Frostbound [LitRPG Apocalypse]-Chapter 209 - New Toy

While my stats were looking good and my skill choice was finalized, there was one last thing I needed to do before remaking my hammer. I had spent much of my recovery time working on the Wards and the Formation lining the Outer Walls and I had gotten a few levels in my Profession.

With the addition, it pushed me over level 60 and I now had yet another skill to choose. This one was less impactful than the Legendary ones I had to choose from through my Class, but it was still something I needed to get done.

So far, I had everything I needed for my craft. [Sense Metal] had upgraded to [Sense Frequency], bumping the rarity up to rare I wasn't able to get the upgrade I wanted right away, forcing me to push past Uncommon and go straight to Rare. [Create Weapon] and [Create Armor] were both well on their way to Rare as well, with only a small push away from being there.

Vincent had once again beaten me to the next rarity for our craft. His newly expanded affinity and body worked wonders and pushed him over the edge to creating Rare equipment while I hadn't dedicated enough time to raise my abilities there yet.

He could make Rare gear before, but it required me, or another enchanter, to enchant it to push it over the edge.

I was intent on catching up and was intent on dedicating some quality time to do so. I had even gotten some practice smithing with my makeshift arm, even if I wasn't as good.

[Metallurgy] had naturally upgraded to Uncommon through use. It hadn't really felt like an upgrade at the time and was a rather lackluster event over my years of smithing. As more metal came out of the Dungeon, and various metals and alloys were distributed, my knowledge of the metals grew and my skill upgraded.

My [Forging Proficiency] was still stuck at Apprentice, sadly, but I could feel that it was on the cusp of Journeyman. [Warding] was in the same boat, as I felt it nearing the edge of Rare as I laid down more of the Formation. [Mana Engraving] was already at rare from all the use and had only minimally gone any further.

The jump from rare to epic was a large one and I hadn't even done it with any of my Class skills yet.

[Mana Infusion] was my only skill stuck at Common for my Profession, and I wasn't in a hurry to increase it. It would help create better gear, but not many needed my affinity for equipment, making the gains I could get from a higher rarity infusion skill minimal.

[Basic Runecrafting] was at Rare still but that was in the same boat as [Runesmithing]. Both applied a bonus to any Runes I created but they did different things. [Basic Runecrafting] helped me gain knowledge about the Runes making them easier to read while [Runesmithing] helped in implementing that knowledge.

They had grown by leaps and bounds with my constant study of Formations and Wards, even if they didn't receive an upgrade to show it. I felt the difference every time I worked.

Honestly, my next skill choice was up in the air. I had everything I needed to carry out my craft, now it was a choice of where to venture further. There were Blacksmithing skills I could pick up that would help in that department, more engraving skills I could pick up that would make the process smoother and easier.

More specialized Ward or Formation skills, which would make my ability with those specific subjects of Enchanting greater.

It was kind of a shock to go from only 6 skills to choose from for my class, to the multitudes available for my Profession. Some of Vinny's skills were even on my list, or their base versions as he had long since upgraded most of them.

As odd as it seemed, the skill that had given me the most insight into what I was trying to do, was [Formations Mana Flow]. While [Warding] helped me understand the process and pointed me in the right direction sometimes, seeing the mana flow, or feeling it, was a much greater boon.

It was the main reason I had gotten so much done at the pace I had kept.

Using it granted me the knowledge that I lacked and let me see where my mistakes were. That knowledge was then used to understand why.

The why behind how things worked had eluded me for so long and seeing the mana flow and change was beginning to let me see the deeper reasoning behind how Runes worked.

That being said, while taking a skill to make enchanting or smithing easier would be useful, it was the underlying knowledge I wanted access to and only a few skills could be useful in that regard.

Beginner Runic Language(Rare): Helps decipher and understand the language behind Tier 1 Runes. Must have at least some prerequisite knowledge on the subject to be useful. Deeper study and familiarity with Runes will allow you to get more from this skill.

It was a new addition to my skill list and beat out the others by a mile when it came to usefulness. I knew, from extensive experience, that no skill imputed knowledge directly into your head.

Not even [Basic Runecrafting] just gave me the knowledge. It hinted and nudged, but it was up to me to either see and heed the advice and understand it, or continue aimlessly.

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How this skill would work, I wasn't sure, but I had a few ideas. My guess was that it would help point out areas of Runes I had seen before and help me understand how what I already knew was being used differently in other Runes.

My assumption came from the fact it said that prerequisite knowledge was required.

With the decision made, I added the skill to my growing list and turned to the next order of business. I had a few new toys to try out and one called to me much louder than all the others.

And to use it, I needed my hammer.

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The first time I had summoned my hammer it had been... something. It had drained me of everything I had to bring the hammer into reality and my suspicion was it would do the same now.

Having grown by a great deal since the last time I had summoned it, I was excited to see if there would be any difference. The extra energy I would use to create it had to do something... right?

That being said, I sat in the coldest area I could and readied myself for the dreadful pulling that would come.

My forge was emptied of anything near where I sat to not cause a disturbance and I was even a distance away from my Spirit Fire for the same reason.

The pale blue Flames had died down since it wasn't being fed but still flickered back and forth.

Activating the skill was exactly the same as last time.

