The biting chill subsided as the twisted effect finally set Daruk’s consciousness free, filling his mind with a sense of clarity and newness. He looked down at his chest and smiled at the sight of the new seal etched on his chest.

  With a wide smile, he stepped out of the holding chamber and said at Rahim. “Thank you for coming to get me on such short notice.”

  “Of course.” Rahim nodded. “I only wish more and more students realized the importance of having people around before trying for a seal. Success is both a victory and a curse.”

  Daruk felt amusement bubble in his chest, and he let it show on his face. “How did my mother take my sudden disappearance?”

  Rahim scoffed and handed Daruk a change of clothes. “She was not pleased at all. But I think she understands the importance of safety. Fortunately, your twisted effects aren’t too violent. I daresay four or five more, and you wouldn’t even need the chamber anymore.”

  Daruk nodded. “How long was I… not myself?”

  “39 hours real time. That’s less than two days.” Rahim grinned. “If only a certain someone will follow in your footsteps.”

  Daruk chuckled. “I don’t think he can help it. It’s his nature to be so chaotic.”

  “Well, at least he has been laying low for the last two weeks. Hopefully, this holiday will pass by without any breaking news.” Rahim created a portal for him and said. “Say hi to your family for me.”

  “I will.” Daruk stepped through the portal, smiling as the world blurred, and an instant later, he found himself in his bedroom. Feeling the hum of his new seal, Daruk decided to scrutinize himself and review his status screen before announcing his arrival to his family and the dozens of people waiting downstairs.

  He settled into a meditative pose, and with a single wave of his hand, he converted the whole room into an ice cave, chock full with cold essence. Icicles jutted down from the ice-covered roof, their jagged edges gleaming in the afternoon light, and a thick dusting of snow covered the floor and furniture from inch to inch.

  It was nothing compared to the chill of the origin plane, but it filled him with a sense of belonging. He breathed in deeply, enjoying the frigid bite of cold as it entered his lungs before closing his eyes to scan his spirit.

  He had done it; after nearly two weeks of constant meditation and training, he had finally condensed his understanding enough to gain another seal and push his grasp into an opening.

  Excited to test out the new changes in him, Daruk opened up his spirit to the origin plane and hissed both in pleasure and pain as chaos rushed in, filling his spirit with an intense wave of cold. He couldn’t wait to start progressing his energy enhancement technique, but before that, he needed to give his status screen a look.

  [STATUS]

  Name: Daruk Brystion

  Class: Evolved Ice Awakened: 99.9% (PENDING)

  Title: Neophyte, Bronze, Sealbearer (2), Architect, Origin Marked, Icy Spirit, Silver, Warrior of Will.

  Tier: 23-64%

  Glimpse—? Opening: Increases elemental control by 2.5%.

  Techniques: Energy Enhancement (rough), Perfect Imbuement Technique.

  Skills {Innate}: [Ice manipulation] [Ice creation]

  {Other}: [Freeze] [Cold Vision] [Drain Heat] [Forge constructs] [Ice conversion] [Animate Constructs] [Hailstorm] [Hailspears] [Frost Beam] [Ice Age] [Frostbound Curse] [Track Forged Constructs] [Glacial Paradox—Stage 1]

  Bloodline: FrostForged Ancestry (Rare+).

  ? Amplifies ice and cold-related abilities by 2.25%

  ? Grants major resistance to cold

  ? Aura of frost heart.

  Congratulations! You have gained a class scaling skill.

  [Glacial Paradox—Stage 1]: This is a rare and enigmatic skill based on your understanding of the paradoxical nature of ice and cold. The skill functions solely on willpower and allows the user to conjure and manipulate paradoxical forms of ice, bending the natural laws of reality and the element of ice. At the first stage, Glacial Paradox grants access to two paradoxical ice forms—LiquidIce and FireIce.

  For the past six weeks, Daruk had slowly steered his understanding towards the paradoxical nature of ice, and that was because ice by nature was too simple. Too easily countered, and if it wasn’t for the massive amounts of willpower at his disposal, Daruk was certain Aodhán would have left him far behind by now.

  All in all, Daruk was pleased with his steady advancement. He was no longer rushing as he wanted to make up for his unsteady foundation, courtesy of his insane rush through the first ten tiers, and now having gained a class scaling skill, Daruk felt like his efforts were finally yielding results.

  The fact that the skill was solely dependent on willpower wasn’t even a cause of concern for him, as he now produced even more willpower than he could use at all. The ball of willpower in his core was already taking on tints of gold, and at the rate he was going, Daruk suspected he would break through to the next rank of willpower concentration in a few months.

