Ebony was in quite a dilemma, looking back to where he ran from, it was almost pitch black if not for the blue flames that's still being emitted from the Frostblaze Amur Maple Trees and Shrubs. Going back will put him back in the same situation where unseen dangers and monsters may lurk.
While staying in this area may potentially freeze him to death, Ebony ultimately decided to just stay where he was within the territory of the self-combusting trees.
His logic was that he had a stock of crabapples that could keep his health topped off and while he could gain Cold Resistance he seriously doubted he was going to gain a Monster Resistance skill. If the trees could ward off the wolves it would likely ward other monsters off too anyway. Honestly, Ebony was just too tired to continue moving about.
Sitting down not too close or too far from the original tree he was laying against he checked his Status while keeping an eye on surrounding trees, observing how long the flames would last. 'Status'
Name: Ebony Rime
Class: N/A
Sub-Class: N/A
Profession: N/A
Health: 41/60
Stamina: 16/60
Mana: 100/100
Strength: 5
Vitality: 6
Constitution: 9
Endurance: 6
Agility: 7
Intelligence: 6
Wisdom: 10
Perception: 7
Generic Skills:
Persistent Meditation Lvl 8
Lesser Stealth Lvl 4
Identify Lvl 3
Cold Resistance Lvl 4
Running Lvl 2
Treading Step Lvl 2
A few new skills and skill levels here and there were comforting to see despite the little use they have now. Checking the crabapples he's depending on, he found that they were mostly in good condition except the 7 in his pant pockets which were a little squished from running about. One was missing and probably fell out in his haste. Eating one of the squished ones, he watched his HP slowly recover again. Only this time it restored all 10 HP that the description that Identified gave said it would. Strange.
Feeling the warm flow of energy through his body again, the crabapple had the effect of warding off the cold but Identify didn't give such information, maybe being at too low a level. Using the light from the flames, Ebony checked his watch habitually, showing that it was 3:47. Ebony was transported into this snowy place when it was about 2 in the afternoon, though it obviously isn't noon in this place. His watch was working fine as far as he could tell.
Trusting his watch, it's been a little under 2 hours since he's been here and his life had already been threatened twice, thrice if nature counts. Waiting for a minute to pass again his HP dropped by 2 points, dead in 30 minutes if he was at full HP. No sleep for the weak, a lesson Ebony learned the hard way long ago. A Vital crabapple heals 10HP, Ebony had a total of 143. If he took 1 every 5 minutes it would last him slightly under 12 hours at this rate.
With there being nothing much he could do, Ebony meditated silently while taking in the sight of this magical world. Gazing into the sky, the moon was pretty normal. There was also only one over here, just looking bigger and brighter than Earth's.
In a short while, the Frostblaze Amur Maple Tree's blue flames slowly flickered out as with the others in his surroundings though he can still see the bright blue flames deeper in the maple's territory. Light blue particles in the air caught his attention, he didn't see them due to how faint they were compared to the burning leaves in the area. No, he wasn't seeing them at all. He felt them. It was a weird sensation Ebony never felt before.
Ebony went back closer to the tree and noticed a thin layer of ice forming on its trunk and leaves and felt the surrounding temperature rising a little, he calmly watched the tree like an idiot. Not noticing his HP has already dropped to 31.
'Ting' 'Generic Skill Cold Resistance level up 4 → 5'
His Cold Resistance seems to be rising quickly perhaps due to actually taking damage. Disregarding the skill level gained, Ebony continued staring at the tree while popping 2 crabapples like candies into his mouth. Ebony could faintly feel the blue particles going towards the tree and attaching themselves onto the tree and seeping into it. Another layer of ice forming and dissipating till he could no longer feel any particles in the air.
'The leaves of the Frostblaze Amur Maple Tree will spontaneously combust into freezing flames of frostblaze to cool itself and its surroundings down. Utilising the cold to toughen itself and grow'
'Utilising the cold to toughen itself and grow was likely what it was doing but what were those blue particles? It's not like I can 'see' cold. And since when did I have another sensory organ to feel those particles?' sitting back down against the tree Ebony got another notification.
