novelraw Chapter 266: Chilling Depths
Chapter 266: Chilling Depths
Luna grubted under the surge of internal pressure, it was beginning to feel as if her insides had multiplied in weight. Everything wanting to squeeze into itself yet at the same time being unable to move an inch with the pressure weighing down on her.
All the while the slight chill of the depths atttempted to worm its way deep into her body, it tried to slow her thoughts, freeze her blood and dim her reactions.
Saddly for the energy surging within Luna, she was one with cold, she was in fact above meet cold.
As a being of the Arctic the cold was a simple fact of her existence, something to be wielded and utilised by her, not something that could ever truly harm her.
No, the cold was hers to control, hers to wield as she willed.
So she wielded the cold trying to worm its way into her, infusing the chil with the very depths of her arctic speciality. The pressure of the depths increased in intensity, yet the frigid chill rose in might at a much greater rate.
The two forces clashed within Luna’s body, cold fighting back pressure. I’ve reinforcing her very being as the pressure tried to shatter her body from within.
Violet, who had been watching Luna freeze up frantically thought about what she could do to help. Her mind came back to how Luna had aided her during her recent trial from the memory impartment.
Violet probed their bond, it sang as strong as ever, a gleaming golden bond that bound the two forever together, only growing stronger as time passed and the two grew ever closer.
She had thought about how this bond had developed over time. At first it simply allowed the two of them to communicate, then it enabled the transferring and sharing of more than simple words.
Evolving into enabling them to share sensations, the location of each other and more. It had become a part of Violet’s very being, woven deeply into her own existence and reinforced with ever interaction.
So why was the bond between the two limited to only surface level assistance, why could they not share more than simple thoughts and emotions.
Why could she not provide her assistance in a more esoteric way?
Luna continued to oversee the internal battle raging within her body, cold and pressure raged, each trying to eradicate the other now that Luna had taken control over the cold. Her mind was strained as she tried to focus on everything happening all at once, yet she was no true mage like Violet.
She did not practice at manipulating forces, no she was a warrior at heart and lacked that intangible will to deal with the problem brewing within her past generally directing the war.
She was begining to grow worried as the pressure only ever increased in force as the remenants of the build dissolved and merged with her being.
Just as Luna was begining to truly struggle, worry begining to carve its way into her mind she felt something odd.
Luna was all too familiar with the bond that she shared with Violet, it too was something that she used constantly. So even in her strained mental state she instantly noticed when something about the bond felt different.
She tried to focus on the strange feeling only to suddenly loose concentration on part of the pressure within and winced in pain as a part of her body clenched painfully.
Then however, something seemed to snap into place. Luna’s willpower, her determination and drive suddenly became like steel, she felt as if a great surge of power washed through her, not exactly her own strength but that of her companions.
Yet this given strength was still technically Violet’s, Luna could not claim it, but she could direct it. With but a thought Luna tried to put this new mental capacity to work, to her relief it eagerly followed her desire.
The pressure surged once again, only this time instead of being able to push back the defences, the pressure ran into a impervious wall of hardened will. One woven from the joining of two mind to fight against a single foe.
The struggle took everything that Luna had to give and then some, thankfully that gap was filled with Violet’s own unwavering will to aid her companion in her time of need.
Slowly, over the course of several minutes the war being waged within Luna’s body died down. Only when the last of the pressure had been overwhelmed and interested into the cold did the battle truly come to an end.
Luna instantly slumped down, exhaustion clear on her face. Still despite the bond deep weariness that drowned the leopard she was unable to hold back her fang filled smile as she gazed at the system screen floating before her eyes.
[Congratulations you have successfully absorbed the essence of the depths.
You affinity with pressure and cold has deepened.
You are now better able to wield and integrate those aspects into your magics.]
[Status]
Name - Luna
Species - Primal Arctic Leopard
Speciality - Arctic Ice
Class - Arctic Mesmer
Skill Upgrade Tokens - 2
Level - 121/150
HP - 2980
Mana - 4490
Agility - 456->486
Strength -413->443
Constitution - 268->298
Intelligence - 419->449
Wisdom - 262->292
Luna gawked at her upgraded status page, she had managed to gain a flat +30 to all of her stats, matching the gains that she gained from surpasssing level 100!
She also noted that she had also leveled up her Arctic Ice Manipulation quite a lot in a single go, going from level 30 to level 35.
Yet that was only the visible benefits that she had earned. The most important one, at least as far as Luna was concerned was how this impacted her ice.
A blade of frigid ice formed before Luna’s face, it gave off an etherial pressure alongside the bone deep chill that it normally emitted. She instinctively understood that any attack that she launched using her ice would now hit harder and provide a greater debuff that anything she could have achieved before.
The improvement was enough that it even surprised Violet who still floated nearby. She moved over and gently tapped the ice blade with an extended claw, even through the claw and with the increased resistance to cold that she held thanks to her bond with Luna, Violet still felt the increased cold along with a certain weight.
It was a strange feeling to feel some pressure from such a simple craft of magic. Yet Violet was only happy at seeing her beloved companion grow stronger.
"Congratulations Luna! I’m proud of you for gaining so much from it!" Violet happily exclaimed.
Luna felt pride well up in both herself and from Violet through their bond, her smile unable to disappear. "Thank you! It really is a massive improvement, I feel like my ice has become... more. It’s hard to explain but I just know that this is something important!"
She then thought back to how she had achieved that gain and a touch of seriousness crept into her tone. "Also I don’t quite know what you managed to do at the end there to help me out but, thank you. I don’t know if I would have been able to manage it without your aid towards the end."
And she meant it too, she had felt like her will was running of fumed towards the end, unable to hold back the raging forced waging war within herself.
"Bah, you would have managed on your own, I just came in at the last minute to make it a bit easier for you. You are my companion after all! How could a silly plant beat you!"
Violet’s boisterous reply and complete trust in Luna abilities warmed Luna’s heart, knowing that Violet truly did believe every word that she said was just one more reason that she loved the silly dragon so much.
"Still thank you, I truly appreciate the help you gave me."
"Happy to help. Now and always." Violet said with utmost sincerity. "Also have you looked at our bond skill! It seems to have grown quite a bit from that event!"
Luna did quickly look at that skill aswell and opened her eyes in surprise. Their bond was a strange skill, it was extremely slow to level up once it had surpassed level 10. Seemingly only growing when the crossed some unknowable boundary.
Now that she looked at it she took note of the fact that it had grown by two full levels bringing it to level 18. Luna gave the bond between them a cursory check and noted that not much seemed to have changed, yet as she was thinking of that she suddenly felt a surge in strength unlike anything she had experienced before causing her eyes to open wide.
Her gaze snapped up to Violet, a question on the tip of her tongue, before she could ask it however Violet spoke up with a wide grin of her own.
"It would seem that we are now able to share some of our stats for short periods of time. I’m not sure of the limitations just yet, but, aren’t you interested to figure them out together?"