VOLUME 2 - Chains of Society

On one inconspicuous coast that seemed to be abandoned, it continued to be filled with ice shards. Those ice shards were created by the destruction of icebergs that were continuously flowing out of the sea and crashing on the underwater cliffs near the coast.

The water torrents were coming from the northern part of the sea where the cold reached such extremity that the entire sea seemed to freeze. In recent years, it seems that the escalation of this freezing has slowed down, making some chunks of ice blocks collapse, but those were only on the Southern part of the sea.

However, recently there was another small iceberg coming with waves to this barren coastline.

The iceberg was crashing into many obstacles yet it didn’t collapse. It only cracked a little. It felt as if it was a completely different type of ice.

It didn’t take long before it finally got flushed out from the sea on the shore. Surprisingly, it didn’t start to melt despite the weather being above the freezing point and stayed the same.

Time passed, and nothing changed on the coast. From time to time some animals passed here and tried to touch the ice but quickly gave up. No matter what weather, the iceberg still seemed to be unbreakable.

Until…

Crack

After several days, months, or even years, the iceberg’s crack started to widen. The sound it made startled the birds that were trying to find some food on the shore, and so they swiftly took off and left.

The cold mist started to come out of the cracks, which looked both enigmatic and mysterious. However, it didn’t take long before another thing started to rise from the iceberg. It seemed to be a hand, but it was too skinny and pale. It seemed to be the hand of a person who was not alive and died from freezing to death.

That hand felt the surroundings by touching and then grabbed the edge of the crack.

Crack

The almost non-existent muscles started tightening as the force was created. This caused the big crack to widen even more.

After that, the hand still didn’t let go of the edge. Instead, it leveraged itself to get out of that iceberg.

Exhale

A small sigh was heard as the cold mist stirred up. A very thin body came out of the iceberg. It seemed to be that of a boy. He was naked, completely pale, while being so skinny that it seemed to be dangerous. What was the most prominent, though, was that he was missing his left arm up to his shoulder.

With every movement, his hair, or rather what remained out of them, started to break and fall as if they were out of solid material.

But the boy didn’t care about all of that. When he finally got out of the iceberg and felt the morning sunshine on his skin, he almost moaned in delight. He didn’t delay and jumped down from that iceberg.

That was quite dangerous for someone with his state as the iceberg, albeit smaller than regular ones, was still over 10 meters in diameter. However, he didn’t want to touch that chilling ice anymore.

Thud

Once he fell down on the ground he just spread his legs and arm and closed his arms as he enjoyed the sun’s blessing. In truth, this was still far in the north where normal people would die in minutes if they were naked. However, the boy who managed to survive in an iceberg created by the ice breath of a dragon felt like he was sunbathing on the hottest day of the summer.

Yes, the young man was Illyan. He didn’t know how but he survived. Unfortunately, this survival once again showed him the cruelty of this world. With a heavy heart, his mind lost consciousness finally getting the deserved rest…

……..

At the last second before the breath hit him, Illyan used up the entire potential of his body and pulled on the antlers. Those finally loosened up and cracked under the pressure that he mustered up.

“Agh!”

Even though he managed to do so he knew that he couldn’t escape as his danger sense was ringing bells. But he saw the opportunity when he noticed the opened torso of the wendigo.

With determination, he pulled on its dead body and put himself right in the opening of its chest using it as a shield.

Immediately after, the ray of death arrived and completely froze over the entire area.

While Illyan couldn’t escape the fate of being frozen, he managed to avoid death. His decision to use the wendigo as a shield paid off, and together with his tenacious body, he managed to survive.

The same couldn’t be said about the Frozen Worm, though. Albeit it thrived in cold places, it didn’t change the ultimate difference between species. With an excruciating wail, its middle area got frozen completely penetrated by the chilling cold. Although the protrusions could withstand it, the soft flesh its body was made out of couldn’t. This part froze over and then completely separated from its body effectively dividing the entire creature into three parts.

Unfortunately, despite it being the creature Illyan inherited his warrior title, it didn’t manage to survive such a barrage and died later on.

However, Illyan survived. His body froze over but it didn’t manage to completely penetrate him on cellular level. The body of the wendigo had a good affinity with winter so it had high resistance even after its death. Its antlers broke because they became more brittle after it lost its life, though.

But he didn’t care about all of that. Instead, he concentrated on how to survive. He hated himself for the fact that he almost died in such a sudden way. If he wasn’t lucky, then he would be already part of the Frozen Sea.

Even though he promised himself that he would be more careful, more cautious.

Yet, he still was so unreasonably careless.

Thanks to the wendigo’s body and the protrusion of the Frozen worm, the ice formed a thick cocoon around him, completely sealing him inside. Of course, the ice pierced inside too but not so deep that Illyan couldn’t move a little.

