Chapter 25

The area was completely void of life as far as the eye could see. And surprise, it was covered in snow. The Ice Wasteland, despite what you might imagine, was covered in trees. The only difference, was these trees were completely frozen. Upon touching one of the trees it began to fall apart. Actually, the reason we chose this region was due to these trees. When we asked Bell what we might need to help our pets progress, she responded by asking a question. "What would you say the biggest difference between a novice beast and an apprentice beast is… composition wise?"

Upon thinking about it for a bit I answered, "Most apprentice beasts have a mana core".

She then told us that in order to help Bagheera and Freyja progress, they would need to form a mana core, through the consumption of mana cores belonging to animals sharing their magical attribute. Unfortunately, there was no way to quantify the amount, as mana cores held different amounts of energy and formed these in different ways. But, like most things, the more the better.

"We really should have brought jackets," Phoebe was hugging herself while fog could be seen leaving her mouth.

I could only agree as it was exceptionally cold. Luckily I had Freyja to help. She let me hug her tightly as we moved forward stealthily.

We chose this region for two reasons. First, due to the location there was an influx of ice, nature, and death aura. These, while hard to notice as a person, were exceptionally obvious to an animal with slightly good senses. These auras would influence the animals in the surroundings, meaning more animals of these types. The death aura was important as it was related to the spirit type. This was the characteristic of Freyja's Illusory type skills.

The second reason for us choosing this region, was because it was a dangerous area with many apprentice animals exceptional in stealth. It also had the occasional master level beast. Of course Phoebe and I would do our best to avoid these behemoths.

And thus, our journey began.

We looked every which way and unfortunately found no animals. We had been out for about 2 hours and had zero luck so far, proving just how proficient these animals were in stealth. Originally, Phoebe and I had been excited by the stealth, as fighting against it could increase the pet's perception as well as our own. But, of course that required us to find an animal first.

Our clothes had become hard due to the snow and we would likely get sick if we stayed out for to long. So I came up with an idea which could kill two birds with one stone.

"Phoebe lets walk towards that mountain and find a cave to camp in," This actually consisted of three ideas. First if we found a cave, chances are, it's owned by some animal. Second, setting a fire would fix the problem of both of us freezing. Finally, this fire along with the blood from the animal we killed living there, would attract animals to us.

Why look for animals in an area their highly skilled in hiding. Instead attracting them away from an area they're comfortable in, was likely to work in our favor.

We set out towards a huge mountain in the distance, covered in snow. It looked to be roughly a mile from our location so we started the trek. But, even after an hour of walking it seemed to be just as far. Luckily, I could tell we were getting closer as the mountain appeared bigger now. It was so big I actually couldn't see the peak. At some point, which appeared to be half way up the mountain, a thick layer of clouds blocked the rest of the mountain which continued past.

After another hour of walking we arrived at the base of the mountain. We walked around the perimeter of the mountain for a while, looking for a cave. On the way we saw some seals as well as penguins, of course we left them alive as they had no use for us. But, soon after we found a White Fox the size of a great dane dog, sneaking away with a baby seal drooping from its mouth.

This we would fight. Foxes had many attributes depending on location, the way to differentiate this was through their paws. Normally this would be hard to see while their paws are covered in snow, but lucky for us this fox went out away from the snow to catch this seal. Its paws were a turquoise color showing its affinity for ice (blue) and nature (Green).

Habitually, before sending Freyja I decided to inspect it

{Breed: Snowy Wood Fox

Level: 16

Stats:

Health: 320

Stamina: 32

Agility: 41

Speed: 38

Strength: 26

Intelligence: 33

Skills:

Dash, Frost Bite, Slow, Ice Spear, Blizzard...}

'Well damn, I guess most creatures stats will look similar to that, now that we're fighting apprentice level beasts.'

"Freyja, go all out you need to kill it quickly or it'll be much harder!"

"Bagheera help Freyja fight, sneak up and attack hard to finish it quick! Iglif you're the shield, keep Freyja and Bagheera safe," Phoebe quickly ordered after me.

They began their approach, sneaking all the way. Unfortunately, sneaking didn't help as the fox quickly dropped the seal hanging from its mouth and looked straight towards us. The seal lay lifelessly on the ground with its head hanging loosely to its neck thanks to a few chords of skin and flesh. The fox flew towards Freyja and slashed hard with its claw tearing her in two.

Iglif was a bit to slow as she transformed into a fox, looking nearly identical to the one we were fighting. She quickly formed an ice barrier protecting Bagheera and Freyja who had just revived, while also placing two walls on either side of the fox adjacent.

This helped greatly in the fight as it limited the foxes movement, causing its eventual death. I was a bit curious what Iglifs stats were so I decided to inspect.

{Iglif:

Breed: Simulacrum

Level: 13

Stats:

Health: 260

Stamina: 32

Agility: 22

Speed: 27

Strength: 24

Intelligence: 35

Skills:

Ice Clone, Mirror Image, Intellectual Minds, Blizzard...}

'No wonder we won so quickly. Ice Clone can create a copy of the simulacrums form which will fight with 50% capabilities. Mirror image transforms the simulacrum into whatever creature it is fighting giving it the same skills in the ice attribute. Finally, Intellectual minds… this lets Iglif have a direct power of will with its opponent, this takes into account intelligence and willpower, stunning the loser for a short time.'

We removed the mana core from the fox, directly feeding it to Bagheera as we prepared to leave. But, as we got ready to leave the scene we heard a loud screech in the air as a gust of wind assaulted our faces. Above us was a giant white wyvern!