"The cold is a silent killer; only the really strong can endure it; ice is a defense, an attack; it is the habitat where monsters live, and it can be your grave if you are not able to resist it. Put your hands on the scale and let the weight of the ice give you your rewards."
A ball of frozen energy the size of a watermelon was created when I placed my hands and the pendants on the scale. Ildra watched the entire process from afar with expectation and curiosity that overflowed from her eyes. She was a little scared when the ball was thrown away. Towards my body and hit me in the belly...
""Ice mana affinity was created. 1/43100"
"Congratulations on completing the ice main mana core."
"Congratulations on completing the hidden quest in the ice room 4/4 completed"
"Congratulations to the player for being the first to free creatures from the sanctuary during the tutorial"
"Congratulations on being the first player to reach level 10 during the tutorial"
"Congratulations on being the first player with 14 cores of level 3 or higher in the tutorial"
"Congratulations on being the only player to obtain all 14 types of main energies during the tutorial."
Ice Mana Core, Level 5. 1/70000
"You can go to the statue room to receive the blessings of the goddess of magic and finish the tutorial"
Ildra accepted my silence as I meditated and got used to all the changes in energy in my body. I didn't waste time doing tests; the elf's gaze seemed urgent at times...
"Lion... in Athair you will face many more dangers than in this tutorial. Do you want to have a practice match with a native of the world you are going to arrive at?" The proposal was surprising, but it seemed like a fair reward for having saved her, the information was power...
"Thank you so much, Ildra. I will not waste the opportunity you give me; you have my gratitude..." I was ready to take up my spear and face her, but she stopped me...
"It's very cold here; why are we not going to the Clark's' room in the stone test tunnel? It will be easier, more spacious, and calmer without this temperature..." She was referring to the room of the last test of the dirt hallway...
It was far away, and it would be a challenge, but I opened a dimensional rift putting all my power into it, she gave me her hand and we both crossed through the rift to the cavern with the small lake...
"Although you are strong, and although you have many mana affinities, you are only an embryo of what you can become. If we fight like this, I will hurt you, I will use strengthening magic on you to even the balance a little, turn around, and I will do the same. When my last spell ends we turn around and the fight will begin, this way no one will have the advantage..." Ildra began to say...
We retreated from each other about 5 meters, and I turned around. Ildra began to cast one spell after another...
"Zion evrin il car folias" my strength increased by a lot...
"Zion orkan teler il zulien" My body became elastic and flexible in an unexpected way.
"Zion truc il car vensen" My speed and reaction capacity became superhuman
"Zion oulera il car shonsen" My stamina and constitution took a quantitative leap
"Vormen zug dari meg ourlain" My skin felt like it was a real iron barrier.
"Atarax orkan shonsen maliean buriem" All the tiredness disappears, it is as if I were regaining my strength with each breath.
The effects of a strengthening spell were terrifying; my physique, which was already reaching the limits of human capacity, felt elevated. To a universe far beyond, my strength, my resistance, and my skill rose by many integers... It was like having obtained the body of a superhero with powers... When Ildrá finished her last spell, I turned quickly with my shield and spear prepared...
"Shall we start the real fight then, Lion, or are you going to stand there looking at me with your mouth open...?" She was completely naked and smiling... Her body under her clothes and armor was even more spectacular than my mind had imagined...
He may have been a freak; I may have been an antisocial person, but I wasn't a knight errant either... I wasn't a shy kid; I was a man in his thirties. It would be silly to run away from a situation like that... so we kept an exciting fight...
I can't tell you how much time we spent at the lake, chatting, wrestling and swimming in the waters. It was a fun time. Ildra was a confident woman, with experience; she did not mix sterile romanticism in that game, but she was nice, very nice...
"Well, boy, I think it's going to be time to leave..." she told me while she put on her clothes and armor...
"All good things come to an end sooner or later…" I smiled at her as I followed her lead and put on my gear…
"If I'm not wrong, you will reach the territory of Sentría, I have cousins in those lands; don't worry, I will look for you, and we will meet again... besides, a life debt cannot be paid with a few fights, right?" she told me while winking at me...