'Ting' 'Severe frostbite has deteriorated into mild frostbite - Slightly affecting physical movement and increases stamina consumption'
'Ting' 'Generic Skill Persistent Meditation level up 8 → 9'
Finally able to relax a little, Ebony rested. He doesn't have a tendency to ponder on questions he has no answers to. Humming some of his favourite BGMs and anime theme songs softly to pass the time in this eerily silent forest, somewhat forgetting it may attract unwanted attention. However, nothing came. In another half an hour, he gained a level in both Cold Resistance and Persistent Meditation and the trees combusted into flames again, lasting for 15 minutes. He got severe frostbite again and had to eat another 3 crabapples to combat the cold and damage.
Gaining 2 levels in both Cold Resistance and Persistent Meditation. Ebony observed the supernatural phenomena of the trees absorbing the light blue particles again. The light blue particles seem to be produced by the freezing flames which are reabsorbed by themselves forming a layer of ice that seeps into the tree and is repeated over and over again till all the particles are absorbed.
Just like that, time passed quietly with the exception of the soft humming coming from Ebony. When his Cold resistance hit lvl 15 he no longer got severe frostbite when the flames came alive. With only mild frostbite when it did, and no frostbite at all when the cold or maybe the light blue particles, is absorbed by the Frostblaze Amur Maples.
As an experiment, he left some damage unhealed to see if health regenerates when he's no longer taking damage and was pleasantly surprised that it did at 1 point of health healed in over an hour. Saving him some of his crabapples that were his lifeline.
Persistent Meditation didn't slow down in levelling for some reason reaching lvl 18, Ebony even got a Humming skill, redundant as it was it got to lvl 4.
Humming - Humming musical melodies producing minor effects to mood depending on melody. Very slightly increases in effect per level.
Ebony tried touching the light blue particles which he thinks should be mana or ice mana, if that was a thing. He couldn't physically touch them, they just went through his hand and back out making him feel the slight chill they emitted.
Seeing his skills level was more addicting than he imagined, somewhat understanding how level grinders feel. It has only been about 4 hours since he sat down but he wanted to move deeper into the Frostblaze Maples' region as he could see that the forest deeper burns brighter for longer and more frequently than the trees in the outskirts he was in. His Cold Resistance would level faster if he took damage from the cold and higher skill levels could only be beneficial for him right?
Resuming his trek, energised with his stamina full. Ebony went deeper all while Identifying all that he sees to look out for dangers, points of interest or just to level the skill. It was an uneventful trek, he took a break when his stamina hit 20 and continued once it was full again. The trees and shrubs' density got thinner and thinner, the temperature lowering till he got mild frostbite again.
Ebony trekked on till Treading Step and Identify levelled once and he began to see something slightly different.
[Frostblaze Amur Maple Tree (Rare) - The leaves of the Frostblaze Amur Maple Tree will spontaneously combust ice elemental mana into freezing flames of Frostblaze to cool itself and its surroundings down. Utilising the cold to toughen itself and grow.]
The difference was in the rarity tag that changed from uncommon to rare and its corresponding colour. The flames were of a lighter shade of blue and they were noticeably taller and thicker. The maple leaves were a lighter shade of red but Ebony could be seeing things wrong in the night.
There was a significant drop in temperature as Ebony was inflicted with severe frostbite again. Ebony was going to continue his training montage again but was slightly shocked that his body felt much stiffer and the damage he was taking from the frostbite was almost twice as high as before.
Quickly putting some distance Ebony was glad that the trees weren't as close to each other in this area. He may still have over a hundred crabapples but they were finite and he didn't want to waste them when he's not in mortal danger. Besides, Ebony couldn't eat the crabapples if he was frozen stiff before he consumed it.
Ebony's routine continued, the rare variant of the Frostblaze Amur Maple stayed alight for twice as long. When the flames died down Ebony saw or felt that the number of particles increased greatly, at least 3 times as many as the uncommon one. His new senses felt natural, as if he had them all along.
Experimenting more with them was easier with how much there was in the air. He tried clasping onto a bunch with his good arm hoping to keep them in place but the same happened and they phased through his grip sending him a tiny chill. Pondering on the idea that those particles were mana particles perhaps he should just 'think' of keeping them in place instead. Ebony believed that this was a world with magic or he wanted to believe it.