  The amount of willpower he was constantly channeling was the reason he had gained the {Warrior of willpower} title, which simply granted him more willpower control. It wasn’t anything too special, but it had nearly pushed Daruk’s control of his willpower into the advanced class.

  With frigid chaos still surging through his spirit, Daruk glanced through his skills and the changes or additions he had made in the past month or so. One of his greatest achievements was the refining of {Drain Heat} until its effects had evolved in range and power into a skill that sucked out every single iota of heat around him when activated.

  The skill had become very willpower intensive, though, which was the new trend Daruk had begun experiencing with his skills. Nearly all of them drained large amounts of willpower. Not that he minded, but it was obvious this was the system’s attempt to contain his strength.

  Returning his attention to the {Glacial Paradox} skill, Daruk decided to test it out. After Aodhán’s experience with {Elemental Lightning}, Daruk was quite familiar with the concept of class scaling skills and how one had to develop the skill without any external input. To do so, though, he needed practical understanding of his skill, and there was no other time better than now to do so.

  Flexing his aura, he released another wave of chill, adding another layer of frost to the already sealed room before activating the skill.

  {Glacial Paradox—LiquidIce}

  An almost imperceptible ripple spread out of him, and Daruk felt an immediate change in the ice around him. Frowning, he made a pulling motion, and three icicles surged towards him, elongating and flowing like liquid rather than cracking. The icicles curled around him, their structures solid despite their sinuous movements.

  Fascinated, Daruk created a solid box of ice and directed the icicles at it. The icicles shot towards the box, curling at angles that should have been impossible for a solid construct, and impacted the box with a thunderous crash. Both the box and icicles shattered, but Daruk was too fascinated to calculate the damage at the moment.

  One of the limitations of ice was its rigidity, forcing him to create more ice if he wanted to move in different directions. With LiquidIce, though, he could attack a wide area or even kill hundreds with only a single icicle, as it could theoretically expand forever.

  He conducted a few more tests on the skill, conjuring and manipulating icicles to understand the mechanics behind the skill. When he was done, he did the same with {Glacial Paradox—FireIce}, and the results were just as wonderful.

  The nature of the surrounding ice changed again, and this time when he manipulated a cascade of jagged icicles, they roared forward, taking on a flame-like appearance not unlike a pyre of flames. The burning icicles emitted an intense cold instead of heat, and as they spread, they consumed the energy around them, freezing the area even further while devouring away anything of substance.

  It was a real brain twister, and it wasn’t until his bed collapsed, releasing an intense wave of cold, that Daruk finally cut the skill off. The skill was a paradox alright, and Daruk was certain he would require at least a few weeks to get used to the nature of the skill.

  The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

  He conducted a few more tests, using {Glacial Paradox} in tandem with some of his other skills to determine what special effects they might have. There weren’t many changes, although the skill had a really interesting effect when used in tandem with {Drain Heat} and {Freeze}.

  Daruk lost track of time as he buried himself in his cultivation, and it wasn’t until he felt the gnaw of hunger in his belly that he snapped back to reality. Checking the time, he realized that it was evening already, which meant that nearly five hours had passed since he returned.

  He still had an hour or two before dinner, though, but he was certain they would find him before then. Chuckling, he pushed himself to his feet and began clearing his room.

  It had been approximately two weeks since they had returned from the academy, and while Aodhán spent his time hunting cultists with a champion, Daruk had decided to make the most of his time, only allowing himself the first two days of the break to rest and spend time with his family before delving headfirst into his training.

  When he wasn’t training, he attended the parties he and Aodhán had agreed to. Sometimes he went alone, and other times he went with Yurin and Andrew, who had sort of become a legend in noble circles.

  News of Andrew’s achievement had spread like wildfire all through the kingdom, and at every party they attended, all everyone wanted to talk about was how amazing Andrew was. Daruk didn’t mind at all, just grateful that he could have a break from training to hang out with his friends, but Andrew was uncomfortable with his new fame and was dealing with it in much the same way Aodhán had done: hiding.

  Needless to say, that only made him seem more mysterious and fascinating in the eyes of the press. The fact that he was noble, though, did make the whole thing easier for him to manage.

  Andrew’s personality had changed after his experience, though, but it was to be expected after the infusion of such a large amount of chaos into his spirit. The twisted effect had taken him a total of nine days to recover from, and the changes in his character were more than obvious.

