When Silva and I finally made it back to the abandoned building we had taken as our home, I let out a sigh of relief. After the fight against the three more powerful Shattered, I had healed her, my Blood Rune Mastery jumping to four in the process and once that was done, we had stuck to the shadows and avoided anything that might be a threat.

Now, about an hour before the sun would start to rise, we were back. It was amusing how much the building, despite its rundown and, in parts, utterly disgusting state, had become shelter and home to me. We checked everything out, making sure that nobody and nothing had snuck in while we were away, before having some of our respective food.

Silva happily wolfed down her food with incredible speed, while I ate at a more sedate pace, the cold oatmeal was not too bad but the fresh fruits I had pilfered during the night made it a true treat, one I would likely miss in the coming days. Fruits simply had too much water to be suitable as travel rations and the drying process just took something out of them. Water, mostly, but also enjoyment when eating them.

The moment Silva was finished, she came over to me, her massive head nudging against my legs while she quietly whined as if she hadn’t been fed in weeks. There was nothing I could do about her but laugh, especially when I finally caved in and offered her a small chunk of oatmeal, only for her to sniff it, before looking at me with a look of betrayal, as if I was trying to poison her. Why couldn’t humans be as easy to read, their motives open and their feelings worn on their faces?

After we were both fed, Silva plopped herself down in our corner, quickly falling asleep. While I was considering whether to join her in her slumber or do a bit of magic training, a quiet whimper drew my attention and I saw her legs move, as if she was running, while she made those soft noises. Her ears started to flutter, moving around rapidly, as the noises coming from her grew more aggressive, the whimpers turning into warning growls.

Walking over, but keeping a good two metres of distance, I began to talk at her, not trying to wake her up but simply communicating that I was present, hoping that my voice would reach her, even in a dream. It might have helped, for her growls quieted down, even if her ears and legs kept twitching. I decided that I could now move up without risking life or limb to a sleepy canine, sitting down next to her and scratching her head. Her ears kept twitching for a little longer before they stopped moving and her breathing became quiet and even.

With a grin on my face, I put on a set of clean clothes I had designated as sleeping clothes and crawled into my sleeping bag, one arm resting against her body and gently scratching her ears, and soon, I drifted off, too, joining my canine companion in her sleep.

After a surprisingly restful sleep, given the apocalyptic circumstances, I awoke about an hour after noon, rested and ready to take on the world. If not for that giant ball of curse-bringing fire, high up in the sky severely limiting my options. Even worse, while the day was overcast, I wasn’t willing to risk things in the hope that the weather stayed bad, getting caught out in the sun would severely mess me up.

But it wasn’t as if I couldn’t do anything with the day, I just had to stay indoors. There were ways I could train my magic while inside, getting at least some skill levels, even if solitary, safe training didn’t have the same results as using magic in a fight. But trying to come up with new ways to use your magic while in a fight for your life was a desperation move, not something to rely on, especially now, that I no longer had the safety net of the respawn mechanic I had on Mundus.

Trying to puzzle out how the Gods had set up the entire Road to Purgatory experience would be an interesting mental challenge but one I wasn’t about to try just yet. It was undoubtedly highly complex and far too irrelevant to my current circumstances to waste time on, even if I was curious. My initial assumption was that it was somewhat similar to the way I had controlled to simulacra made of Ice, using my blood and magically infused hair to create a link, only far more involved. Shaking my head, I stopped myself before I could start going down that rabbit hole, knowing that even if I managed to puzzle the entire thing out, I would at most get a pat on the head from Hecate for being a clever mortal. From all the deities I had heard about on Mundus, there were only two I thought would respect something like that, one was Hecate, the other Loki, progenitor of the Firn Elves and the Frost Giant Blood. And apparently, a bit of an insane scientist, if I considered the various myths and what I had heard about. In addition, the Bound Titan. Not a Deity, but I had a feeling that there was more to its story, not that I had any avenue to investigate and likely wouldn’t have for a long time.

Shaking my head once more, I had to grin and wonder how to keep myself from going down the various intellectual rabbit holes. The easiest way would likely be to actively engage with something that took my entire focus, so I wouldn’t be distracted by wandering thoughts.

