The next morning was a bit chilly, probably due to the altitude. Oh, we hadn’t climbed a mountain, but we had been on a gradual incline the previous day. It made a bit of a difference. “Won’t be long before the dog weather hits.” Carrigan said as he dropped next to Elendria and I with his breakfast. “Especially if we keep heading up the mountains.”

“Dog weather?” I asked, confused.

“Yep. Oh! Just means incredibly cold. Beastly cold.”

“Huh. We have a saying about dog days, but it usually refers to the hottest part of the summer. Where you would want to be a dog laying in the shade.” I said with a shrug.

“I find it rather refreshing.” Elendria said, smiling at Carrigan. He huffed and went back to his breakfast.

“Speaking of cold things.” I started. “I never really went into temperature yesterday, did I?”

“Nope.” Carrigan said around a mouthful of food. “Though I do remember a bit about those molecules of yours shaking it around.”

“Tell me then Elendria. What is temperature?”

“How hot or cold something is.” She immediately replied, taking another bite of food.

“I see. A good answer, but how do you determine hot and cold? Take this weather. Carrigan calls it cold. You call it refreshing. Is there a way to determine it exactly?”

“Shardic scale.” Carrigan said. “Someone took the temperature water freezes at and set it to zero. Set the boiling point at a hundred, and evenly cut shards out in between.” As Carrigan explained, I got a great smile. Shards sounded exactly like degrees Celsius.

“They did something similar with my world. So tell me, what’s the lowest you can get shard wise?”

“I, don’t really think I have tried.” Elendria said after a minute, while Carrigan was wracking his brain.

“You’ll have to ask the barbarians in the north.” He said after a bit. “Friendly enough, if you are respectful. The Mage’s guild often sends expeditions of ice and fire mages up there. I think the lowest they recorded was minus sixty shards. That’s not the lowest ever, as they refused to go into the Killing Ice.”

“What’s this Killing Ice?” Elendria asked. I gave him a smile and a nod to go on, it wouldn’t hurt to take a few side trips with this explanation.

“A flat plain of ice. Cut through it deep enough, and they say there is a sea beneath it. Though by the time you got deep enough to see the sea, the hole you started digging would have frozen over. There’s no cover there, and the wind will freeze the blood in your veins if your constitution isn’t high enough. I saw the edge once, and it’s a deadly kind of beautiful. Blowing snow and ice crystals, with no tracks to be seen. Though I’m sure Sean has a good reason for bringing it up. Care to tell us what the lowest temperature really is?”

“Sure. We have several scales for measuring temperature where I am from. One matches your shard scale exactly. There’s another one though, that doesn’t go negative. Once you hit zero on that scale, that’s it. The lowest you can go. It coined a nice little term too, they call it Absolute Zero.”

“So, how does this relate to the shard scale?” Elendria asked.

“Simple. On the shard scale, Absolute Zero would be negative two hundred seventy-three.” I said, not bothering with the decimal. Their eyes were already bulging in their heads as they stared at me, and Elendria had stopped with her mouth open. I gently reached over with a finger to lift her chin, startling her back into thinking. “Something special happens at that temperature. When you get something that cold? All those little molecular motions stop.”

Something strange started happening as Elendria sat and stared at her food. The immediate temperature in the area dropped, and our breath started fogging. Carrigan and I backed away, as even the fire struggled to stay lit. “What’s going on?” I asked Carrigan, worry lacing my voice.

“I think she is pondering your words, and maybe gaining a bit of insight into temperature.” He said, shivering. “Glad it was during breakfast and not on the road.”

In a trance, Elendria set aside her food and breathed out a cloud of vapor into her hands. It rapidly solidified into an amorphous ice crystal. She stared at it, without moving. Looking at her in mana sight, I saw energy flowing from her to the crystal. Energy that suddenly stopped, and flowed in another direction. The energy went from the crystal, to the fire. The fire that sprang back to life, greedily consuming the energy that Elendria was sending it. The crystal? It seemed to radiate coldness. Even from fifteen feet away, it was like standing in a restaurant’s walk in freezer.

“Disperse.” With a whisper, Elendria shattered the crystal of ice into little motes of light, and the resulting temperature stated to rise rapidly. “What’s wrong?” She asked, looking around to see the entire camp staring at her.

“You, ah. You might have gotten a bit of a breakthrough there.” Carrigan chuckled. “Sorry about your breakfast.”

“Huh?” She said, turning to see her meal was now a frozen lump, and she couldn’t even remove her spoon from it. “Oh that’s just great.” She swore.

“Any chance of that happening again?” Bribis growled as he appeared between me and Carrigan. “No? Good. Oh!” He said, turning back to stare at us. “You two! If this is what happens when things get cold, you aren’t going to be talking about when things get hot. Not until we get to Shineheart, and where they have proper protections. Got it?”

