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Chapter 94 - Hang Nine
🕑 Added 2024-07-30 20:00:05 +0000 UTCAbigail
Abigail shivered from the piercing cold as they walked through the wreckage of their old camp. She and Austin had run up here as soon as the fight down south was over. The sturdy walls and superior numbers made this wave the easiest they had faced in a while. They could safely stand on the walls and decimate the wave from afar. It was the least stressful wave they had faced.
She still remembered the indignation she felt when her Dad let the matter go before Chris left. She expected him to be on her side and help convince Christopher out of his stupid idea. Abigail ended up going along with her Dad but that didn't mean she liked it. She still thought it was stupid and unnecessary.
It took her Dad saying she couldn't treat him as a kid any longer. He was grown and as such, would make his own decisions.
It was still stupid.
"Holy shit... he actually did it," Austin whispered as he took in the destruction around them.
Hearing him say that made her want to ask if he thought Chris couldn't have done it but the words died in her throat.
The scene they had walked into was that breathtaking, and not in a picturesque way. It was so much destruction. All the buildings that once stood were gone, which was a shock, but she knew from the Beastmaster lady that was before the battle.
There were bodies everywhere frosted over and slightly snow-covered. The ground was a mixture of red and white from frozen water and blood alike. Spikes of ice stuck out of bodies marking the cause of death while others had obvious blunt force wounds.
She fought the shivering her body wanted to do as they walked through the camp. It was so cold. It bit at her hands and feet and sapped the very heat from her bones. Austin was notably fine and glowing slightly which only annoyed her more.
They found Chris in the center of it all passed out. Next to him was the boss of the wave, dead, with his hammer still stuck in its skull. The same bear that took multiple catapult shots to the face and entire squad of made bombardments to take down during their fight down south.
Chris himself wasn't in the best shape. His vitality had worked to stop the bleeding in the time it took them to get here but the wounds would take a while yet to heal.
He had dried blood covering most of his body, covering her vision from seeing how bad it was. A few skills flared around her as she scrubbed his body with water.
The cold threatened to freeze her water and she had to actively fight against it which made everything harder.
After getting his armor off and cleaning the blood, the cuts and bruises revealed themselves, and there were many. Over half his body was a variation of blue and purple from bruises or cuts actively reopened from the jostling.
He looked like a dump truck ran him over then reversed back and did it again a few times. One bruise was so deep, it was almost black.
He most definitely had internal bleeding of some kind.
[Body Scan(C)] gave her a clearer picture of his injuries and it was even worse than the outside. It would have been easier to point out which veins didn't have hemorrhages than those that did.
Both his tibia and fibula were fractured in his left leg along with multiple ribs. He strained almost every muscle group and he tore his right pectoral and bicep completely off the bone.
And he was missing a finger!
A glow cascaded over his body as she activated her healing skills, first focusing on the internal bleeding before she moved on to anything else. Reducing the swelling came first, then she would heal the fractures last.
"How's he lookin', Doc," Austin joked.
"Worse than he looks. Can you search around and find an index finger? The cold should have kept it viable to be put back on." She ordered while using her skills.
"Ha! He lost a finger?" Austin laughed.
Declining to dignify that with a response, she remained silent. She didn't see how losing a finger was funny.
While Austin poked around with his spear and kicked bodies over searching, she turned her full attention to healing.
She brought her Law to bear and used some more powerful skills. Chris's body was a pain to heal and her new Law helped a ton. She had only recently gotten it and this was the first time she saw the effects on Chris.
His body was usually too tough to injure during the waves but this one was different, obviously. She, and a decent number of her family, had the water affinity. She had it, her dad had it, and Granddad had it before he died.
Not everyone did, less than half, but it was the majority affinity the family had. A bunch of them got together and bought a few treasures from the store to help in comprehending a Water Law.
Splitting the costs helped them afford it.
She focused on the renewing aspect of water for her Law and it helped her healing tremendously.
It paired with her skill [Waters of Renewal(Un)] perfectly and was where she originally gained the inspiration.
Chris's body was washed with the healing waters closing cuts and lightening bruises. She used a few more skills, like [Mend Bones(C)] and [Invigorate Healing(C)] but for the most part, he would be fine.
The only thing that worried her was the finger. She, and the other Healers, had spent a decent amount of points reading about new healing practices and this would be the first time she attempted to reattach something.
In the hospital before, it was sewn back on with the nerves reconnected to the best of their ability, here was different. All of the healing was different. One could shower someone with a healing skill without any knowledge of the body and it would work.
It would be terribly inefficient, but it would work. So many things changed in the healing field that they were still trying to keep up with. It was tough to stay ahead and not fall back on dated procedures.
If the finger was still around and intact, it would most likely be fine. The ice would have worked to keep it frozen and a good dose of healing should have it reattached just fine. He was lucky it wasn't an arm. She didn't think that was within her capabilities yet.