  He hadn’t become intelligent by any means, but an aura of sagely wisdom now emanated from him. He sounded wise even when saying the most mundane of things, forcing Daruk to overanalyze his words every time to find some sort of hidden wisdom. So far he had found none.

  Andrew had also grown less talkative, choosing to simply observe while others talked. The last and most obvious change, though, was his strength, which had shot up so drastically that a match between the both of them would be indecisive. Andrew’s control of plants had grown by leaps and bounds, so much so that plants now gravitated towards him without him taking any action.

  After his release from seclusion, Daruk and Yurin had spent an entire day scrutinizing his icon, a green tattoo of interlocked, twisting vines on his wrist. Andrew had explained what the icon meant and how it functioned, and although Yurin seemed to follow the explanation easily, Daruk had had a much harder time doing the same. What was his ideal? What was that idea that encapsulated his entire life and will to advance?

  Sighing, Daruk cleared the frost from his room with a wave of his hands and opened his window for the first time in days to let the evening sun in. The fact that no one had realized he was back yet was both disturbing and a relief at the same time.

  Usually, Aldric or his parents would have come to disturb him by now had they known he was around, and sometimes it could be annoying as he usually had to put an end to whatever experiment he was conducting at the time and turn down the temperature of his room to accommodate them.

  To avoid such interruptions, he had made it a point to check in with his parents at least once a day to assure them that he was still alive, lest his mother force her way into his room and freeze to death all because she was missing him.

  Smiling at Synové’s extremities, Daruk opened the door and stepped out of the room only to come face to face with the Aldric, who shivered from the wave of chill that billowed out of the room and cursed. “Damn, that’s cold.” He eyed Daruk curiously and said. “Congratulations on your new seal. Mother has been worried sick.”

  “Thank you, Aldric, and Mother needs to stop worrying so much.”

  Aldric shrugged. “It’s not your safety she’s worried about. She’s more concerned that one of these days, the twisted effect will twist our personalities so much that we’ll change like your friend Andrew.” He eyed Daruk and snorted. “Unfortunately, I don’t think that day is today.”

  “You say it as if it’s a bad thing.” Daruk chuckled. “What’s wrong with my character?”

  Aldric scoffed. “You’re proud, posh, indifferent, a flirt, a liar, a traitor, a—

  “Do you have any proof of these allegations?” Daruk cut him off before he could continue listing out his worst behaviors. “I will not stand here and let you defame my character!”

  “Oh, save it.” Aldric rolled his eyes. “I can literally sense your guilt from a mile away. You know I’m right.”

  “Maybe about a few, but I’m not a traitor.”

  “How about all the times you threw Aodhán and me under the bus to Mother when she asked about our relationships? Sounds like treachery to me.”

  “Aside from that. Give another instance.”

  Their banter continued as they made their way down the stairs, laughing as Daruk tried and failed to get Aldric’s head in a lock to stop him from talking. Aldric had returned home to maintain his ruse as a student of the 12th academy, and although Daruk couldn’t sense his brother’s core like Aodhán could, he could still tell that Aldric had once again gotten stronger.

  There was now a thin silver band around his eyes that suggested that he had evolved his willpower, and the subtle presence of chaos around him also hinted at the development of an opening. Daruk was sure there were other changes regarding his advancement tier or even seals, but those weren’t things he could tell by merely looking at his brother.

  Interestingly, Aldric wasn’t the only one progressing in the family; even his father had taken a small yet surprisingly big step, evolving his glimpse into a grasp. It granted him a bit more control over his flames, at least enough that he should be able to take on any creature below tier 8 without any problem.

  The step forward had given Unrid hope, and he had doubled his efforts, spending nearly as much time as Daruk meditating. This had been ongoing even before Daruk and Aldric returned home, which had forced Synové to deepen her relationship with their neighbors and keep herself busy without having to depend on Unrid for company.

  This led to, well, Daruk couldn’t explain exactly what his mother had turned those houses into, but the closest term to describe it was a noble house. The entire house had been renovated, and the interior design had changed from the mess of colors his mother usually preferred to something more tasteful.

  They arrived at the living room a moment later, and Daruk wasn’t the least bit surprised to see nearly a dozen women and their children gathered in the living room, dressed in fashionable clothes, eating fruits and gossiping about anything and everything.

  The Brystions might not be the richest family in Menton, but they were certainly the most famous, and he daresay, influential. Despite being commoners, they were treated with far more respect than other regular people.

  Synové had taken advantage of their growing status and had begun holding court within the living room. They received visitors daily now, and why wouldn’t they? Families wanted to align themselves with the family of an inheritor, a family with three Awakened sons, two of whom were high-ranked students of the prestigious 5th academy, and the third who was the subject of several shady rumors amongst high nobility.