“Yes sir!” We both replied. He turned away grumbling something about not respecting his position, when Carrigan turned to me.

“Is there?” he asked, hopefully.

“There is. Luckily we won’t ever reach it again. It’ll give you something to look forward to once we reach Shineheart though. I would hate for you to burn down the area around us.”

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

After our little ice fiasco, life settled down. The mountains and hills were covered with pine, giving our journey a rather refreshing smell. We also moved a bit slower, but that gave me plenty of time to finish out gaining the hydromancer title and gaining penta-elementalist. That took an entire day, as it was only finishing the two novice water spells. What really slowed my progress was helping Carrigan keep featherlight spells on the wagons when we entered some of the steep inclines.

After that, I found myself in a bit of a pickle. I had promised that I wouldn’t try and learn fire magic, and so I couldn’t earn the true elementalist class upgrade. Not wanting to go back on my word, I tried perfecting my control of celestial magic and grinding out the elementalist class for any hidden mana bonuses.

Celestial magic started with trying to link together several of my constellations into a bigger bonus. Unfortunately, no matter what combinations I tried, they just refused to sync up properly. Oh, casting them was fairly simple, but I couldn’t get more than two at a time. The bonuses just refused to increase how I wanted. I was sure that if I managed it, I would get an increased bonus that was greater than the sum of the parts. Giving up once I had gone through nearly all the combinations available, I tabled that until I could get an expanded list of constellations. There had to be some in this world that were connected.

Unfortunately for me, most of my celestial magic wasn’t grindable. I managed to increase otherworldly solar system up to 600 of 1000, but it refused to increase after that. Inspiring constellation was likewise stalled, and I doubted I could create a lot of new skills without more magic types. Ice, fire, and gravity magic came to mind. Who wouldn’t want to sling comets around and create black holes? I could make a meteorite spell, but had a feeling that would require fire magic as well. Reaching yet another roadblock, I went back to grinding lower elemental skills.

I managed a week perfecting both mana only skills and the elements I had spells for. Telekenisis hit a breakthrough when Elendria pointed out how to do a five strand braid. You start by keeping the strands divided, three and two. Take the outer strand of the three, over the middle and under the inner, then slide it over to the second group so that it becomes the inside strand of a new group of three. Repeat as necessary. That unlocked greater telekinesis, and the strands were incredibly strong. All the work with mana also increased my mana control skill, getting it up to 400 out of 500. I credited that with the increases to multi missile and homing missile, as the control increased the number I could create and the range with which I could manipulate the mana away from my body. Though I did manage to reach maximum level with the spells, they didn’t upgrade.

Maximizing the elements was a fairly easy process, as I simply went through some of the lower spells that I had maxed with one element, and filled in the gaps with the remaining few. Mage dagger was originally only a dark spell, but having the option of multiple elements in it would probably help in the future. Mage blade and elemental imbue really pushed the experience forward, being journeyman spells. Frustratingly enough, I couldn’t maximize elemental imbue. It refused to increase above 45 out of 50, taunting me with yet another bottleneck. I was also tantalizingly close to maximizing a grandmaster spell, having pushed my full mana plate up to 995 of 1000. I was still missing that last little bit, even after incorporating active elemental defenses into the suit.

Despite all my gains, divine magic was frustratingly out of my grasp. It just wouldn’t merge with mana, no matter what I tried. I had far too little of a supply of it to waste in casting a spell purely from spirit, but that didn’t quite give me the same roadblock as others. I still had enough every night that I could try and see just what could cause it to react, and so that’s what I did. I started out with pure light, then split it up into colors. If it were a particle, hopefully I would find a way to excite it. Unsurprisingly, that didn’t work. I wasn’t dissuaded, since visible light is really a small portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. So I went lower. From infrared, down through microwaves, and into the radio range. While most atoms would find some form of interaction in those ranges, the spirit didn’t. So much for the easy range, as those were all lower in energy than light. And so I struggled to increase my light skill. Hitting the ultraviolet spectrum wasn’t that hard, but I had to be careful where I aimed it. Beyond that was where things would get dangerous, and I didn’t want to inadvertently cause someone cancer.

Though that did bring up questions of constitution. Could a high enough constitution cause a body to resist something as strong as X rays? Or would it simply put off the damage until later in life, letting the cancer come sweeping in and overwhelm the body in a hurry? My best bet was to probably assume the worst and take sensible precautions. However, my tenacity and ideas started to pay off. Just at the lower end of the X ray spectrum, I started to get an excitation from the spirit. So whatever it was, any excited states would require an obscene amount of energy to reach.

