigor replied.

“No, Sania and Lord Clive’s Neuma will be best suited. It will melt the snow.”

“We could give it a try,” I replied, then we moved to the front of the column facing the wind and each shot a Neuma ball each. They passed through the snow without resistance, sizzling and leaving a small steaming hole.

“We need to think bigger but less power,” I said to Sania. “Let me try something, and stand back a little.”

Instead of building a small ball that I forced a lot of concentrated Neuma into. This time, I formed a large ball around the size of myself and added Neuma into it only until I felt it snap into physical existence. It would be relatively weak, but I then pushed that ball into the snow and watched as it carved out a large steaming tunnel. Traveling down at forty-five degrees, the ball of power didn’t stop until it hit solid ground some fifty feet below where it exploded on impact.

“Perfect. Now we just need a larger space,” Danivra said. Sania was already copying what I’d done.

Around twenty giant balls later and the hole was big enough for us to slide down into cover, apart from the fact that the bottom was now filled with steaming water that was refreezing at the edges.

Danivra sent down a bolt of purple light, holding it in the center of the steaming pool for a minute at least. Certainly, to my surprise, the water level began to drop fairly rapidly. She stopped whatever she was doing once there was an area of muddy ground around a heated pool in the center of the space.

The blizzard was still blowing and filling the opening of the tunnel, but we were all able to slide down and rest on actual ground.

As the place filled up, the Fensalfar dropped their thick robes and dove straight into the pool. As they relaxed, the water seemed to maintain its temperature, which caused the tunnel we’d created to continually melt. Thankfully, it ran down the sides rather than drip onto us, but I feared that the ground would soon become a bog. That was until grass and small meadow flowers began to spring up from the pool’s edge.

Soon the entire surface of the muddy ground we lay on was covered in lush, soft grass. The Dokalfar used their powers to compress the snow as it fell at our ice tunnel entrance until the roof was completely sealed from the blizzard above, apart from the air holes they occasionally pushed through.

It was an insane moment for me, deep under the ice in the middle of nowhere. But with what had come to be my family all with me, using each of our powers and strengths to make something surprisingly comfortable, this little space we had made gave me confidence that we could achieve anything together.