"..k... u...!!!"
"w..a... up!"
Cage heard a voice calling to him, but not the "crossing the river" kind.
"Wake up!!!"
'Wake up? ugh... five more minutes...'
Cage still had his eyes closed as he rolled over, trying to block the annoying noise.
"Wake! Up!"
*bonk*
Cage shot up upon receiving an impact on his head. Opening his eyes, he saw Layla, one of the healers, standing over him.
He was in a stone room that seemed to look like a medical ward. Cage was on a 'bed' that was made of stone.
'It seems Vic did some expansion...'
Layla walked over and began doing a standard checkup. "Jeez, took you long enough. I was beginning to think you had gone into a coma or something."
She checked his pupils to see if there were any abnormalities.
Cage sighed, "Sorry, I was too busy saving our asses to worry about how strong the backlash would be... Anyways, how long was I out for?"
Layla took a small hammer and hit the area near his knee to check his reactions.
"I don't think a kid your age should be talking like that- then again, none of us are really normal now, are we? Can you say 'aaaa'?"
Cage opened his mouth, "aaaa."
Layla got up and handed Cage a small pouch that contained water. It seemed to be made from the hide of the Earth-Hog. After Cage finished drinking, She continued, "You were out for about half a day. The rest of us were about to have dinner, care to join?"
At the mention of food, Cage realized he was quite hungry. He nodded his head, "Sure."
Making his way to the lounge-like area with Layla, Cage was met with the festive sight of everyone sharing a drink and eating food.
Granted, the drinks they were having were just water and the food unseasoned, but they were celebrating just being alive.
Andrew and Dan both waved him over.
Andrew smiled and held out a piece of meat, "Glad to see you're awake! We saved you some food!"
Cage happily took it, "Thanks!"
He immediately began to inhale the meat. As the saying goes, "anything can taste good if you're hungry enough."
Some of the people froze upon seeing his eating rate. It would leave five fully grown men eating together in the dust!
Before long, Cage had finished his food off and let out a content sigh.
The fire pit had orange fire roaring and licking the air. Cage sat nearby and curled up, letting the warmth of the flames wash over him.
He stared mindlessly at the flickering light and let his mind wander.
Only eighteen of the expedition team were left. One died from the Earth-Hog, while the other had been killed due to getting a bit too close to the water and was eaten by a beast.
He wondered why no one was sad, but when he asked Andrew, the latter had just responded that being sad wouldn't do anything.
All being sad would do was waste energy and lower morale. Although silently, the entire expedition team had resolved to themselves get stronger so they would survive.
Cage wanted to get stronger as well.
To do so, he would need more physical and magical skills. He would need to use the least amount of energy to defeat an enemy.
His [Icicles of Death] skill was too inefficient. Even if he used it at near full mana, he would bottom out and even receive backlash.
Cage tried to remember his skill before receiving the backlash and getting knocked out. Cage suddenly came to a realization.
'I built my skill well, but I think my fundamental understanding is lacking. Normally, I would have gone from Tier 1 to Tier 2, but I immediately jumped to Tier 2.'
He didn't have a foundation. Anyone could describe ice. It was frozen water and was cold to the touch, but what were its exact properties? How did it interact with other elements?
He learned something valuable when he used his frost skill, but whether it was good or bad was still up for debate.
Cage sighed, 'It really is too early for me to use a Tier 2 skill.'
As much as it pained him, Cage chose to erase and forget the rune formation for his one frost element skill. All the laborious mental work he had done, down the drain.
Cage still liked the concept of the skill, but the way he had done it was, to put it bluntly, terrible. It was like he had used a bicycle for an hour to charge a car battery so he could start his car then drive a five-minute commute to work. Sure, it had worked, but it was the most inefficient way possible.
Now that Cage thought about it, his understanding of Shadow magic was also lacking. He would have to fiddle with his elemental mana in his free time. The best way to learn it was through practical usage and, ideally, through just basic manipulation.