  Synové was, of course, aware of all their motives, as Aldric had sat her down to explain it all in detail, but Synové didn’t seem to mind and had even coerced Unrid into joining them whenever he wasn’t meditating.

  The moment the gathered women noticed his presence, they plastered on large smiles, and Synové rushed forward to hug him. “How is my favorite boy doing?”

  “I’m doing fine, Mum. I gained a new seal, an opening, and a new skill too. I couldn’t have asked for a better day.”

  “That’s wonderful. Oh, you must be hungry.” Synové smiled and pulled him into the circle of women along with an unwilling Aldric. They sat down on an empty couch, and while Synové went to the kitchen to get him something to eat, one of the women, a dark-skinned woman dressed in elaborate green robes to show off her wind affinity, smiled and said to him,. “How delightful to have you back home, Daruk. The house has been terribly dull without your wonderful stories.”

  Daruk laughed. “You flatter me, Mrs. Brightwell, but I must confess that I’ve missed you guys too.”

  “Is that so?” Old Miss Hearthson asked, raising a skeptical eyebrow to stare at his hands. “I don’t see any gifts thanking us for our wonderful presence.”

  “Oh, that’s just it, Miss Hearthson. I am the gift.”

  The women chuckled, and Daruk relaxed. For the next few minutes, he spoke and joked around with the ladies, all of whom were perfectly polite and friendly. Unlike Aldric and Aodhán, who were usually uncomfortable in such a setting as this, Daruk had trained his whole life to be a noble. Drinking tea and entertaining guests was an easy task for him.

  Synové soon returned with a tray of cookies and handed it to him. After she sat down, she asked. “So, how was it? The whole seal thing?”

  Daruk shrugged, trying to downplay it. “It was an interesting experience. Very insightful.”

  “Oh, aren’t you just so scholarly.” Mrs. Johnson, an unawakened, middle-aged woman with round features, spoke. “It’s so very nice to see refined men these days. It has become quite the rarity amongst the male population.”

  “It truly has.” Old Miss Hearthson nodded and clasped her hands together, eyes gleaming with juicy delight. “Oh, you’d never guess what I witnessed at the square yesterday. Mr. Thornton—yes, him, the one who parades around like he’s some highborn gentleman—was out there bellowing like a wild bull because the baker sold the last loaf to Mrs. Calloway. He actually climbed onto a cart to shout over the crowd, waving his arms like some crazed street performer. And then—oh, this is the best part—he tried to snatch a baguette right out of the poor woman’s basket! I had to step in! It was positively scandalous, I tell you!”

  “Oh dear.” Synové shook her head in disgust as if such a character wasn’t something she was capable of. “Such barbaric behavior, and in public no less!”

  “I tell you.” Mrs. Brightwell shook her head. In disgust. “But the men aren’t the only ones behaving barbarically. I was at the post office yesterday, and you wouldn’t believe what I saw with my own two eyes.”

  All the women leaned forward, eyes wide with curiosity, and Daruk had to admit that he too did the same, mouth stuffed full with cookies as he waited for Mrs. Brightwell to drop the second half of this juicy gossip.

  “What did you see?” Mrs. Johnson asked impatiently.

  “I heard that that skanky woman, Mrs. Weathersby, was seen stumbling out of the Rosewood Inn well past sundown—not a place for respectable company at that hour if you catch my meaning.”

  Oh, Daruk caught her meaning alright, and from the way even Aldric’s lips were twitching, it seemed he was listening after all despite pretending to be asleep.

  “And get this,” Mrs. Brightwell continued. “Her hair was a mess, bonnet missing entirely, and her gown wrinkled as if she’d been… Well, I’ll let you use your imagination.” She paused, savoring the gasp the women made after they used their imagination. “And the gentleman who escorted her out? Not her brother, I assure you! It wasn’t her son either!”

  “But she is married!” Mrs. Johnson exclaimed. “And her husband is sinfully divine to look at. What could she possibly be doing in such a place?”

  Daruk had an idea, but he decided it was better he kept it to himself. The rest of the evening passed in this manner, and Daruk absolutely enjoyed it. He had nothing to input, nor would he actually do so even if he did, but it was fun just watching the women gossip, drink tea, and relax.

  Dinner came soon after, and they all moved to the overly large dining table that now occupied the dining room. Unrid joined them, and after saying their prayers, they all dug into their meals, grateful for this peaceful moment and hoping that it lasted forever.