Griping another handful and imagining the particles stopping Ebony looked upon his clenched fist and waited and waited... It didn't phase through his hand! Unclenching his fist Ebony felt about a dozen particles unmoving above his palms. Delighted, Ebony tried to move them with his mind or thoughts. Slowly but surely, he saw them move according to his will surprisingly easily.
Pushing them to move closer together and trying to merge them proved successful. He continued combining more particles from his surroundings seeing how much he can control at the same time but then what he saw and a system notification made him pause momentarily. A bead of ice formed over his palm where the mana was gathering. Ebony was enchanted by it, by the fact that he made that appear by will, a notification solidifying his internal joy.
'Ting' 'Generic Skill Ice Mana Manipulation learned'
Ice Mana Manipulation - Ability to move and shape Ice Elemental Mana at will using mana. Ability to manipulate Ice Mana increases slightly per level.
Classification: Ice Magic
"Hot damn, that was a lot easier than I thought it would be, can I call myself a wizard now?" Ebony murmured, unaware just how many would've felt so aggrieved by the comment.
Just like any full-grown man with a newfound toy Ebony played around with his new skill. Only doing so for a short while left him somewhat disappointed. Trying to shape a simple ice cube the size of his fingertip almost took him a full minute and his MP gauge showed 96/100. It was wholly inefficient. At least with his current abilities or skill level, with how long it took to form such a small quantity of ice it wasn't practical to use in battle. Furthermore, Ebony could only form simple shapes like a ball, cube or sheet of ice easily.
On the bright side, the Ice Mana Manipulation skill was levelling quickly, it was already lvl 3 after Ebony tried to form an ice knife or dagger of sorts but ran out of mana halfway through the process. The construct was pretty pathetic as Ebony could break the 'blade' apart with his hands and he couldn't form the edges to be at any respectable sharpness.
The rare Frostblaze Maple didn't combust for roughly a full hour, Ebony's MP regenerated by 12 in the meantime. 10% of his max mana per hour or so he estimated. Finally being somewhat useful, Persistent Meditation increased his regeneration by 18%.
Hours passed.
By daybreak Ebony was sitting under the rare Frostblaze Maple tree with a thin layer of snow and ice on his skin and clothes. Unbothered by it he took out a crabapple to munch on leaving him with 111 of them. He was still taking damage from severe frostbite even with his Cold Resistance at lvl 23. It was bearable due to his originally high pain resistance or maybe Persistent Meditation which levelled all the way to 27 had helped there with the increase in pain resistance.
Humming and Ice Mana Manipulation levelled twice each. Ice Mana Manipulation only levelled twice due to how slow Ebony's mana regenerates even with Persistent Meditation constantly running. Overall, it was awfully satisfying to watch his skills grow in real-time. If there was one thing Ebony loved about his current predicament is that he's in a world where he can easily perceive his growth in ability through the status page. Although he has no idea how fast skills are supposed to level up, he felt that the current rate was really fast, especially Persistent Meditation. It was practically a passive skill for Ebony at this point with how he doesn't even have to think to run the skill.
His watch is telling him that it's 5:34, about 14 hours since night fell. The nights were either longer since it's winter or the day and night cycle wasn't exactly the same as Earth's.
Ebony was tempted to do his morning routine training out of sheer habit but it would leave him too exhausted to explore like he planned to. He heard movement from his surroundings which proved that the area wasn't safe from animals like he thought it was.
Ebony turned towards the noise and watched as a lump of snow moved. Staying alert, he saw the lump of snow being shaken off its body.
Revealing itself fully, it was very eye-catching or perhaps it was the opposite. It was a turtle about the size of an adult sea turtle. The turtle looked like any other he's seen except that it was not unlike a moving ice sculpture having its entire body from its head, shell, legs to the tiny short tail being light blue and almost translucent. It easily blended in the environment.
[Ice Crystal Turtle Hatchling Lvl 8]
It was 4 levels higher than the wolf pup but Ebony didn't feel much danger from it, maybe it was due to it being a turtle which shouldn't be any faster than a wolf. Or maybe it was because of how freaking cute it was. It was worrisome that he didn't notice them in such close proximity to him but Ebony wasn't one to worry about a fact that he couldn't change. After all, an entire night passed with them there and it wasn't as if he was attacked. Yet.
