The snowfall increased as he made his way through the tundra. He had made it halfway to the forest before he realized the first big problem. The snowstorm had changed. It was hard to notice at first, but the snow had a lethargic effect to it as if it would drag him down into a snowy sleep. He could resist it now, but he was worried about how long that would stay the case. His robe’s shield could protect him against it, but he couldn’t waste that. Especially since he hadn’t seen how powerful the stronger creatures here were. By the time he reached the forest, irritation replaced his happiness and excitement. He convinced himself that the irritation was an additional effect of the snow and not his own attitude. Something that he became harder and harder to believe. When a creature that looked like a six legged lizard made of living ice leaped out at him, he could almost smile.

  He unleashed Static Bolt as he ducked to avoid a swipe of the lizard’s claws. He imbued his right hand with spiritual energy and then slammed into the underside of the lizard as he avoided yet another attack. Utter cold crept up the knuckles on his hand before he could pull it back. He shook his fingers as frost spread along them. He leaped back as he tried to process what had happened. He activated the barrier on his robes to keep the lizard off of him as he fought against the frost on his fingers. It wasn’t bad enough to cause frostbite, but he wasn’t sure that would be true if he kept hitting it. The lizard slammed its claws into the barrier with enough force to crack it just as he unleashed another bolt of electricity. He avoided a follow-up swing just in time to activate the skill a second time. This time altered the amount of spiritual energy to try to stun the beast. Only for it to fail. The failed attempt distracted him long enough for the lizard to land another hit. This one caused the barrier on his robes to shatter. He leaped away as he tried to piece together what was going on.

  His best answer was that the lizard lacked a nervous system to control. Either that or it was just immune to that kind of manipulation. Either way, it meant his new trick was useless. He experimented with a mixture of his skill and his fists. He whittled the beast down over the next ten minutes. During which he learned he could land two hits before the ice would be a danger to his fists. Further it wasn’t just a physical injury. It hurt his spiritual energy. It was freezing into slush, where moving it became harder and harder. It probably wouldn’t have been a problem for someone using a weapon, assuming they avoided being hit, but it was an issue for him. He needed a second offensive skill. Static Bolt didn’t have a bad cooldown time, but he couldn’t afford to rely on his fists. How long until he encountered a stronger monster that could do the same thing? Or one that was based on poison or fire. He had no interest in burning his fist off.

  The energy the lizard provided was decent. It was enough to make up for what he lost in battle, so he considered it a wash. He walked around the forest for an hour before he decided it was time to move on. The snow had picked up and was on the threshold of a storm, which wasn’t something he wanted to deal with. He fought off another pair of lizard creatures. They spent as much time in conflict with each other as they did with him, which made the battle easier. After that, he could leave the forest. He pushed onto the lake. He had to fight against the urge to fall asleep with each step, and a part of him considered going back to the town to rest. He decided against it. He wanted to get to the lake before he rested. He was almost annoyed by the lack of monster attacks as he fought against the wintry chill. By the time he found the frozen lake, he was nearing his limit. The lake was massive. Frozen from end to end except for a chunk in the middle. He couldn’t tell if the lake was frozen all the way through, which meant there was no chance he would walk across the ice. He couldn’t swim, and from what he remembered, freezing water made the process ten times harder.

  He found a small cave that he could hide in. From what he could tell, the cave, or rather den, had been dug out by a beast of some kind, but whatever did it wasn’t here. He checked for any signs of eggs or young but found nothing. He crawled into the den and warmed himself the best he could. He wasn’t sure how long it took for the storm to calm enough for him to leave. When it had, he crawled out of the hole and froze. The lake had transformed. The water was no longer frozen, and the hole in the middle was more of a waterfall. One that made Niagara Falls look like a kitty pool. It was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen, but that wasn’t all. He wasn’t sure if it was the water or something, but to say he wanted it was the understatement of the century. It was like he was a man dying of thirst. He resisted the urge to throw himself into the water as he checked the area. As far as he could see, there were no enemies nearby, which made him more confused. It was as if everything else had disappeared.

