~ROAR~ A thunderous roar echoes across the chasm interrupting my sleep.

Goddess the hell was that, it sounded like an unholy combination of lion and wolf

cats and dogs should never be mixed, they just bring the worst out of each other but creating a being composed of them is nothing but trouble.

~Rumble~

Everything is running from the direction of the Cat/Dog's roar shortly afterwards most of the creatures have fled a small blizzard is created in front of my cave. When the blizzard clears it is revealed to me that the blizzard was much more intense and large scale than I initially though considering that ALL the trees in about a 20 metre radius of my cave have fallen over and are partially covered in snow.

In the centre of the carnage was an old man with a stripped wolf-like ears and tail staring at my cave with a deep and chilling gaze.

The old man opened his mouth and a booming voice echoed in my mind "Little Apostle, I need you out of my domain"

Old Man I can't climb out of here and I haven't found an exit so how the hell am I supposed to get out? It's not like I can grow wings and fly out.

"Bold one you are, though you will never find an exit going up is the only way out."

Waa-ah he's reading my mind, and if there's no exit then how the hell do I get out!? It's not like I can climb up I'm not a spider.

"Hahaha, Little apostle I never said you have to leave now, however I want you to leave as soon as possible"

Well old man how would you suggest I do that? Do I just grind levels until I get an evolution that has the equipment to get out o-or are you gonna throw me?

"Hmm maybe she could do it... Little Apostle, I will help you get to your first evolution and if you satisfy me you will gain a boon, but first what would you need to get out of this chasm of mine with your own power?"

Hmm... wings would be the easiest way out of here but I find the concept of a winged goat horrifying

so the second best option would be arms.

"Hmm both are possible but not in your first evolution, I believe that arms are easier to achieve because you would only have to skip 1 specie rank to achieve them, which should be possible if you've eaten a... seems you've already eaten it, but before I help you evolve I need you to come with me."

Eaten what?

When I made it down the old man observed me for a bit before gesturing for me to follow him.

I wonder what I should call this guy, he seems kinda nice if not a bit tsundere, maybe I'll call him grandpa.

"Little Apostle, I suppose you may call me Grandpa" He says while patting my head with a bit of a lonely look.

I wonder why he wants me to leave, he seems kinda lonely.

"Haha Little one, you see it's not that I want you to leave it's that this space will disappear when I do"

Wait Grandpa what does that mean? How will you disappear you seem perfectly health you got at least 20 or so years left!

"ahh little one this body is but an aspect of my being my real one is currently freezing over I at most have a few days left before I leave this plane and rejoin our eternal Lady"

But why are you freezing over have you been fatally injured I know those weird elk things freeze when they die.

"Though I may be the king of this space only one with a connection to the divine can truly control it, it's called the Eternal Ice it was created when Lady Winter was at the peak of her power and thus the world froze over, and due to that power the other gods confined a portion of her power which created the Eternal Ice which has been passed down from various creatures for millions of years, the one who holds it is given the title King/Queen of Eternal Ice but no matter how omnipotent the one who possesses it is they have always lost to its power"

So you need an heir so to speak and you want me to take it?

"Maybe, currently you can't defend it even if you had it so I'd prefer to wait until after your evolution to see if you can keep it safe"

I understand Grandpa so you want to see my capability before you can give it to me, but what happens if you die without giving it to anyone?

"It passes at random but along with it they will receive a message from the previous owner... ahh we're here"

we arrive at a simple cottage which is in a clearing in between the crystalline trees.

It's surprisingly normal for a house in this Icy wonderland.

"Come child I'll tell you my plan"

when we get into the cottage a stripped saber-toothed wolf-like creature is laying in front of the fireplace half frozen and on a table sits a crystal that shifts between the colors as well as various opacities with multiple combinations.

Grandpa points to the body and proclaims "That's mine" and then he points to the crystal and says "That's Ice Eternal"

"So I'm going to capture the strongest being here aside from myself and bring it here and you will kill it using whatever means you deem necessary, when you level up to get your desired result you'll need to invest points into dexterity until it hits at least 60 and into endurance and agility until they both hit 50 the rest you may do as you please, and depending on the result of your evolution you will be allowed to inherit the Eternal Ice"

Aight Grandpa... how long do I have to kill the creature.

"Probably around 3-4 days" after saying that Grandpa leaves me to my own devices to which I inspect the rest of the cottage first in foremost was the surprising amount of weapons the most striking one is a bow made from a limb of one of the Ice Trees in here the string beside it is made of a silvery material of unknown origin though currently unstrung it's pretty obvious that it's a recurve bow, but strangely there is a distinct lack of arrows in the storage room so I'm not sure what it launches.

Second most surprising thing in the storage room are the stack of women's and girls clothing which goes from anywhere around 8 years old1 to an adult.

This stack makes me wonder if he ever had a family or if they're a holdover from the last owner, well either way they aren't here so I won't ask about it.

~Thunk~ Ooo Grandpa must be back I gotta see what he brought back.

This was unexpected, I assumed the the animal would be like a wolf or bird of some kind even a fox or snake but nowhere in my mind did I think It'd be an Elk. The thing is like 5 metres tall that's not even an animal anymore that is a goddamned monster, it's rack is huge too like what if one of those breaks would the beasts neck snap. Well I guess it doesn't matter how imposing it is considering it's bound in some silvery cord that when appraised just says [???] I think I'll be fine. Though this fact makes me a little self conscious like who woulda thought that this rope is higher level than me by a large margin cause I'm pretty sure that with my grade of appraisal the item has to be at least 20 levels higher than myself to not even give me a name!

Well I guess that's enough dawdling I think I'll use this opportunity to train skills while attempting to kill it. What should I train first though Ram is almost lv10 so I think I should try that aaaand...

Whack

Oww... This Monster is just a wall of muscle this is comparable to if I just rammed into a rock! I even took damage from it! Ram is like my strongest attack and Ice Knife won't do jack, cause using Ice magic on Ice attributed creatures does nothing unless it has weak defense like the Ice Snakes.

Alright think what is the best technique to use on a heavily armored opponent? Bombs! no I don't have any of those... uhh mace? no... peircing attack? I don't have any... ahh! that's it, Gravity! Like how birds on earth dropped tortoises from high altitude to break their shells! But how do I drag this elk up into the air... ah no that's a much better solution!

after a little while I successfully climbed up onto the cottages roof to preform the ultimate tank breaking maneuver.

[Ice wall]

a thick metre tall ice wall appears mid air and fall directly on top of the elks head which cracks it's antler and visibly bruises it's face sadly this method takes basically all my mana so it's nap time.