99 Climbing Phoenix Mountain

"I wanted to get ice-related abilities, so I stayed in the cold to understand it more. I have a decent understanding of the cold which allowed me to block it from touching my body. That's why I look normal instead of shivering," Nimble Rod said as stretched his arms out.

He created a water sphere which had properties of ice. It was cold to touch.

Nimble Rod couldn't create ice balls yet. All he could create was a colder version of water sphere which did more damage.

"Sorry about yelling at you," Nimble Rod said as he scratched his head. He didn't want to miss the opportunity since his body would get used to the cold in a few minutes. The first experience of a terrain has the best chance to learn about how it functions.

"You shouldn't have tried to do that," one passerby said with worry, "you should wear this coat."

"Sorry." Nimble Rod accepted the coat. Emile received a coat from these people. These people were generous in their ways.

These coats blocked the cold with the number of layers that it had. Emile didn't have to activate his fire element to warm his body.

They walked around this village. This village wasn't one of the starting villages due to its harsh conditions. This village was unlocked after a player entered a city.

Emile bought a Snow Thorn berry.

Snow Thorn Berry

A berry with properties of cooling the body. Longer lasting life. Healthy for the body.

Usage: Increase health by ten.*

*Note: The effect only works for the first five times the person eat it.

These berries were useful for Emile. He would get 50 more health from these berries. Emile and Nimble Rod ate five berries each and gained 50 more health.

These berries only cost 10 copper coins since they were abundant throughout the mountain. The people of the village would trek through the mountains for these berries.

It was a dangerous way of life since many problems could occur while on the mountain. Chilling winds could knock the people off the paths or they could get stuck in an avalanche.

Emile and Nimble Rod finished exploring the village. They walked towards the giant mountain that faced them.

This mountain was around 300 meters tall. The villagers saw the Phoenix fly around the mountain on some patrol.

They didn't dare to climb the mountain when the Phoenix was patrolling it.

Emile and Nimble Rod got a map of the mountain which the villagers explored already.

They said that the Phoenix lived at the top of the mountain, so they began their journey to the top.

The chilling wind was the first problem since it did around 10 to 20 damage each time the wind blew.

If they didn't have ways to protect from the cold, the wind would have dealt more damage to them. They continued their march up the mountain.

They bought harnesses, warm clothes, and other essentials they needed to climb the mountain.

The damage they received from the wind was healed off by using health potions. Nimble Rod brought health potions, so Emile didn't have to supply him.

They drank these health potions whenever their health grew low. At one point on their journey, an avalanche began causing the snow to hurl towards them.

Emile activated his flight stone and grabbed Nimble Rod's hand. He pulled him into the air into a safe region. The snow passed below them.

"How did you learn how to fly," Nimble Rod said with excitement.

Emile connected Nimble Rod to a harness on his body, so that he didn't have to hold onto him. Nimble Rod dangled from the side of Emile's body.

"Long story short, I won a tournament and got rewards," Emile said as he flew forwards.

He wanted to close the distance between the top of the mountain and them.

They passed the region where the avalanche occurred. Nimble Rod was hanging off of Emile's side looking at the surroundings.

"This is really weird," Nimble Rod said.

"Yep," Emile replied.

"My flying ability is about to end, so I'm heading down," Emile said. He looked for a safe patch of snow to land on.

He landed on the ground and released the harness that connected them.

"That hurt my back," Nimble Rod said as he got up from the ground. Being dragged around in the air dealt damage to him.

"Let's hope that another avalanche doesn't occur," Emile said as he stared up at the mountain.

They marched up the mountain. They were nearly at the top of the mountain.

Rumbling sounds occurred when they were near the top of the mountain. Another avalanche began.

This time it was worse than before since there was more snow near the top of a mountain.

The snow fell at a rapid pace. Emile activated his fire element to melt the snow that fell in front of him.

His fire element couldn't stop all the snow. Nimble Rod tried to control the snow by using his water element. He was trying hard to move the snow out of their way.

Emile was blocking them from being suffocated by the snow. Nimble Rod didn't have much control over the snow since it was in a different state of water.

If he learned to control the snow, then his water element would improve to high levels. It would also ease their problems.

Emile activated his water element. The fire element was melting the snow to stop it from suffocating them.

The water element was trying to learn the properties of the snow and control it.

As time passed, The avalanche grew worse. The snow was pushing them back. Emile's fire element couldn't melt all the snow causing some to hit their bodies.

It seemed hopeless.

At this moment, a creature walked out of the snow.

It shook the snow off of its back and gave a loud shriek. The shriek echoed throughout the mountain.

The snow that was falling at a rapid pace stopped moving. Their surroundings became calm in an instant. The avalanche stopped.

The creature looked at two black figures that stood out from the shiny snow.

These figures stared at the creature in awe.

The creature gave a loud screech towards the figures before turning around and entering the snow.

"The Ice Phoenix can control the snow with its voice..." Emile said with shock. A loud screech stopped the entire avalanche. This was the power of the Ice Phoenix.

"Holy shit," Nimble Rod whispered under his breath.

"Do we fight that guy?" Nimble Rod said as he stared into the snow that the Ice Phoenix went into.

Emile was silent for a moment before speaking, "I think so."

"Well," Nimble Rod sighed before continuing, "this is going to be harder than I thought."

A fire lit in Emile's heart. The more impossible a scenario seemed the more he wanted to challenge reality.

"Let's go," Emile said as they began the last trek to the top.

Near the top of the mountain was a small cave. Ice shards and ice stalagmites hung from the ceiling and from the ground.

They walked into the cave with a heavy heart.