Ebony escaped from a wolf, though it was just a pup and it was still learning to hunt, he doubted the turtle could chase him if he tried to run despite the advantage of levels it had over Ebony.
More lumps of snow revealed themselves to be undercover turtles, 2 more were lvl 8 hatchlings like the first. Then Ebony felt as if the ground shook as 2 car sized turtles woke up as well. "Hot damn… I must have been blind to not notice those humongous piles of snow", Ebony couldn't help but mutter. In his defence, it was dark and a lump of snow here and there wasn't exactly unusual in this forest.
[Ice Crystal Turtle Lvl ???]
[Ice Crystal Turtle Lvl ???]
They looked around and glanced at Ebony before ignoring him and walking towards the 3 hatchlings. Nudging them on, they went towards a Frostblaze maple tree. Intrigued, Ebony observed as one of the huge turtles opened its jaws and twisted its neck 90 degrees before taking a bite at the tree. The turtles had a mouth like that of a snapping turtle with a sharp ridge on its top and bottom jaw. The extra mark in its level didn't mean shit to Ebony when it just meant they needed even less effort to munch him up.
The snapping of wood echoed in the silent forest loudly, as the turtle slowly released its bite on the tree. Two gaping holes could be seen on the tree while the other large turtle which Ebony mentally labelled as mama turtle nudged the hatchling over to the tree. Papa turtle took another bite at a different angle producing more holes in the tree.
Moving closer to them, Ebony saw each hatchling chomping on a hole or at least that's what it looked like to him. Staying in that position for a minute or two before letting the poor tree off, a glint reflected in Ebony's eyes. Cyan coloured liquid could be seen flowing out of the tree which Ebony assumed was magically coloured maple sap.
The hatchlings backed off a little and retreated back into their shells, making way for papa and mama turtles to enjoy their drink of maple sap, taking much longer before stopping. Mama turtle puffed out blue mist on the tree, sealing the holes on it in ice. Either with magic or something it could do naturally.
Ebony didn't think they could do that naturally but it was more evident for him to feel the ice elemental mana in its breath after playing around with it for hours. Ebony's Ice Mana Manipulation only allows him to exert control over the present ice mana in his surroundings while the turtle obviously produced the mist with its own mana.
Before Ebony could continue pondering on how he would be able to do the same with his own mana he noticed the mama turtle staring at him. Staring back lazily, Ebony was unbothered due to the lack of hostility from them. Mama turtle looked back to the tree where Ebony could see that there was one hole left unsealed. Ebony was surprisingly indifferent towards the intelligent creature, no point wasting precious energy being surprised by everything happening.
'Is it telling me to drink that too?' being kinda apprehensive towards that notion.
Although Ebony didn't happen to find any sources of water and he couldn't exactly melt the snow without a source of fire or pot for it. It didn't mean he was inclined to drink some sap from a tree that burns itself. Just because it was safe to drink for the turtles didn't mean it was going to be the same for him.
Mama turtle hissed or grumbled, whatever noise it made, as if urging Ebony to hurry up. Not testing the creature's patience, Ebony went up to the tree right beside mama turtle. Much more intimidating up close its head was at the same height as Ebony. It could probably split Ebony in half with the strong jaws it had or outright freeze him with magic.
A steady stream of sap was leaking out of the Maple tree, taking out his already empty flask he collected the sap that looked like a cocktail. Startled in his mind when his flask had ice forming where the sap touched, fortunately, it didn't freeze through the flask.
[Frostblaze Amur Maple Sap (Rare) - Ice mana absorbed by the Frostblaze Amur Maple Tree condenses in its sap before being circulated throughout the tree to strengthen it.]
Mama turtle sealed the hole then looked at Ebony and nudged him as with its children, not expecting that caused him to lose his balance due to how hard the 'nudge' was spilling some of the sap on his left hand. Sizzling, a sharp pain flashes through slowly turning to numbness and literal bone-chilling cold.
'And here I thought that finally, not everything was trying to kill me over here. Turns out that when a seemingly friendly giant turtle is treating me to a drink, it's actually preparing a Ebony flavoured ice pop.'