They just had to find it first.
"Ough ough, hwaak" Chris's sudden coughing fit startled her out of her thoughts.
~~
Chris
Ugh, I felt like death.
Healing energies worked their way through my body, mending it back together from the meat blender I just put it through. I knew whose healing it was and I wasn't surprised she was here.
She probably came running as soon as the battle down south was over.
I coughed and spit up the phlegm from my throat and opened my eyes to what was happening. The camp looked mostly the same as it had before I passed out.
Ice and snow dominated the landscape with the recent decoration of bodies. I groaned for a different reason at the sight of the bodies. There was no one here to help clean them up.
The aching pain I expected from sitting up was diminished to the point that it surprised me.
I had known she had gotten her Law but this was the first time feeling the effects of it. It was a massive boost to her healing.
Before I could from a question, a shout of exclamation interrupted.
"HA! Found it!"
Austin's voice sounded out making me turn my attention over to him. He was a ways off standing in the middle of a thick bunch of bodies holding... something... over his head.
He looked proud to be holding it, whatever it was.
After shouting out, he came trotting over with his prize and presented it to Abigail. Getting a closer look at it, I saw what it was.
It was my finger.
I lifted my left hand to my face and stared incredulously. I had forgotten for a moment I was missing it. Only a stump was left, the finger cleaved off just above the connection to the hand.
"How did you find that?" I couldn't help but ask.
Losing it in the middle of battle, the finger could have been anywhere. Kicked around or impacted from the swirling ice, literally anywhere.
How it wasn't in one of the bear's stomachs was a blessing. I must have killed the bear before it could swallow.
Hah. That thought made me chuckle.
My missing phalange still had ice surrounding it from where [Frost Armor(R)] covered it. The ice kept it clean for the most part and it wasn't even dirty from the ground. The frozen earth was too hard to sully it.
"I have my ways," Austin said mysteriously.
He stuck his hand out to help me up which I accepted with a groan.
"I can't believe it. You actually did it." He said while patting me on the back.
"Me too. I'm glad I'm not dead." I answered which got me a swat to the back of the head from Abigail.
"Hey, I don't think doctors are supposed to hit their patients!" I cried in false hurt.
"They can when they say stupid things." She fired back.
Laughter sounded out from my mouth and I couldn't stop it. It was nice to be back to a facade of normal with the two of them. I had missed joking around like this.
Abigail manhandled my left hand looking it over before doing the same to the finger. She was in healer mode again and I wouldn't get much more out of her.
Austin, on the other hand, looked ready to burst from holding something in.
"High five!" He said while raising his left hand.
I just looked at him. Unblinking at his self-satisfying smile.
"Err, well, high four? I guess," The little shit kept going.
Ignoring his antics, "How did the fight down there go? Everyone okay?"
"Yeah, everything went fine. Better than fine actually. I hesitate to say more for fear of jinxing it." Abigail said while still looking over my hand.
That was good. I wasn't that worried but it gladdened me to know everything went okay.
Muttering I was trying to ignore found my ears, "But I have five and he has four, so does that make it high four and a half?"
Austin looked genuinely confused while counting on his fingers.
Nope, not adding fuel to the fire. Goading him would only make the finger jokes worse. He had more in the chamber no doubt, we hadn't even gotten to the vulgar ones.
Notifications were more important.
You have slain [Vine Bear – Level 40] 1,600 points earned.
You have slain [Vine Bear – Level 41] 1,681 points earned.
You have slain...
...
You have slain [Vine Bear – Level 43] 1,846 points earned.
You have slain...
...
You have slain [Vine Bear Patriarch– Level 46] 2,116 points earned.
You have successfully defended your claim! Extra experience awarded. 16,000 Points to all who participated.
Congratulations! You have leveled up.
Congratulations! You have leveled up.
Congratulations! You have leveled up.
Congratulations! You have leveled up.
Skills Available
4 levels. It was more than I had received in one go in a while. I struggled to remember the last time I got 4 levels at once. It brought me all the way up to level 47.
Just 3 away from the evolution.
The points though. That was the real jackpot.
Points earned: 517,662
One wave had netted me over half a million points. It was a much-needed windfall with bloodline prices so high.
Even with the purchase of the mana stone, my current points rested at 1.2 million. A sizable amount and well over the minimum cost of the lowest bloodlines.
The last thing I focused on was the skill.
"Ah! Hang ten," Austin shouted, repeating the same gesture as before drawing me away from my musings.
Refusing to reply in worry that it would egg him on, I withheld telling him that the phrase didn't mean high five. Hang ten was a surfing term and didn't refer to the ten fingers in a high five.
"Wait, that doesn't work either." He said going back to the drawing board.