While in front of the flames, Cage willed the Frost mana in his body to gather to his hand.
He shaped it into various shapes to try and understand it.
It gave off a cold radiance, but as it was his own mana, it didn't feel uncomfortable at all. Truth be told, it felt familiar and like a long-time friend. Being near the frost mana made his blood feel warm, despite how contradictory that sounded.
While fiddling with the frost mana, Cage momentarily stared into the fire.
'I wonder...'
Cage coated his hand and forearm in frost mana. The moisture in the air turned into frosty wisps that originated from his arm, giving it an ethereal look.
He immediately stuck it into the blazing hot flames.
Andrew, who was watching, became panicked upon seeing Cage's arm in the open flame.
Rushing over, he said, "What are you doing!?" Andrew forcefully yanked his hand out, "Your hand is-... Fine? What?"
His expression went from one of panic to confusion in mere moments.
Cage tilted his head, "What is something wrong? I'm experimenting with mana."
Andrew sighed. He had a strong sense of déjà vu at this moment. "You know what, why do I even bother... Have fun with your experiments."
Cage shrugged in response, then stuck his hand back into the fire.
Strangely, he noticed that his mana reserves wouldn't go down if he just had it active and not in the fire. However, his mana would be actively drained by the flames when it was in the fire.
'If it doesn't drain my mana unless I take any type of damage, shouldn't I just have it active all the time?'
Covering his body in the frost mana, he found that it created an invisible protective aura of sorts. The only indicator is that he had cold wisps coming off him, similar to his hand earlier.
Looking at himself through mana-vision, he looked like a neon, light-blue advertisement.
The cold wisps looked cool, but they were too attention-grabbing.
It only took him a little over an hour to make it into a skill. He shaped it to be a bit more visible and made it look more intimidating. The end result was an armor suit that looked like it was made of ice. The best part was that it didn't inhibit his movement at all!
It made him look like a frosty warlord.
While admiring his creation, he suddenly had a thought.
'If I'm able to do it with frost mana, am I able to do it with shadow mana as well?'
Deactivating the layer of mana, which he dubbed [Frost Armor], he coated himself with shadow mana.
He found that his presence was significantly reduced. It also seemed like he partially faded into the shadows.
He didn't know if it had protective properties, so he slowly reached his hand towards the flames with caution. Sticking a finger out, he plunged the end of it in.
The flames only licked his finger for a moment before he reeled it back.
He blew on his finger and then stuck it in his mouth, 'It seems like my [Frost Armor] will be good for frontal combat while the shadow mana one will be suitable for stealth stuff.'
Another hour later, he had made another skill called [Shadow Cloak]. As the name implies, Cage had shaped it to look like a cloak.
By now, everyone had already cleared out from the lounge area. Only Cage was left, staring at the dying embers of the fire.
He would be embarrassed to some extent if the others saw what he was about to do.
[Frost Armor!]
[Shadow Cloak!]
Donning armor that seemed to be made of ice and a near-pitch black cloak, Cage looked like a child-warlord. It was honestly a funny sight.
Cage deactivated his two coatings. Cage was about to turn in for the night, but an idea flashed through him.
He had a dual affinity, so what if he combined them?
It might even allow him to discover his compound magic.
The thought excited him. He raised both his hands and willed his respective elemental mana to well up.
He slowly brought his hands together. He was tense because he didn't know what would happen.
Typically, when two elements are mixed, they would either refuse to mix or become unstable and even potentially cause a backlash. This was one of the reasons why dual affinities were so valued and as well as why two mages or enchanters couldn't combine elements in a combo attack.
The two elements finally touched.
"Eh?"
It was like he was trying to mix water and oil. Nothing happened, initially, that is.
In the next moment, they began to combine!
However, something wasn't right...
"Crap..."
Before they had fully mixed, they became unstable and exploded in a dark and frosty torrent of mana.