  The closer he got to the water, the stronger the feeling became until he gave up on resistance. He submerged himself up to his neck. Energy surged into and around his body as a tangible sense of anticipation surged. Sharp pain exploded in the pit of his stomach. He lost his footing and dipped beneath the surface of the water. Fear surged as he grasped for the surface. Panicked yells became gurgles as the water poured into his mouth. His chest burned as if someone had put hot coals in the center of his being. The world, his world, narrowed to a pinprick as his strength faded. He waited for the last of the breath to leave his lungs, for death to come, but it didn’t. He tried to move, tried to fight against the water, but his body didn’t obey. The heat intensified until it felt like he was being boiled alive. He said a silent prayer, a desperate plea for the pain to end, for the water to claim his life, but it was ignored. When the darkness claimed him, he couldn’t have been happier.

  He awoke sometime later floating on top of the lake. A few feet away from the waterfall. He forced spiritual energy into the symbol for Prismatic Barrier. The rainbow shield formed just as he sank beneath the surface of the water. He pushed spiritual energy into his feet until they became numb and then he kicked off. The barrier held for a second, just long enough for him to jump up. He shot out of the water like a rocket before slamming into the icy ground with enough force to leave a half inch indent.

  Despite the pain that shot through him, he couldn’t be happier. His fingers dug into the ice as deep as they could. When he convinced himself the ground wasn’t about to leave, he forced himself to his feet. He was about to scramble as far away from the pool as he could when he realized something. His body felt weird for lack of a better term. He pulled up his status screen and dropped his shoulders when he saw he hadn’t advanced his ancestry. Disappointment aside, it made him more curious. He bit back the curse that wanted to slip out as he moved closer to the water. “Just need to get close enough for a reflection.” He repeated repeatedly until his legs refused to move anymore. When he saw his reflection, he let out a gasp of shock. He looked better. A lot better. It was like he had undergone the world’s greatest plastic surgery operation. Not only did he look like he was in his early twenties, but all the minor flaws he had were gone. He looked like a model.

  He moved away from the pool and gave his body a more thorough check. The water had changed a lot more than his appearance. His channels were both stronger and more malleable. It was like they were steel cables. He wasn’t sure how he could tell, but he figured every part of him had been improved. His skin felt tougher, bones stronger even his lungs felt better. It was like he had been sent through an upgrade machine. For a moment he considered jumping back into the water despite his fear, but something told him that would be a bad idea. It seemed like this lake was a onetime use kind of thing. Either that or trying again would kill him. He didn’t need more than that to convince him to get away from the water. He didn’t want to try his luck. He flexed his fingers and rolled his shoulders to double check everything still worked, and then he set out to the last location.

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  He faced his first attack within half an hour of leaving the lake. A half dozen of the ice moles shot out of the ground at him. He activated Static Bolt. The skill activated with such speed that it spooked him. There was almost no time between his wanting to activate the skill and the skill’s activation. His improved body made it easy to avoid their attacks as if they moved in slow motion. He almost felt bad as he dispatched the creatures. He decided not to kill them. He didn’t see the point of it. They gave decent energy, but it felt wrong to kill them for that. They couldn’t put up much of a fight now, and if he wanted to, he could outrun them. The beasts seemed to get the message after a while and left him alone. The rest of his journey was uneventful. He expected another snowstorm to start, but either the weather had calmed or the Network was done with it.

  It took well over an hour before he reached the cavern. It was a massive ice wall with holes dug throughout. The whole thing reminded him of some sort of ice anthill. The wall had to be over a mile high, which made him pretty sure his goal was inside. It looked like the site of a boss battle. The question was how should he handle it. None of his skills could force the creature out, which meant he would—his thoughts were interrupted when the ground trembled. At first he thought it was a new environmental danger, but that wasn’t correct. The trembling wasn’t uniform. If anything, it felt like something was coming toward him. Whatever it was had to be much bigger than the moles. He waited until the trembling had stopped for several minutes before he started toward the wall. His heart pounded as he sprinted forward. He wasn’t sure what could be big enough to carve through something that size, but he knew that was what he had come for. Which meant he would either win or lose. A spark of excitement formed in his chest as he reached the massive wall.

  He was about to head inside when his blood ran cold. He leaped backwards before his mind had caught up with his instincts. A moment later, the ice wall exploded, and a freakish insect ripped its way out of the ice. The creature looked like an arctic blue centipede with dark red scales. It was around ten feet long, with black beady eyes and white antennae from the top of its head. Hundreds of small legs twitched in the air as it reared its ugly body at him. Dagger-like teeth filled its mouth. Its breath was a bluish-white fog that felt like a blizzard waiting to happen. Maximilian activated the barrier on his robes right before a blast of freezing cold washed over him. The chill caused dozens of cracks to spread across its surface in an instant. The barrier resisted the attack long enough for him to get away. Not to be outdone, he launched Static Bolt into the creature’s mouth. The electrical attack slammed into the roof of the insect’s mouth before it could react.