Given the troubles and realisations of the previous night, I decided that I wanted to have something more permanent for my primary weapon, my Ice Magic. The shuttles I had used on Mundus had been an excellent fit, capable of both slashing and piercing, even if the slashing power had been relatively negligible, due to their low weight. Unless I wanted to try hacking them into enemies, instead of slashing past them, that would always be an issue and if I went there, I could always just pierce into them. More often than not, the squishy bits on the inside of a body were the more important parts anyway.

Centring my mind, I settled on the edges of the Astral River, letting Astral Meditation increase my regeneration to the maximum. Without having the parallel thought streams I would unlock soon, I couldn’t simply have the meditation run in the background but I thought I would be able to split my focus enough to channel magic while keeping it up.

Letting my breath slowly flow out of me, I started to work with deliberate slowness, trying to draw the runes as perfectly as I could. A small mistake could be corrected with magical brute force but each small mistake would cost me in efficiency. If I merely wanted to create a single hailstone, that was no problem but if I wanted to create a complex item from Ice while I was conjuring it, every bit of efficiency was important.

My mind sunk into a meditative, trance-like state, completely filled with the process of aligning Ice-Crystals and forming the strongest, most compressed Ice I could at this point. It wouldn’t be on the level of Hard Ice and far from the Eternal Ice I had worked with at the end of the Beta, but it would be better than the usual Ice I used. It also took a great deal more Astral Power but with my meditation going, that wasn’t much of an issue.

Finally, I could let my Ice Magic flow around the object I had just created, feeling the smooth curves, the sharp edges and the deadly point. Opening my eyes, I was assaulted by a light headache, the intense focus had taxed my mind greatly, though not to the point of complete mental exhaustion. Before me, held aloft by my Ice Magic, was a crystalline blade, glinting just a little in the gloomy light of the dark building. The weapon was, as always, completely designed with Ice Magic in mind, without a hilt or crossguard or anything that would allow normal usage but be a hindrance when using it with Ice Magic.

Just as I was about to identify the item I had created, a blue box opened up, demanding my attention.

Title gained You gained the title: Magical Creator You are amongst the first to create a magical Item on your world. That act of creation will forever strengthen magical items you create, as you forge the path for your entire world. Special Ability gained. You gained a Special Ability: Spell Channelling

Sometimes, it's not the instant release of magical power to accomplish something that you seek, for example when healing a strong instant shock could destroy the patient before being able to heal him.

Those who are able to channel spells can release their power over a period of time, making their effect gentler and less jarring.

A grin started to form on my lips, the title quite welcome, especially if I had to conjure up all my equipment in the future. Though I was rather amused at the idea that others would try to follow my path, I doubted that weapons of conjured Ice would be an option for anyone but those with the resistance to withstand their cold and the affinity to properly maintain them. A shame, it made for really… cool equipment.

The Special Ability, on the other hand, was one I had almost forgotten about, so fundamental to my abilities that I hadn’t even thought about trying to get it. But it was incredibly welcome and would allow me to do more things with my Rune Magic, interesting and quite powerful things. After all, there was a limit to how fast I could channel my Astral Power into spells, even with Overflow.

Frozen Shuttle Rarity Unique Base Damage Piercing 8 Damage Piercing Base Damage Slashing 4 Damage Slashing Strength Modifier none Special Effect Imbued: Due to the process used for the creation of this weapon, it is strongly in tune with the Ice-Magic of Samantha Jade Jacobs. 40% lower cost when wielded by her Ice-Magic. Special Effect Brittle – This weapon does not bend, it will break. May shatter if too much force is exerted. Created by the Magic of Samantha Jade Jacobs and one of the first magical creations in a changed world.

I tried to remember the details of the weapons I had used on Mundus but just couldn’t recall the numbers. I thought these were higher, especially the one in the imbued trait, but I wasn’t certain. But I was quite confident that it would be more useful than the hailstones I had used thus far. In addition, I had gained two points in Astral Meditation during the creation, bringing it to four, one point in Ice Rune Mastery, bringing it to nine and, finally, one point in Ice Magic, bringing it to seven. I was almost at the point that I could try delving into the Astral River to learn another rune, even if I was somewhat leery of that idea, given the turmoil the river was in.