And so he began to focus and also repent on his ways. Firstly, he thought about his basic needs. The ice around could hopefully be used as a source of water even if it was a doubtful method. However, the food problem was even worse. He looked around and saw only the rotten body of wendigo and…

‘Zers…’

The Zers hand that was still pinned on the protrusion next to Illyan. He could only close his eyes. He wanted to take a deep breath but stopped himself. The place was sealed so there was no air coming in…

However, this time he was much calmer than ever before. He lived through so much that he already felt that this was normal.

And that he would survive…

…….

The curious crow was flying in circles on the shore and was staring at the carrion that lay there for some time. It was cautious as it recognized that it was the same species as the ones living in the forest and watched it for some time. Still, when it noticed that it didn’t move or even give off a hint of warmth, it decided to take a taste of it.

However, as soon as it got closer, the hand moved like lightning, and with a firm grasp, it killed the crow.

CRA!?

Illyan, who saw the food in his hand, smiled a little and started to get up slowly.

He was so hungry that he wouldn’t mind eating it raw, like how he once did during the chase with Triston. But he wanted a hot meal. A meal that not only would satiate him but also warm his soul.

With his weakened body, he distanced himself from the iceberg and started to pick up firewood. After making a fire, he also started to pluck the feathers of the crow and prepared it for cooking.

A few hours later, he already sat down and chomped on the delicious meat. He almost wanted to cry, but because of excessive dehydration, he couldn’t muster even one tear.

It didn’t take long before he devoured the last bone of the crow before dozing off while looking at the fire he made. His body was still invaded by the Cold Energy from the Ice Breath, which caused his current situation. It was the first time when his regeneration couldn’t keep up with the injury he got.

Not only could his body not absorb the Cold Energy as last time, but instead, it caused his entire body to become weak and brittle.

The worst thing about it was that he felt that he didn’t survive thanks to his tenacity.

No. When he saw that dragon talking about the so-called ‘God of Truth,’ it didn’t take him long to connect it to the ball that he saw in the Spirit World at the bottom of Kenera Lake.

According to its words they were enemies.

However, it was obvious that ‘God of Truth’ was in no good state and was probably lying there for years. If that was the case then why would the dragon not finish him up if he was so strong?

There were several reasons why it could be. It could be sealed in the sea, for example. But the most reasonable answer to this was…

That it was dead. Or at least in the same state as ‘God of Truth.’

As a former disciple of a shaman, he was aware that there were remnants of spirits of creatures that passed away. There were many reasons for such a thing to happen but there was one thing that could raise the rate of it happening. And that was either by strengthening the spirit manually or being naturally blessed in this line.

The reason why he thought about this was because of its body being translucent. It felt as if the body of the dragon could dissipate at any second.

Thinking about it Illyan felt gloomy and remembered the stages that Kaoran told him about years ago:

Mortal, Novice, Apprentice, Expert, Elite, Adept, Exalt, Master, Grandmaster, Venerable, Saint, Paragon and Transcendent.

He was at the bottom of the pyramid. So there were many predators that could hunt him down.

The beings like him should hide and live in the shadows rather than live as extravagantly as he did to this point.

His village was destroyed suddenly without a warning. Why couldn't the same be done to him? What if a meteorite suddenly hit him?

What if he entered a cave to sleep in and met a being at a transcendent stage?

Knowing this, Illyan was more determined to get stronger. The freedom he wanted, it was now clearer. It wasn’t only freedom of going wherever he wanted. It was freedom from luck and fate.

What was the point of having a long lifespan if he died before the normal person of his age did?

If even dragons and gods could die in this world, then some mortal with little stronger regeneration couldn’t depend on it and expect his life to go smoother. He had to be better than that.

Suddenly, he felt extreme gratitude to Granny Meddie and Kaoran who taught him the things that made him more than just an extremely durable person.

He wouldn’t disappoint them.

He was told by Degres that he was born a warrior. And he felt it was true. It made him even proud. But…

He never considered it at a deeper level. Did he want to be a warrior? Only because he was born for it?

Of course, he didn’t want to give up on the path itself but he didn’t want it to be his identity.

In truth, his regeneration didn’t mean that he was good at fighting or should be a warrior. It just gave him a natural advantage on that path. But regeneration had a good effect in other areas too.

What he wanted to focus on was his knowledge. To learn more. That was also one of the reasons why he accepted Kaoran’s proposal. He wanted to develop his spiritual arts and learn about new professions out there.

It may seem non-intuitive to learn something that he didn’t necessarily have the talent in, but he was sure that his biggest advantage wasn’t the regeneration itself.

It was the long lifespan that would come with it. If Kaoran was right, then he had at least several hundred years before he should even consider his lifespan. By that time he should progress in whatever he wanted no matter what, right?