  “Come on.” He complained as he the insect shot for him. His spell had little impact, which meant this wasn’t going to be an easy battle. He leaped to the side just before the monster crashed into him. Instead of the creature slamming into the ground, it went through it. Despite its size, it burrowed into the ice with frightening speed. Maximilian created as much distance as he could from the wall as fast as he could. He would be at a disadvantage if he had to fight in all directions. A premonition of danger warned him seconds before the ground exploded. The bug shot toward him like a missile. He avoided but before he could launch a follow-up attack, he retreated. By the time he realized what had happened, he was a dozen feet away.

  “Why?” He looked at the creature as if it held the answer. The insect let out a horrid clicking sound as the answer dawned on him. His body reacted to the bug, so the bug had to have some effect, like the lizards. Had the Network made him fight the moles and the lizards before this to train him for this battle? If so, why? Even if that was true, it didn’t explain where this sixth sense had come from. He put that on the back burner as the bug resumed its attack. Maximilian leaped away. His speed kept him just ahead of the creature. His attacks felt like whittling down an iceberg with a water hose. They worked, but at this rate he would be here all — His eyes widened as it dawned on him. Why the hell was he even fighting? The creature wasn’t in the wall, nor did the quest ask him to. The real question was, could he reach the lotus before the monster killed him? He would lose energy, but who cared about that?

  He cracked his neck as the bug resumed its attack. This time he aimed his dodge so that he landed behind the creature. As soon as his feet found the ice, he surged forward. Spiritual energy flowed into his legs as rushed for the ice wall. When the insect figured out what had happened, it let out the most horrible sound it had ever heard. It made him feel like a thousand tiny ants were crawling along his body. He triggered the shield of his robes just before a blast of utter cold washed over him. The attack was stronger this time. His barrier lasted than a second, which caused his right arm to freeze. He circulated his spiritual energy to fight against it. The ground trembled as the insect slammed into and through the wall a moment later. Maximilian kept running as he searched for the path forward. He reached a junction where he could go left or right.

  He was about to head down the right path when something stopped him. His gut told him he had to go left instead. He trusted his instincts and sprinted down that path. He activated Prismatic Barrier seconds before the ground erupted. The barrier stopped the monster’s attempt to slam into him. The barrier blocked the attack but shattered as he slammed into the ice wall. Maximilian bit back a cry of pain as launched Static Bolt into one of the monster’s eyes. He avoided the follow-up strike and resumed his sprint. The process repeated several times as he fought his way deeper into the cavern. He narrowly avoided another attack when he entered a massive chamber. One that the bug did not make. It was too open, as if someone had carved it or whatever else the Network could’ve used. It took him less than a second to find the Aidlotus, a blue and white flower the size of a dinner plate that sat against the chamber’s back wall.

  A moment later, the monstrous bug burst into the chamber behind him. Maximilian abandoned any thought of the battle and sprinted full speed for the back wall. Time slowed as he dodged another blast of freezing air. The chamber felt like it was the size of a football field as he raced to finish the quest. He leaped into the air to avoid another attack from the beast, but it caught his right leg. Bones snapped just as he touched the flower. Pain shot up his leg as white light engulfed him. Relief surged through him as the Network’s healing got to work on his body. He wanted to scream his success but held himself back for now. Now that the battle was over, he wanted nothing more than to close his eyes and rest. It wasn’t until the prompts that he focused.

  Quest 5 Complete. Quest Grade: B. Reward Distribution has begun. Tutorial Title has been improved.

  He grimaced when he saw his quest grade. He was sure that if he had completed the quest faster, he would’ve at least gotten an A. He assumed that if he had fought and killed that boss monster he would’ve gotten an even better grade. He decided not to dwell on it. If he had the chance to do it all again, he would have made the same choice. He had to survive to profit from his efforts. The changes to the title were predictable but very good.

  Tutorial-5th Quest: Complete the Fifth Quest of the Tutorial. Reward: All Attributes +10, All Attributes +5%