Earth stomp was a skill used by earth mages. Skill did exactly what its name implied, stomping the ground, sending tiny shockwaves in the area around or in a cone shape in front of the user and is used for utility purposes to set the enemy off balance. Higher level skill could lead to rearranging the terrain by massive earthquake. This troll knew earth manipulation instinctively and was used to using it.

Physical power, resistance and health regeneration were the traits of every troll. Its thick skin served as a natural defensive layer against piercing, slashing and blunt damage. If it weren't for its low dexterity, it would be a perfect race for every warrior class. I really hope there aren't any troll warriors. A thought popped out.

Bones stood up from his roll and used bone spikes. Spikes protruded from the ground but merely made a troll stumble a bit, not managing to cripple its legs. Shit, I knew it. Seeing it didn't work and only enraged the troll, Bones made a run for it.

As he was running away and looking for the higher ground for leverage, he made sure the troll was following. He wouldn't let the experience pass him like this. Not when it was merely one of the many challenges he had to overcome. It's been awhile since he fought. At least it seemed that way to him, when in reality, only a week had passed since he left Westbrook.

A meter and a half long bone lance flew, dispersing the falling snowflakes covering the mountain path in its wake. Game of chase went on for a while now and Bones was tired of it. The troll wasn't going to stop. Its territory being a whole mountain apparently. Or maybe it was just taunted enough it kept attacking?

With reduced visibility due to blizzard brewing, the troll hadn't seen the lance coming and it hit him in the stomach. Half a lance piercing through and out its back. A roar sounded out as it pulled the lance out before it dissipated into a smoke of mana. A gaping hole was closing in at the visible rate and after a few seconds, the troll took a step forward. Bones didn't wait but readied his next lance and the lance after. This time, aiming to cripple the troll. The first lance hit true, piercing the troll's thigh, making him kneel down. The second lance would hit its chest but it hit the wall of earth, casted in haste, coming up from the snowy ground. Lance pierced through the wall but was stopped half way through.

Troll exhaled a breath of relief as it pulled out the lance from its leg and looked up, only to see bones peeking over the wall. Peek-a-boo! Blast of mana crumbled the wall and sent the troll falling back. It fell onto the strategically raised spikes behind it. Two spikes broke from its fall but the other four impaled the troll in places its skin wasn't as thick and tough. With its organ punctured and one spike piercing its head, it was bleeding out.

Its body twitched, then again and again until the bleeding stopped and wounds started to close up. Are you kidding me…was what Bones first thought. He kept his distance just in case and the troll twitched again. First the hand, then a leg moved before it suddenly jerked up into the sitting position and roared. The sound was deafening and vibrated throughout the surroundings. What would probably be paralyzing for a normal human, Bones shrugged away and jammed a lance through the troll's wide open mouth.

Its head jerked back and it flopped down on its back again, blood pouring out of its mouth, painting the snow red. Its body twitched once more as a few spikes pierced its body. Then it twitched again as more spikes were protruding from its now dead body. Influx of mana enveloped Bones and he felt it empower him. A *ding* sound of level up only consolidating his kill.

It has been some time since his last level up, so the level in both class and a race was a nice touch up. His skills had gained level ups as well and it wouldn’t be long until his bone manipulation advanced. There was nothing to loot from the troll from what he could tell. He read that trolls' blood was valuable in alchemy but he didn't have any empty flasks on him. No wait! I do have some! Remembering mana potions, he took out a dozen empty vials and six still full. “Well, might as well empty a few now…”

Emptying two mana potions, he extracted the blood as best as he could, what little fit into small empty vials. Blood was congealed once it was removed from the troll's body. It was no wonder, since a blizzard was brewing for hours now. Even he felt the cold slowing his movements down. With the higher level of mana manipulation, he had an easier time increasing his mana flow, further empowering him and reducing the freezing effect the blizzard had on his bones. His clothes though, were wet and felt like they weighed twice as much.

Maybe immediately buying an enchanted set of clothing was an impulsive decision. I didn't think of enchantments against freezing effects. Something to remember in the future!

For now, mana manipulation would have to be enough to keep the cold from affecting him. Points in wisdom from the previous levels did make a difference. With proper timing, he could keep casting spells without running out of mana. Not indefinitely of course, but long enough to finish the fight. A free point from the new level up was once again placed in WIS.

At a higher level, the gap in stats from the level difference wouldn't play a major role in a battle. Attributes mattered the most at early levels while skills, at higher levels. Something he read before but couldn't imagine how. Seemed like a big difference in power to him between someone at the early stage of bronze rank, like him and someone close to silver rank, like Guntar. Looking back at the level 23 troll lying near him, he could see how the skills made a difference between life and death though. If he still had bone spears, he wasn't sure he would be able to pierce through the troll's tough skin.