The mana it took started out as a small trickle before quickly increasing in intensity. The slim thread of mana flowing out grew into a string, then a cord, then more.

Physical energy went next, the Stamina being ripped out of me. I could clamp down on my energy and stop the process if I wanted, but that would create a weak weapon and there was no need to fear my energy leaving.

A fog of Frost built up in front of me as the energy pouring out of me coalesced and gathered.

Mental energy joined in next, taking from the pool that would usually power my Laws. Instead of restraining its pull from including my newly acquired Wind Law, I let it take from both. I wasn't sure how the Wind Law would change things but I felt no harm in letting it.

Last, but certainly not least, it began to pull on my Spirit. The energy that I used to empower things and the pool of it that had grown from my liberal use.

The skill pulled on everything I had and I gave to it freely.

I wanted to create the best weapon I could and holding back would only harm that ideal.

It took longer than last time, as I had a lot more energy for the skill to siphon, but it wasn't a bad thing. The skill was already unusable in combat on the account it drained me dry of everything I had, and taking longer to form wasn't that much of a downside.

It was easy enough to feel the power grow as more of it leaked out of me and joined the growing fog. Snow fell from it as the temperature plummeted.

Almost an hour later, a comfortable weight fell into my awaiting hand and I couldn't keep the grin from my face.

My hammer was back.

It was silly to think of it as a sentient thing, but I had grown fond of it while swinging it around for nearly two years.

My eyes immediately took in the differences. The glow it gave off was more vibrant and the frosty aura was stronger. The icy blues and whites were more vibrant, more lively if that could be a thing.

Most wouldn't consider anything aligned with Winter to be lively but I felt like that was a misconception. Winter might not be the time for Life to flourish, but that didn't mean that it was devoid of it.

Especially now that there were magic plants and the advanced adaption of animals that lived in the Cold.

Other than the colors becoming deeper and more colorful, the size and shape hadn't changed, thankfully. I was already familiar with the weapon the way it was and if it had changed I would've had to change the way I fought, refamiliarizing myself with it.

The one thing that did change about its function was its weight. It was much heavier now than it had been and that was a much desired change. My Strength had grown tremendously since I last used the skill and it was nice to feel the heft it once had again.

With [Avalanche], [Fury], and [Glacial Presence], all boosting my Strength further, not to mention my Bloodline, it was near becoming too light.

That wasn't the case anymore.

It would be difficult to swing with one hand and would basically ruin all my training in doing such a thing, but that was a worthy trade-off. A hammer was supposed to be heavy and I would tolerate no less.

The last change of note was the head of the weapon looked even more mesmerizing. Where it once looked like a living blizzard of snow revolving around inside the weapon, it was even more profound now.

It almost looked like its own world was contained inside the ice. I did not doubt that the heat it sapped on contact had similarly grown as well.

Changes noted and observed, my excitement would tolerate no more delay. [Frozen Rift] was calling and I would oblige. I was barely able to hold back and allow time for my mana slowly come back. As soon as I felt I had the bare minimum to activate the skill, I was off.

Unsure of how the skill would function, I did take a tiny... sojourn... to find a more appropriate area to test the skill. Not a delay, per se, but a temporary stay.

Odd looks were shot my way as my face barely contained the excitement I felt. I didn't let those stop me though, and I exited the Castle and walked to the edge of the cliff where the land was free.

There would eventually be a building here, as there were already stakes placed out for such a thing, but I couldn't remember what it was nor did I particularly care right now.

Taking position near the edge of the cliff, I readied myself.

I aimed to have whatever the skill did activate away from the budding city and directed its activation outward, over the land below.

With everything set, I sent mana into the skill.

My guesses were proven correct, and as mana flowed into my hammer, a different string of Runes came alight than [Shattering Hammer] and even more mana than was required than the latter skill.

I had expected its hefty cost and prepared accordingly, sending mana in droves into my weapon. The power flowed through the Runes and reached the head after winding through the glowing lines along the shaft.

Sensing that it would soon finish, I began my swing and observed with wide eyes.

The mana... vanished. Gone without a trace and in its place was something else. Something that set my instincts on edge. In barely a split second, what was once a swinging hammer with massive amounts of mana became something more.

From the leading flat face of my swing, my hammer hit the air and stopped dead. Ripples of power flowed out from where my weapon had stopped and it felt like I had hit an unmovable wall. No matter how hard I pushed, my hammer was stuck.

Before I could question what was happening, a dreadful cold flowed from the hammer's face and Ice shot out in a line. A giant pillar of Ice longer than I was tall extruded out of the weapon faster than I could blink before the connection was cut off.

Its power was spent and in place of what had once been a sizable portion of my regenerated mana, was a shining pillar of ice.

If that was all, it would have been underwhelming. Even I could form ice like the skill had. Not nearly as fast or forceful as what I had just witnessed, but I could do it.

What set me on edge was the feeling in my bones that caused my fear to build.

Even looking at it made my feet want to back away involuntarily.

The Ice the skill formed scared me.

It contained a Cold that I wasn't sure even I would be able to endure.

Even with fear bubbling up, I couldn't tear my eyes away. Even as it felt like they were freezing over and the need to blink became painful, I couldn't.

This was what I was chasing.

An Ice so cold and enduring that it could freeze anything.