The most interesting part was when I dabbled a bit in separating the electrical and magnetic components of light. It seemed the particle was attracted by the positive portion of the electrical field, as well as the north pole of the magnetic field. I smiled at this. It would make manipulation of spirit based attacks simpler. Especially since no matter what I tried, mana and matter didn’t deflect the stuff at all.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

“What can I do for you master?” Elendria asked. We were only a few days out from Shineheart, something I was looking forward to.

“I was just wondering about ice. Can you tell me about how it fits in with the elements?”

“Sure.” She said. “Though I suggest that you don’t try and learn it just yet. The advanced elements also have a combined class, though you need to have at least four of them to earn it. Advanced elementalist, and it simply has the number of advanced elements after it.”

“Sounds easy enough. So what’s up with these advanced elements?”

“Easy. Heh. Not quite. Advanced elements require at least two lesser elements to be combined to generate it. In addition, you must have mastered one of the lesser elements. Just so you know, each additional element in a spell increases its tier by one. So there are no novice ice spells, all of them start at apprentice.”

“For ice, there are two ways to create it and they are vastly different. The one I prefer is a combination of water and fire. Watch.” She ordered, summoning a sphere of water. “When you summon water, it isn’t the pure element. If you want to make ice, the easiest way is to remove the fire mana from inside the sphere.” She stuck a finger in, and pulled it out. Balanced on the end of it was a much smaller red sphere that instantly caught fire when it cleared the water, which had already turned to ice.

“The rest of the mana should still balance, but without the fire mana, the water reverts to ice. If you study this enough, you will notice the differences in the mana. Water mana is a deep blue, while ice mana is much paler. Changing the ratio of mana will also produce different combinations. As you practice it, you won’t have to go through the intermediate water step.”

“Huh. Well that makes perfect sense. But you said there was another way. Can you explain it?” I asked, hopefully.

“Sure, though I’m surprised you haven’t thought of it. If you add extra dark mana to water mana, it can drain it of heat. This version is different.” She said, summoning some. “Black ice.” Sure enough, the ice she summoned was jet black, and seemed to just suck in the light.

“Whoah.” I said, sitting back. The stuff gave off an odd vibe, and just seemed a little creepy.

“You feel it, don’t you? It isn’t normal ice. If you make restraints from it, the person will have trouble controlling their mana.”

“I see.” I said, still feeling a bit uncomfortable around it. “Do all the advanced elements have multiple ways to create them?”

“No. Things like the lava element will always be earth and fire. Earth and light will create crystal. Fire and light create lightning. And since you are wanting to ask, yes there are three element combinations. Wind, water and fire create a maelstrom. Change water to earth and you get sandstorm.”

“Those last two, they just sound like spells.” I said, confused.

“They can be.” She said. “Though it is depending on the execution. The wide range attack is generally the same, but you can concentrate it. Sending a tornado of comprised of sandstorm element? It will shred flesh from bones in seconds. Now, that is a bit out of your reach for now my Lord. You will need the boosts from fire magic if you really want to cast the advanced elements.”

“You know, you’re right.” I said. Settling back, I started to think about what I could do. And to plan out how I was going to spend my time in Shineheart. Carrigan had assured me that they could help me train at the magic academy there, though I wouldn’t need to join any classes. First would be to finish up fire magic, and finishing true elementalist. Then I would need to figure out how to make gravity magic, along with a few more of the combinations. With four needed to create advanced elementalist, that should be a priority so that I don’t run out of classes. I would also have to look into possibly priest as I checked in with the temple of Bruin. Hopefully they had a magic class that could increase my spirit. Maybe someone at the academy or temple could point me in the direction of combining spirit and mana as well. Shrugging it off, I started looking through my status. Finishing out all of those lower classes had really boosted my mana, though the mana regen was dropping back to normal. All of the bonuses were set to keep the mana regeneration at around an hour for a full tank. The bonus from spirit had dropped that down to just under 40 minutes, but it was slowly creeping back up. Looks like around 45 minutes right now.

Name: Sean O’Carrol

Age: 32

Titles:

Chosen of Ariana (hidden)

Blessed by Lokir (hidden)

Otherwordly traveler (hidden)

Summoned Hero (hidden)

Attributes:

STR – 6 (+2)

AGI – 5 (+3)

DEX – 7 (+3)

INT – 27 (+18)

WIS – 28 (+18)

CON – 10 (+3)

END – 10 (+2)

Health: 115/115

Mana: 3,625/3,625

Health regen: 0.078/min

Mana regen: 80.48/min

Spirit: 10/10

Spirit regen: 0.42/hour

Class: celestial sorcerer (4,00/10,000)

Available classes: priest (0)

Secondary class: Penta-elementalist (5,000/5,000)

Unfinished classes: 2/10

Profession: Camp Cook (11)

Available professions: slave master

Secondary profession: none

Finished classes: Aeromancer, photomancer, shadowmancer, geomancer, hydromancer, penta-elementalist