That should be enough troll's blood for now. He left two empty vials in case he needed them for something else and he still had four mana potions left.

Standing up, he went back down the mountain path, towards the "bridge". There wasn't much else to see on the mountain but the white of a snow. He climbed the mountain pretty high and down below, he could barely see the city of Stonefalls in the distance. All around him were rocks and boulders and snow covering any patch of grass, if there were any. Blizzard started not too long ago and where once the sounds of distant animals could be heard, now there was only the howling sound of wind and snow.

By the end of the day, Bones had another hard earned level up. He learned that while mountain trolls were solitary creatures, they shared the territory. That didn't make sense. It didn't have to. It just was.

The hardest fight was against a level 26 troll. Unlike other trolls, it was wielding a club and had at least a basic notion of how to use it. By basic, it meant swinging a club from side to side and upward-down swings. Attacks weren't hard to avoid but every hit sent the shockwave in radius around impact. One proper hit would put Bones in a difficult position. The troll had a good balance between offence and defence, using a club with its strength as a main source of attack and earth spells as defensive measure. He had seen trolls using earth spells but never so smoothly and to this extent. Whenever he would bring the troll close to dying, it would kneel and set up an earth dome around himself, acting as a barrier. Inside, it would heal up and attack again. It even had a layer of earth armor on, like Bones own bone armor spell, at times. In the end, it died when it ran out of mana. Bones shuddered thinking about another fight like this one. He did have massive gains with each prolonged fight against higher level enemies.

It was cloudy most of the day but now that the night descended, it truly was dark. Bones found a crack in the boulder wide and large enough to stay the night. With the only open space in front of him, he made himself as cozy as possible and entered an inactive state.

“What do you mean he's not on route? There's only one road leading from Stonefalls to the capital! Have you checked Middlesbrough?”

“Of course I did. Don't address me like it's my first time scouting. If I say he isn't on route then he isn't on route. Maybe he went a different route?”

“Fine, fine! What different route?”

“Over the mountains?”

*pfft* “Common, why would anyone…shit.”

“Yep.”

“He must be mad going over the mountain in this season! Trolls are out and the mountains are their territory. It's common knowledge! He is no common man!”

“I'll go report to Guntar and you send someone to be on the lookout on the other side of the mountains. There's a watch post right at the base of the mountain with a tavern inside. If he is really going over the mountains, that's the place we'll find him.”

“Sure thing boss, over and out.” With that, the scout left. Leaving his superior, one of Guntar henchmen, alone.

“Stop saying “over and out”, it doesn't mean anything.” He yelled back. Sigh* “Guntar won't be happy about this. “

Despite their preparations in intercepting Bones, they have underestimated his aptitude for orientation. Bones lost his way more than once. In fact, after he "woke up" the next day, he already went off the mountain path. He wasn't the one to blame though, the blizzard was raging throughout the night and due to snow, no path was visible. The second day on the mountain went similar to the first day., fighting trolls, until he found an entrance to the cave. Two trolls were standing guard at the entrance, grunting over the fireplace and a large iron cauldron where venison could be seen cooking.

Solitary creatures my ass.

His mind racing, he couldn't see how he could approach them without being seen. One of them had to die in the first attack! His mind set, he summoned a lance and started empowering it, something he started doing again lately against a tough skin of trolls. A lance grew in size and became even pointier. Just as he was about to attack, another troll approached the two, from the deeper end of the cave. The newcomer had a different color of skin. It was a dark shade of grey and its eyes, from what Bones could tell from the distance, were white, like they were in a blind person. The newcomer grunted a few times. Grunting noises were exchanged between the trolls and then it disappeared back in the deeper part of the cave.

Bones dismissed the skill, the summoned lance poofing away in a cloud of smoke. He took a deep breath and sat down, looking down at the cave from the boulder he was on. Ten minutes later, the same troll, at least he thought it was the same one, appeared and left again after grunts were exchanged.

Not a talkative bunch I guess. Alright, let's do this.

Coming to the conclusion that the 3rd troll would appear again in roughly ten minutes, he went on with an assault. Two lances were summoned and Bones positioned himself with a clear line to the trolls. He aimed at the one positioned towards him first, then at the one with his back to him and sent the lances flying. Both lances, over a meter and a half long, striked true. One pierced the sternum of the troll in the middle while the other impaled the troll in the back. Possibly the heart too, because the troll motionlessly jerked forward, knocking the cauldron and its content over the other troll. The other troll roared and with a savage look in the eyes, searched for its attacker. He saw Bones coming out in the clearing in front of the cave, with a large lance manifesting beside him. Contrary to what Bones expected, the troll didn't attack back, but turned around and fled deeper in the cave. Stupefied, Bones ran after him a few seconds later.