Chapter 52: Brave and Dangerous?

In the cold storms of the North, where only snow could be seen for miles on end. Alex continued digging with only a smile on his face even as his hands froze and the skin was peeled from his hands.

But that didn't discourage him at all, because while he couldn't use Spells in this place, Lily could still use her Ki, which allowed her to make Alex's hands usable and break through the ice that engulfed them. These were just some of the fundamental weaknesses of each category, there was no perfect power out there.

She looked at him and couldn't help but feel like even though he was weakened, Alex still had that sense of danger around him, like a wild predator ready to pounce at his prey. At least that was what her instincts told her.

'Right, no way someone like him wasn't prepared for a situation like this.' She thought, a little unsure at this since the situation was truly out of anyone's expectations after all. Only a super control freak would think of crazy scenarios like this and how he would handle them separately.

Mana was everywhere, inside animals, humans, monsters, in a rock, mountain… it was everywhere on the planet. But without runes and magic spells it was useless. Mages can harness Mana and even create a mana core within themselves. This was the way it worked, Rank 1 to 4 Mage Classes all we're building upon that core, so they still needed assistance from outside Mana to use a spell… Legendary Mages on the other hand were a whole other deal. 

Legendary Mages though can't be stopped from casting spells, they no longer were just using magic, instead, they are the source of magic themselves.

The Mana is no longer needed to be taken out of the environment, so Spells can no longer be interrupted like they are right now, it can all come from the inside, and due to this compatible Mana source (due to being their own) and concentration… Legendary Mages are unmatched even by a hundred Peak Rank 4 Mages. 

Of course, there have been exceptions to these unspoken rules, but it was so rare that it wasn't worth mentioning in the books.

Warriors on the other hand use their Ki which can be considered their life energy to fight, which also strengthens their body and offers defensive measures. Ki was both internal and external, internal Ki implied on someone's direct lifeforce using it is the same as cutting down your lifespan, but the attack from internal Ki is known to be able to create devastating effects. But Warrior Classes can generate their external Ki, which is used to fight and use techniques.

'If I was at Legendary Rank, then my spells will never stop from activating by just the resident power of a long-dead God.' Thought Alex, his eyes had a strange coldness on them as he looked down.

He felt like he could smell the cold, but contrary to the pain his body was in, he was quite happy on the inside. 

This worried his companion to no end, but she didn't stop him, because she knew that no matter what she said, it wouldn't matter to Alex and he would do his things.

Never again will she make the same mistake as to get mixed up with dangerous people like Alex. 'I don't like guys like him at all.'

...

Night came about but Alex finally had dug so far down in the snow that when he looked up he could only see that it had turned dark. The hole was quite deep, it was 6 meters (~20 feet), and most of the progress had been made by Lily using her Ki and giving it the form of a shovel for her to use. 

'Turning Ki into a corporeal object. Something that should only be possible at Rank 4 as a Warrior.' He contemplated and secretly commended Lily for her prodigious aptitude. She just seemed to learn new things on her own, a true god-given talent.

But while they were in a hole of snow and the temperatures were colder than ever, as the sunset got even colder and reached temperatures that would freeze both of them to death. 

But finally, they had reached what seemed to be some wall below them.

Alex noticed that it felt smooth and was paved very well. But as he touched out a burning feeling hit his hand, not due to the heat but due to just how cold it was. The pain no longer bothered him as much anymore.

"Be careful," Lily warned him, but he only smirked, not troubled at all by it. Or more correctly, he had already killed the nerves in his hands so he no longer feels pain from them.

But he wasn't discouraged by it at all, even if he couldn't use magic, he still could access his gamer interface. 

'This means that I have no divine power locked on me.' He thought before looking at Lily and nodding. "Can you use one of your skills to breakthrough?"

Lily nodded, and took out the red dagger, took a deep breath, and took a casual stance while looking at the ground.

Booom!