I had passed the level 45 threshold and could now get my second-to-last class skill. I would only be able to get one more at level 50 for my current class and I had three to choose from.
For my level 35 profession skill, I picked up [Warding(Uncommon)]. It boosted all aspects of creating and placing wards.
What I did with the frost Rune shouldn't really be considered a Ward but the skill worked on it all the same. The skill boosted the effectiveness, efficiency, and strength a Ward could pull from the environment.
It aided my ability to see the flows in the area around me while placing Wards so that I could put them in the optimal spot.
The reason I picked it was for a couple of different reasons. Wards were powerful things and they were the first line of defense for any city. A city I planned on building.
Creating powerful Wards would only add to the defensive capabilities of my future city.
Another reason was that Wards were extremely versatile. They could be used for more than just defensive barriers. They could create environmental effects like my Frost Rune, they could contain energies both beneficial and harmful.
Creating a Warded room to contain Ice Mana would be the perfect atmosphere for me and I could do the same with other affinities helping my family out.
Containing harmful effects could be used for Body Refining and increasing resistance toward them. A poison mist contained with Wards would be the best environment for training.
Another use of Wards was in detection. They could be used more subtly for detecting any intrusions and could alert me if there was anything happening that I should know about.
Their use were endless and it all really depended on the string of Runes involved. Stringing Runes together was something I still had to learn but it would greatly boost their power.
Using one giant Rune to increase its effects was the least efficient way to go about doing what I had. Learning that made me cringe, but there was still so much I didn't know.
That skill choice had been easy, this one, not so much. The previous class skills were easy to pick. I didn't get to pick the level 25 skill [Frost Armor(R)] but I would have anyway it was so good. [Momentum of the Avalanche(R)] was a no-brainer and was a massive boon. [Frozen Fortitude(Un)] was another great skill. [Permafrost(Un)] was my response to the Blaze Lions and correcting a weakness.
Now it was a decision. There were three new skills I desired along with an old one I wanted to get. [Frost Armor(R)]'s counterpart [Frost Armory(R)] was a skill I didn't want to give up.
Frozen Patchwork(Rare) – Stave off injuries with a patchwork of ice. The skill will not replace lost limbs but will cover bleeding cuts, replace torn muscles and broken bones, and stave off the effects of blood loss. Stay in the fight longer by freezing wounds and maintaining your body.
Glacial Presence(Rare) – The colder it gets, the stronger you become. As the temperature decreases, all your stats grow in response. Any Cold-related skills are more effective in sub-zero temperatures and cost less mana.
Polar Plunge(Uncommon) – Channel your will and mana into the area around you plunging the temperature to polar levels. Works directly on the mana and air in the surroundings converting it into sub-zero temperatures.
All three skills were great. [Polar Plunge(Un)] was objectively the weakest of the bunch, but paired directly with [Glacial Presence(R)] made it a great skill.
Sure [Permafrost(Un)] and [Hail(C)] both lowered the temperature in the area but they both worked as byproducts. [Hail(C)] created ice which lowered the temperature by a minuscule amount on any grand scale and I had to pump a lot of mana into [Permafrost(Un)] to get any huge effect out of it.
[Permafrost(Un)] lowered the temperature in the area and cooled it off, but wasn't the main effect of the skill. A skill directly tied to temperature would have way more effect for a lot less effort which would ease the burden of other skills during a fight. But, the effect wasn't that groundbreaking and it was probably something I could learn to do myself. At least I thought I could.
Getting [Polar Plunge(Un)] without [Glacial Presence(R)] was meaningless but I didn't want to fill up my two last skill choices with them. [Frozen Patchwork(R)] was too useful to pass up.
The thing that decided it for me, was what I needed right now. Both [Polar Plunge(Un)] and [Frost Armory(R)] weren't immediately crucial. [Glacial Presence(R)] and [Frozen Patchwork(R)] were.
Strength or endurance.
One would make me stronger while the other would let me fight through injuries.
The words 'all your stats' and 'Any Cold-related skill' sealed it for me.
[Glacial Presence(R)] was better right now.
"Ah hah!" Austin exclaimed before looking me dead in the eye, hand high in the air, palm out.
"Hang nine!"
Comments
Demonlord
Thanks for the nice chapter 😊 I knew they were able to recover his finger and reattach it. Also the new skill is AWESOME 😎 I hope he doesn't get injured as much as right now but the waves only got stronger... He has 2,5 days letft to prepare for the next Wave... I hope he can reach the next ice law or the spirit anchor... Both would be a great boon to him and he'll definitely need it for the jext waves... Here are only 4 waves left (14 days so 2 weeks) and he needs to be the strongest in power and constitution to creat his own little town and peace for his family... After the tutorial I guess they'll get many boons because of their survival and combat powers... But we don't know how the other tutorials are handled... He needs to prepare for the worst so he can protect his family...