Level: 18/25

Exp to next level: 20%

Class bonuses Earned

Classes

Bonus

(completed) Novice sorcerer (air, dark, light, earth, water, penta-elementalist)

(+1 int, +50 mana)x6

(completed) Apprentice sorcerer (air, dark, light, earth, water, penta-elementalist)

(+2 wis, +100 mana)x6

(completed) Journeyman sorcerer (air, dark, light, earth, water, penta-elementalist)

(+2 int, +1 wis, +2.6 mana recovery)x6

Celestial sorcerer (4,000/10,000)

(+250 mana, +4.17 mana recovery)x4

Elemental wizard 250 (dark, light, earth, air, water, penta-elementalist)

(+50 mana) x6

Elemental wizard 750 (dark, light, earth, air, water, penta-elementalist)

(+0.83 mana recovery)x6

Elemental wizard 1000 (dark, light, earth, air, water, penta-elementalistx5)

(+100 mana, +1.67 mana recovery)x10

Spell and skills list

Novice

Apprentice

Piercing magic missile (5/5)

(air, light, general, dark, earth, water)

Minor elemental imbue (5/5) (air, light, dark, earth, water)

Mage dagger (10/10) (dark, general, air, light, earth, water)

Multi-missile (10/10)

(general, dark, light, air, earth, water)

Gentle gust (5/5)(air)

Air screech (5/5)(air)

Homing missile (10/10) (general, dark, light, air, earth, water)

Lesser telekinesis (10/10)

Featherlight (5/5)(air)

Overlook (5/5)(dark)

Lesser elemental imbue (10/10) (earth, water, light, air, dark)

Air jet (10/10)(air)

Eyecatcher (5/5)(light)

Signal (5/5)(light)

Directed air screech (10/10)(air)

Featherlight (3/10)(air)

Flash (5/5)(light)

Darkburst (5/5)(dark)

Vortex shield (10/10)(air, water)

Overlook (10/10)(dark)

Create shadow (5/5)(dark)

Lesser detoxify (5/5)(earth)

Eyecatcher (10/10)(light)

Shrieking signal (10/10)(light/air)

Brittlefy (5/5) (earth)

Stoneskin (5/5) (earth)

Directed flash (10/10)(light)

Blackout (10/10)(light, dark)

Leadweight (5/5) (earth)

Gently heat metal (5/5) (fire)

Directed Darkburst(10/10)(dark)

Mana consumer (10/10)(dark)

Water stream (5/5)

Gush (5/5) (water)

Earth bullet (10/10) (earth)

Greater stoneskin (10/10) (earth)

Bubble (5/5) (water)

Heat metal (10/10) (fire)

Water spray (10/10)

Journeyman

Master

Mage blade (50/50) (dark, general, light, air, earth, water)

Mana exploration (50/50)

Magic hologram (65/200)

Solar sphere (30/50) (celestial and light)

Jetstream (5/50)(air)

Lesser mana drain (50/50)(dark)

Honed mage blade (1/200)(air, dark)

Mana tether (1/200)(dark)

Bladed vortex shield (35/50)(air)

Magical disguise (49/50)(light, dark)

Sniper bullet (200/200) (earth, air)

Inspiring constellation (45/200) (celestial)

Inspiring constellation (50/50)(celestial)

Flowering bullet (50/50) (earth)

Abrasive water jet (85/200) (earth, water)

Greater telekinesis (50/200)

Lesser mana infusion (50/50)(Light)

Wind Blade (50/50) (air)

Elemental imbue (45/50)

Advanced heat metal (20/50) (fire)

Water jet (50/50)

Telekinesis (50/50)

Grandmaster

Skills

Otherworldly solar system (600/1000)

Full mana plate (995/1000)

Mana control (400/500)

Inspect (1/5)

Common tongue (3/5)

Completed spells per tier

Novice:

Earth: 6

Air:5

Fire: 1

Water: 3

Light:5

Dark:5

Mana: 1

Apprentice:

Earth: 6

Air: 8

Fire: 1

Water: 6

Light: 8

Dark: 8

Mana: 4

Journeyman:

Earth: 2

Air: 2

Fire:

Water: 2

Light:2

Dark:2

Celestial 1

Mana: 2

Master:

Earth: 1

Air: 1

Fire:

Water:

Light:

Dark:

Constellations skill

Constellation

Bonus

Constellation

Bonus

Confidence of Selene

Increased archer speed, decreased enemy elemental magic

Demon’s Hand Nebula

Mana regen doubled

Drevor’s Spear

Stamina consumption reduced by 20%

Emmerian’s Staff

Fire magic costs 10% less, is 20% stronger

Trion and Greystreak

Stealth skills 25% more effective

Death’s Embrace

50% more damage to undead

Bruin’s Heart

Potions 20% more effective

Gramash’s Sheild

+20% defense, 5% chance to reflect magic