Chapter 71

Michael took careful steps inside the large cavern. In the middle of the room, the Throne of the Ice King was like a shining beacon of azure, blue and white energies bright enough to outshine the light of all the torches in the room, at least when seen through magical means. It stood there empty, testament to a powerhouse that was no more, the tool of the dungeon slain to gain its power and rule.

Michael approached the throne gingerly. The elements were a swirl around the oversized ice seat, which both generated them out of thin air and seemed to be the centra point around which the vortex rotated incessantly.

Sitting down in meditation, not on the throne but beside it, Michael reached out to the simplest of the energies: Ice.

Hours passed with him trying to understand, connect and incorporate Ice into his being. He tried to figure out just where this Ice was supposed to be in the first place. His Fire was inside his aura itself, which was called Soulfire Silverweb after he had used Fire to fuel its transition from Copper to Silver. The presence of Fire in his aura also meant that Ice refused to be even near it, no matter how hard he tried to push it around. His control over it was sloppy, since Ice was not a known element to him, and he lacked the finesse to make it meld with his Fire seamlessly.

There seemed, however, to be another place where he could goad the energy to go. Something that he had seen in his status, called Elemental Energy Capacity. It was like a Dantian but for the elements rather than Qi, where he could store elemental energies to be used later just like he could store Qi in his Dantian to be used at his whims.

He felt a sort of resonance, a budding connection, but even as the hours passed he failed to make the final leap. Still, he felt that if he could somehow manage to store the Ice in his Elemental pool, then perhaps he could use it to evolve his aura even further. What if he could make veins of all the elements in his aura before advancing to Gold rank? He would be unstoppable.

Too bad, he thought as he struggled to return to reality after fantasticating, that he still had no idea what advantages his unique aura had over a standard one. He would have to ask Theobond later. The alien must surely know something.

On a whim he tried to summon his [Foul Water Bullet], thinking that perhaps since it came from a skill, its elemental energy would be easier to deal with. Instead, he discovered to his great surprise that it was as if the element wasn’t really there at all. He could see it, and he could see it interact with the world, but when he tried to manipulate it… it did not respond at all. The same thing happened with the flames generated by [Candle Light], and later he found the same to be true about the Qi generated by his [Healing Aura]. He could use it to heal himself, and while the skill was active he could also move it around, but it did not go to his Dantian to replace his reserves like Qi from a Coin would.

This taught him that, just like mana, Qi and elemental energies were a finite resource outside of the dungeon. And unlike mana and Qi, he had no elemental Coins he could use to replenish his elemental reserves, instead having to seek a source of the relevant element in the dungeon.

It made him appreciate the Misty Valley even more. With its many features, it had sources of many elements. The forest was full of green vitality and nature elements, the mountains were filled with earth and metal veins, the river and lake were full of water elements, the glacier had abundance of icy wisps of energy, and the volcano was an excellent source of all things fiery. The swamp completed the picture with its corrupted rot elements, and Michael was sure there were more to be found in the desert and in other unexplored places.

“I cannot tell you what you wish to learn,” Theobond said. Michael had gone to the castle as the last item on his to-do list before leaving the dungeon. “It would be revealing too much, and the gaze of the dungeon still lingers on me.”

“Surely you can give me a hint.”

Theobond observed Michael impassively, lacking any visible emotion. It was hard to predict when the king would show emotion and when he would act like this, and reading said change was impossible. Eventually, the blue humanoid sighed. “I can. You are on the right path, of course. However, it is a hard feat, and the more elements you wish to add to your aura, the more dangerous it will be to do it. Balance them with Qi, and do not add other energies until you upgrade its rank. Now leave before this place smites us, and do not return for a long time.”

***

Josh paced around the half-ruined office. Burnt furniture and charred smudges lined the walls, and some of the things in the room were clearly thrown haphazardly, while others kept in almost maniacal order. Behind the desk by the window, through which Josh could see a nearby corn field brutally battered by the midday sun, sat his boss.

Carmela was calm, a mirror opposite to his seething rage that sent him into coughing fits. He put away the tissue where splotches of blood from his coughing reminded him of the ruin his ‘friend’ had inflicted upon him, strategically forgetting about the fact that it had been him who had gone to the dungeon with the intention to kill, and not Michael.