A dark red energy exploded out of her body, it was pure and uncontrolled blood lust, its essence was so raw that it made even Alex feel a little chill go down his spine.

"Woah~ that is quite the Blood Lust!" Alex looked at her amazed rather than intimidated, this made Lily smirk slightly.

'This guy… he isn't afraid if anything.' She thought as she slashed down with power that someone of her Rank shouldn't have.

BOOOM!!!

A dark light surrounded the ground and it exploded and a hole was cut into it. She picked Alex in a princess carry and jumped down together with him in her arms. 

Alex was flustered at this and looked at her with a blush on his face. "Wow~ my hero in shining armor ~"

This caused Lily to just look at him with a cold look. But he only snickered at this, not at all intimidated. 

"You look so cute when you look at me like that." He patted her on the head and they landed on the ground, which immediately caused Lily to put Ki towards her feet as ice instantly tried to climb up her leg, but it can't as her Ki breaks it.

"One more word and I will drop you." She warned, but Alex seemed unbothered by this and poked her cheek. 

"Hahahaha," he laughed, elated at the situation, and then pointed in front of her, they couldn't see the clear visage of the room or how big it was due to the mist surrounding it. One couldn't even tell clear directions due to it. "Lily, there are around 100 Undead in front of us."

"Huh?" She was surprised, she was a warrior class but couldn't sense anything while Alex who was supposed to be unable to use Mana seemed to sense them easily. Still, she immediately engulfed both herself and Alex in Ki to protect them. "What type of undead, skeleton? Zombie? Vampire?"

"None of the above," he stated as his eyes narrowed towards the mist, "These are Draugor, undead that serve the Goddess of Ice, but due to her death they are all weakened, so by now they should be Rank 3 or 4."

"Tch, that still isn't something I can handle," Lily complained. "Even one of them would be next to impossible to handle."

Alex smiled at that, "Well don't worry, you have me here…"

Seeing his confident smile she was impressed and thought that he must have had a plan.

"I will help you with moral encouragement… so… just tie me up on your back." As he said that, Lily's hopes immediately came crashing down.

"The hell! Don't say something like that to get my hopes up!" She complained as she looked around nervously and heightened her senses to the max by using her Ki, but she still couldn't sense anything.

"Hahahaha, I am just joking," he said happily, making Lily pout in annoyance at this, "But Lily, don't underestimate me just because I can't use magic. A lion doesn't become a rabbit just because it lost its claws."

He then jumped off her arms and landed on the extremely cold ground. 

"Alex!" She yelled out in panic, knowing that just stepping on this floor without protection could be dangerous.

"Don't worry Lily, I might have lost my claws…" immediately ice started spreading through his legs, but Mana concentrated on his pants and boots, "but I still have my fangs."

[Enchant: AntiFreeze]

The ice broke apart in an instant. His boots and pants gained a shine to them for a split second, showing that they had been enchanted. Technically he hadn't used magic since enchanting items like this isn't magic, and also Lily was surprised as usually Wizards write letters on something to enchant it.

She concentrated Ki in her eyes and was surprised to see that he had used his own Mana as ink to draw the symbols in his boots and pants, though they were translucent normally since Mana originally has no color.

"Follow my lead." He said and took out a dagger from his clothes. 'I knew that keeping hidden weapons like this would be useful one day.'

Slowly he created Mana strings through the tip of his fingers.

[You have created skill: Mana String (Rank 1) Lvl 0/5]

*sigh* 'This will be such a waste.' He thought before dumping a bunch of Exp into the skill.

[Your skill <Mana String> has leveled up to Advanced Mana Strings (Rank 3) Lvl 15/15]

[Your skill: Beginner Sword Skills Lvl 5/5 → Advanced Sword Skills Lvl 15/15]

He saw his Exp go from hundreds of thousands into less than ten thousand in an instant. He had planned to instantly enter Legendary Rank as soon as he got the new class that he wanted. But now it seemed like an unlikely expectation. 

...

 Don't forget to throw some power stones :)

...

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