According to Ragnar the location of the king's domain had changed ever since the previous Frost king was killed. That meant they wouldn't be going to the cliff Drake had fallen off on his first day in the world. Apparently the old man had investigated the tunnels himself after Drake left and learned that the maze of tunnels extended not just below mount Icewyrm but also to the rest of frozen peaks. "... do you hear that?" Roland asked, holding a hand behind his ear trying to get a better sense. Drake noticed that the land was vibrating and the moment Ragnar did he turned to the others and shouted."RUN!"the part began dashing. A moment later the ceiling behind them began to crumble as something fell off from above.It was a long blue snake like conster except it's huge and had rows upon rows of sharp crystal like teeth."Icewyrm!" Ragnar cried."____________!!!" The beast cried. A moment later a jet black arc shot toward it cutting it's sharp teeth along the rest of its scaled bo
"This is taking longer than expected." Drake said as he fell on the cold floor.The beast encounters became more and more frequent as time went on, and each one was more troublesome than the other. "The density of Magical Essence is quite high here." Layla said, blowing on her hands to warm them up. Turns out they were approaching he center of a really large magic zone. Their destination in other word. That explained the number of beasts and their strength, however knowing that didn't make them feel any better about it. "Old man, how long do we still have to walk?" Drake asked. "Not much." Ragnar answered. "We will be reaching the exit in about an hour.""Then we better find somewhere to camp. We need to get some rest before the big battle."A few minutes later the party found a relatively quiet. It was close enough to the king's domain that no beast dared to enter but it was still far enough that the new Frost king didn't notice their existence. They set camp and cooked some foo
Having had enough rest the party prepared for the upcoming battle. Each equipment their armor and weapons and steeled themselves for the upcoming battle. The frost leaking from the exit reached their bones. As they walked toward it Layla suddenly stopped aned her eyes were lowered into a glare."Something isn't right…" she said, her six tails standing on ends.They were approaching a the center of a magic zone from the highest tier. They all knew what awaited them there, but when the female Beastkin said something was off they all heightened their guard."We don't have much of a choice…" Drake said. It wasn't like they can afford to retreat after coming so far. "Let's go!"The moment they walked out of the exit the four were met with a calm white scenery. It was a snow field that seemed to extend to the horizon. It was clear like the surface of a cleaner calm lake, only one thing disturbed the harmony of such a beautiful sight. At the center of the field was a giant creature. Its hi
"You have been listening in on is the entire time?" Drake said, sounding utterly unsurprised."Well, you can't really blame me." Rillo said. "I couldn't bring myself to interrupt your moment."Turns out the red haired boy had arrived ahead of time, killed the new Frost king and was waiting for the others to come out so he could surprise them with an epic entrance."Anyways, as I said before it would be for the best if you dont revive the kid now." Rollo said, eager to change the topic. "No." Drake said. "Why do we have to listen to you? You think you can just come here and make demands? Fuck you and your council bullshit! Go deal with them and leave me the fuck alone.""You dont really have much of a choice." The boy said, ignoring Drake's outburst. "You think those guys care about your circumstances? You're just a nuisance that could be removed any time. The only reason you weren't killed is that you are considering a part of my family, which let us decide what punishment you get. T
"Just to be clear, you must join our family afterwards." Rollo said pointing a finger at Drake."This doesn't really make sense." Drake said. "If I remember right those deities from the upper realm choose some individuals and give them powerful souls, right? Isn't that basically scouting? Is there any point to it if the challenger can choose which family to join?""Well one of the rules prevents families from sponsoring someone and forcing them to join their family later. It gives the challenger the right to join a much more powerful faction if it turns out they aren't satisfied with the one that chose them." The red haired boy went on with the explanation."Sounds like a pain." Drake commented."It is." Rollo said. "It's all because the powerful families are afraid those weaker would discover someone talented before them. This way they can always negotiate with the challengers they wand and offer them better deals increasing their chances of obtaining highly valuable talent.""Your s
"Roland, I'll be relying on you." Drake said to the tall guy. "You got nothing to worry about." Roland flashed a wide grin.After much discussion it was decided that Roland and Layla would be hiding in the tunnels under mount Icewyrm. Going back to the Blue Giants village would be too much trouble as wanted posters with their faces must have spread by now. "Just to be clear, dont you dare lay a finger on my wife." Drake said jokingly, however the aura leaking from him said he was rather serious.He then turned to the old man with a wry smile."Sorry for dragging you all the way here for mo reason." "Nah it was quite the nice experience." Ragnar said. "With this I'll be finally able to retire in peace.""Even though you didn't get the adventure you were looking for?""Who cares about that? Someone my age wouldn't be out here in the first place."The old manlet out a throaty laugh then patter Drake on the shoulder. "Stay safe, lad. Be sure to drop by when it's all over."Drake then
The trip using the shadow guy didn't take long, though one could argue that, for something akin to teleportation, two minutes was indeed a long time.The black smoke disappeared revealing the new scenery. Same as the first time Drake had traveled with the shadow he felt that he had been taken into a completely different world. The sky was red. Varying shades of Crimson danced around like Aurora lights. The mysterious lights didn't reflect on their surroundings though as everything seemed to have a natural color as if the lighting didn't matter at all. In the distance Drake could see boulders and chunks of earth floating around weightlessly. Strange beasts flapped their wings as they flew around. The two, three including Kage, were standing on a hill covered in bluish green grass some strange plants were growing here and there including mushrooms with strange patterns. All of that didn't matter though as what caught Drake's aattention wasn't any of those things.Standing ahead of t
"Shit…" After walking for a while Drake found himself at the edge of a cliff. Apparently he was on a small floating island the entire time with the black castle being quite far in the distance. From that hight he didn't even see the surface down below. A sea of clouds was down there with some floating boulders and islands here and there. Compared to the islands he had traveled to so far the ones he was seeing now were much smaller. No island big enough to carry a single city was around. That made him wonder if the Dragonspears were living in isolation, cosimg this place specifically because it was away from the rest of the world. After thinking about it for a while Drake decided to use his flight skill to reach the island with the black castle. He stepped away from the edge of the cliff, took a deep breath and prepared himself, then when he was ready he began dashing forward using Flash step to increase his speed then jumped with one lef on the edge reaching the highest point he c