"I hope that by the time we meet again, I can be up to the task; if it weren't for your strengthening spells, I would have died... I never thought about using magic for these purposes..." Really, the physical difference between Ildra and me was abysmal, even with her strengthening spells.
"I'm sure you will be…" Ildrá seemed to be hesitating about something. "I know I shouldn't tell you this, but when you get to Athair, if you get hurt or if you die, it won't be like in this land of dreams; you will disappear forever…" It was the first time I heard her in a serious tone: "Don't be confused, it's not that I have taken a liking to you or anything like that, but a first trophy is to be displayed and enjoyed..." She gave me a loving kiss on the cheek and her face returned to normal.
We needed to change the subject so as not to make the situation awkward, and I came to her aid however I could...
"How will you get back to Athair...?" asked...
"Don't worry, the old trickster will take me back as soon as all of you have finished the tutorial." She was adjusting the bow on her back while she was telling me this.
"What is this land of dreams, and what are these tests for...?"I asked.
"I don't know much; I'm just a mercenary, not a scholar, but you must think of this land of dreams as a defense system so that the inhabitants of the different universes do not reach Athair freely... In this space, the physical bodies can't survive; only the image of yourself that you have in your mind can. So you can learn skills that you don't have, like in a store, or you can gain an affinity with magic that would destroy your real body... After the gods rebuilt your real body before entering Athair…",
She spoke as if he were reciting a lesson learned long ago in school…
"When the gods created Athair to protect the 23 universes from the dangers that lived outside in the cosmos, they protected this new land both from the outside and from the arrival of the races that lived within the great ring that is Athair. But in order to fight against the enemies from outside, they needed soldiers and warriors, but the races were weak and had no way to use magic, or at least not all... that's why they reconstruct the bodies and let the races become strong to be able to fight in the first ring...
When the races are prepared for eternal war, they transcend and disappear with all their advances and their cities... it is time for another race to replace them..."
"And you elves have not transcended; you name yourselves as an ancient race...?" My curiosity about that whole world grew by the moment...
"In our universe of origin, the Elven civilization came to colonize seven planetary systems, and with the passage of time, we began to differentiate ourselves into different lineages: the high elves, the golden elves, the moon elves, the dark elves, and the wood elves. , the frost elves and the fairies."
Her mind seemed to search for the information he learned long, long ago... "of the seven races of the elven nation, the high elves transcended a long time ago; the dark elves and Frost elves fought for power against the gold and moon elves; there was a great civil war that greatly delayed the progress of our people... the fairies were fleeced and live in hiding, and we sylvans have no intention of leaving Athair to join to an eternal war..." Ildra looked at me smiling...
"I think this conversation is too serious for a farewell…" Unable to defend myself against her physical superiority, Ildra knocked me down and took off the armor that I was already half putting on…
We walked around the earth's corridor and chatted animatedly. We decided not to use a dimensional rift and just spend our time in a more relaxed environment.
By the time we reached the statue room, the merchant was sitting there waiting for me; he seemed to be talking or praying to the goddess...
He was surprised to see us arrive together, but his expression changed to his typical sarcastic smile...
"Well, well, I see that you have already met little Ildra…" his gaze passed from me to the elf, adopting a more serious tone…
"Do you have the box and the gnome head?" he asked the elf directly...
"Yes, I have them, but it was thanks to Lion that he killed the gnome and saved me…" Ildrá began to tell him everything that had happened, except certain parts, of course. The merchant seemed to be pondering something...
"You touched the box then, didn't you, Lion? Did you get the affinity for dream energy?" The merchant's voice had lost all trace of his usual ironic or sarcastic tone, now he spoke like a teacher about to scold a troublesome student...
"In fact, I only obtained the affinity with the energy of sound…" a loud "ufff..." came out of relief from the merchant's body before he could continue speaking." I did not obtain the affinity because I already had it before…" The merchant's heart sank. He patted his head and began to take nervous steps around the room while casting sidelong glances at me.
"Shit…" he kept walking… "Shit, this changes everything…" he looked at me with a mixture of pity, admiration and harshness at times… "You have a small problem… and a big one." He stopped short and turned to me. "We have to talk..."