“You never told me who the other guy was,” Josh said with barely restrained anger. His remaining hand twitched as his fingers gripped his shirt, half from anger and half from uncontrollable shivers from the infection spreading through his system. “You thought it would be a good idea to withhold information like that?”

“Pah,” spat the woman, somehow managing not to break the illusion of poise and control. “Don’t act like you get to tell me what to do, ragazzo. You were told to avoid contact, what good would have done knowing who the other guy was?”

“It—”

“Shush. I’m speaking. Knowing his identity would have made you go ballistic, that’s what! Precisely what I don’t need right now, and precisely what you went and did!”

“They dared to attack us!” Josh spat, the tremors in his hand intensifying, “in broad daylight. How could you let it stand?”

“I could,” Carmela said clinically, “because the woman ran away with her tail between her legs. Now you went and undid all the leverage we had built just because you couldn’t contain yourself.”

“You should have told me sooner that it was Michael.”

Carmela shrugged. “Not like I was actually preventing you from learning his identity. You could have gone and checked on him with your super speed. Did you? Did you?”

Josh sputtered. “I don’t care. He’s weak,” he lied after recovering his confidence to speak, “I almost killed him before he fled.”

Carmela scoffed at the young man. “You have super speed and you tell me he fled?”

“Next time he won’t be so lucky.” Josh shrugged. Which was awkward when one of his arms was a stump.

Carmela knew it was a lie. She also knew that Michael would soon retaliate after this. So far, he had been meek and stupid, letting her do whatever she wanted. But now he would have no arguments to present to his advisors when they confronted him, urging him to finally deal with her. And they were going to urge him. She knew Old Dave, and she was pretty sure she understood Travis Tyrell’s type as well.

Peaceful days were over all too soon. All because Josh “couldn’t FUCKING control his temper!”

“What?”

“Shut up.” She yelled at him, then calmed herself. She pressed a button and a burly man entered the room, the figure of calm. “Call the Bulgarians,” she told him. “It’s time to use them. Tell them to go and kidnap Michael’s family and bring them to me.”

“They won’t do it, ma’am,” said the man. She regarded him, his right hand, and he shrugged. “You know how they are.”

“They are just the muscle, cazzo. Not the brain. They shouldn’t think at all! Leave that to their betters. Plus, don’t they have a grudge against the boy? You know what? Josh, go with him. Take some trusted men and make sure the Bulgarians behave.”

Besides, they are just the bait. But she did not say it out loud.

“You want me to *cough* go fucking *cough*…”

Carmale waved his protests away, “save your breath,” she said to the hacking man. “You are going.”

“He’s a monster,” Josh’s face was white as a sheet, “I’m not going without some sort of incentive.”

He eyed her up and down. Instead of the expected reaction, however, she simply stared at him. Even when he summoned a fireball. Sure, she might be his boss, but she was an utterly normal human and he was a mage. He might be crippled, but against her it was like fighting a toddler. He would wipe that smirk off her face and—

“Sure.” She said. Before the message could even register in Josh’s mind, she suddenly was on him. She grabbed his head in her hands and squeezed, lines of golden light beginning to freeze his skin, the biting pain of ice making its way to his brain. Then she released him, letting him slump to the ground, and taking his coins.

“You are not the only magic individual now,” she said with a scoff. Her smirk was undamaged. “I got magic too. Thank that bureaucrat we sort of kidnapped, sort of tortured, for his gift. You better learn your place, coglione. You do as I tell you. Don’t think for a moment that just because you have some sort of power, you can do whatever you want.”

She gave him a few coins, barely enough for a few spells. “Go and be glad you’re still alive. Don’t think you can run either. What I want you to do to Michael’s family… I’ve already done to yours. You can’t win this.”

After Josh left, Carmela suddenly slumped on her chair. Finding that man who had stumbled upon the dungeon that day had been an unexpected boon. Even better still that he was an idiot. An idiot too easy to blackmail. She had forced him to go back into the dungeon and bring her the source of his magic. He had returned without even needing her to torture his family a little bit, holding a thick grimoire. One that had, after she read it, granted her magic. Then she forced the man to go back into the dungeon and bring her more tomes, but he never made it out the second time.

Too bad that using grimoire magic drained her almost to the point of fainting. But Josh didn’t need to know that.

After Josh was done with his task then… she would have unfettered access to the dungeon. Then she would start sending Michael and Josh in there multiple times a day to provide her with coins and grimoires until she was unstoppable.