4 The Wolf Fanatic
Wren finds the arcane lights a bit scary, it phases through his body his blood feeling cooler, his being feeling meeting a long lost friend.
"You have the best affinity for cold magic I've ever seen if it weren't for your low level you could use high-level ice magic immediately" the female priest is amazed at the readings she received.
Wren adopts a nonchalant and jaded expression and posture "those things probably cost money right?"
"I can gift you one low-level spell from my collection if you sign a contract to help my sons"
[You have received the quest "Help Hale and Gale"]
[Help Hale and Gale]
Difficulty:???
Abigail, the female priest sees potential in you and wants you to help her two sons. The God Void will create a contract where you receive an upfront reward and further reward once you complete the quest
Quest acceptance immediately awards you the rare skill "Ice Skin" <>
Wren clicks on the Ice Skin dropdown
Ice Skin- Level 1 Rare Spell
Integrate the element of Ice into your skin gaining bonus Defence, Heat Resistance and Cold Resistance.
Level 1 bonuses
Defence 5
Heat Resistance 5
Cold Resistance 10
Level 10 bonuses
Defence 100
Heat Resistance 100
Cold Resistance 200
Requirements 100 Cold Affinity, Level 1
Note: This is a rare spell owned by the inhabitants of the frozen wasteland how they treat you depends on the mastery of the spell
Quest Completion Conditions: Help Hale and Gale Survive in the upcoming war in 60 days
Quest Clear Reward: Epic skill learnt from either Hale or Gale
Quest Failure: ???
Wren shows a weird expression making Abigail the female priest tense up "You are being a bit vague how are items and skills graded what is the worth and value of the Ice Skin spell"
"Oh, I see that is what you are worried about" her tension fades into embarrassment.
"Skills are graded from worst to best Common, Uncommon, Rare, Epic, Unique, Legendary, Myth, Divine"
'Oh, a typical gear system hmm…'
"Doesn't that make owning rare items or skills at level 1 amazing?"
"That makes you God Void's chosen he hath seen it right to give his bounty in exchange for offerings".
'An In-universe explanation for paying for advantages, I wonder just how much of an advantage Master has tried to give me? Could this be part of her machinations? This can't be too bad for me'.
"I will put forth my utmost effort in this for your brave and valiant sons"
Wren's speech is very fake but the female priest doesn't mind smiling gently.
[You have accepted the quest "Help Hale and Gale"]
[You have received the skill "Ice skin"]
Wren immediately learns the skill, gaining the bonuses.
Wren skips a lot of the questions he could ask to start this easy quest. "Point me in the direction of the Cold Wall"
The female priest points in a direction "there is an intermediate place where my son Hale recruits early or foreign volunteers that way it will be busy outside so you can't miss it".
Wren nods and starts running in long bursts with short rests in-between feeling irked about it "I hate running like this, where is the continuous joy of the wind in your hair and the chemicals in your brain screaming for more?".
Earlier
A mass of flesh and muscles is swinging a gigantic sword the cold not being sufficient so he continues swinging generating more and more wind to cool himself.
"Eisen boy, stop that for now!" Says the officer Black Bull who Wren dealt with earlier.
The mass of flesh and muscles stops swinging the gigantic sword turning his attention to the officer fidgeting his hands restlessly.
"Dad, you know I can't" a young voice leaves the mouth of the huge mass of flesh and muscles, a weird parallel to his enormity.
"I am giving you something better, something that will keep you busy or even make it so you no longer need to worry about your curse".
Eisen widens his eyes and starts bouncing up and down in excitement "where is it? Where is it?"
"There" Black Bull points to a silver coffin with a lot bigger and with a lot more mechanical machinery than Wren's version.
"Do I get inside it?" Eisen asks.
"Yes and whilst inside it, you will experience a brand new world with endless possibilities to burn your energy"
"What if I get lost?"
"You don't need to worry about that I have it ready, you will always have quests telling you where to go and the pretty helper I got for you".
Eisen sees no issues so goes into it without any more delay.
He is blinded by the bright light but doesn't concern himself with that, he rushes in the direction the quest says to go pre-equipped with heavy armour and weapons.
"The Cold Wall of Baptism…"
A young woman lays motionless in a silver coffin with a massive supercomputer beside it. The design of this silver coffin is bulkier in the top quadrant where the young woman's head would be. Her body is squirming and moving in small bursts as her character moves in New World Battlefield.
In the Frozen Wasteland, she postures herself like a knight swinging her sword against a brigand's, steel weapon hitting steel. The brigand's weapon falls from his hand as the young woman follows through and decapitates him. She pulls back their long blonde hair as the cloudy sunlight shines on their light skin.
"I've cleared another den of brigands, I've done my Mother proud AAAHHH!"
Something changes in them it twists and turns in place for them their thoughts feeling clearer and foggier at the same time but a message overlays all that.
"I have the feeling that something good will happen to me if I head to Frozen Wall of Baptism?" She says as she heads that direction without thinking much.
Back to the present
Wren reaches a huge crowd with all types of people gathering and chattering in an open area with an ostentatious man with an odd theme to his clothes and a huge animal to his side in the centre.
"Quiet weaklings!" There is dead silence after the crowd hears the authority and ferocity laden in his voice.
"There is a minimum of combat strength needed to join the Cold Wall Guard, part of your duty will be patrolling the Frozen Wasteland, this is no school. There will be a separate test for more creative skills but I am your first test" the man has a wolfish grin as he says that.
Wren gets a closer look at the man; there are wolf tattoos, wolf skins and the animal is a wolf, does he hate wolves or love them?
"I am Hale the Wolf Fanatic your test is to dogpile me and see if you stick, those with a better performance will receive better rewards but it only comes to those who are worthy" Hale looks at the surrounding people like they are his prey.
[Forced Quest "Impress Hale" has started whether you wanted to get involved or not]
[There will be great rewards for those who partake and exceed Hale's expectations]
With the last part a lot of the crowd loses their vigour but one person stands out from the crowd "that suits me just fine, I was searching for something at the Cold Wall of Baptism and I will fight for it".
The knightly valiant young woman stands in the forefront. The name Summer flickers and artifacts above her head.
Her blonde hair stands out from the cold weather loosely tied to be out of the way. She is tall dressed in well-fitting full body armour, a good mix of leather and steel plating practical in most senses of the word but still designed beautifully.
Hearing her rousing speech the crowd regains their courage advancing towards Hale, Wren sees no reason not to join them stepping forward but hanging around the back.
"I'll make you a squad leader pretty…" before Hale can finish a large man holding a greatsword makes a charge straight for him taking his attention the name Eisen statically above his head.
Hale draws his two trusty daggers shaped like wolf fangs and parries the greatsword.
*Ding!!!!!!*
A loud noise sounds like a bell making the blood rush to the head of the brave ones in the crowd as they took to charging at Hale. Eisen is flung back into the crowd but shakes himself off joining in their charge.
'I'll join in later when he is more exhausted or distracted' Wren muses as his blends into the crowd.
Hale smiles launching himself to the strongest point of the crowd aiming his daggers at his first victim. The young boy is terrified and hurriedly swings their weapon with their eyes closed in hopes of hitting Hale.
"Fail" Hale then kicks the person away, they fly quite the distance landing safely on the ground but they are too terrified to move.
Summer attacks him from the front. She slashes her sword in an extremely sporadic way as if she can't decide the trajectory.
*Clang*
In the end, Hale does a wide sweep of his daggers knocking her back a fair distance "You already passed but your grade is increased"
Hale smiles as he goes back to wreaking havoc amongst the crowd like a wolf amongst sheep.
