Frostbound [LitRPG Apocalypse]-Chapter 235 - Foxes and Phoenixes

Chris

"Don't you dare bring that in here!" Abigail's cry sounded from atop the Castle walls as I trudged toward the gate.

Shrugging sheepishly, I adjusted course to right under where the Castle stood, only a few hundred feet below on the lower side of the cliff. Abigail had plans to involve this side of the cliff in the future, but they remained just that. Plans.

We didn't have a way of traversing the vertical gap right now nor was it a high priority to figure out. Eventually, when we had enough people and it was crowded enough, we would be forced to expand to down here but that wasn't the case right now.

While I pulled the much larger sled than the first I created, Gabriel came scurrying around the cliff as fast as he could without falling.

It was nearly a mile to get to a spot that wasn't as steep and could be used to traverse, but it required... finesse.

Most travel went further down until the transition was more gradual but Gabriel had enough stats and skills to make use of the rockier terrain without too much issue.

It was little surprise he came running down first while everyone else took the long way down. He knew I brought a present just for him.

Getting and capturing said present was a bitch, and took forever, but I finally managed to snag one and bring it with me.

It made the trip back longer, as having to haul a giant block of ice was easier said than done, along with everything else I brought back with me.

Pelts, furs, and hides of all manner of beasts got stacked up and packed away. The massive antlers of the Moose were a nightmare to pack around because of their wonky size, but I made due.

I'd wanted to throw them into the woods more than a few times, but I stopped myself from doing so.

My skinning could use some work and ruined some of the materials, but there was enough for Sam to work with. Ashley spent more of her time on Healing which left Sam as the foremost expert when it came to Leatherwork.

I had some asks of them that only she could do. My cloak was getting an upgrade.

The Vine Bear pelt I used to wear had fallen to pieces from fighting and the Wolf was too destroyed from [Shattering Hammer] to make anything too large, but that wasn't an issue anymore.

I brought more than enough to make a full set of clothes from beasts I personally killed. I wasn't sure why that was a sticking point for me, but it was. It felt right to wear something I had a hand in killing rather than something someone else butchered.

I had enough for a variety of things, and I was excited at the possibilities.

In addition to the pelts, I brought anything that felt magical to my senses. Some beasts funneled mana into various parts of their body which made them worth more. The claws and fangs of wolves and big cats were the most obvious but smaller antlers of elk and horns of a bison were also packed away.

Also, a few beasts even had mana cores that I snagged.

Mana Cores didn't usually start becoming common in beasts until D-rank, but some managed to form them early. Most likely because of the dense mana up there but I wasn't an expert.

The list of materials packed away grew as I came across things I wanted, and instead of filtering out what was important, I made the sled I was dragging bigger to accommodate everything.

It was comical in size now. Bigger than I was tall and longer than a semi truck of Ice slid along the snow behind me leaving giant tracks in the snow wherever I went. It took nearly my full strength just to pull it.

The frictionless property of Ice was the only reason I could do so in the first place.

I managed to reach a stopping point long before Gabriel finished his descent and I sat down on my sled to await him.

"Chris!"

"Ah, it's good to see you, brother."

Gabriel's efforts to examine what I brought made the hug rather quick, but I didn't blame him. It was nice to see him this excited about it.

"Is this what I think it is?" He stared wide-eyed at the frozen beast.

"Now, now. You have to wait until everyone else gets here before opening presents." I mocked.

He snorted, "Don't even start with that. You were the one that couldn't hold back during Christmas."

"That's patently false. I remember on many occasions it was you tearing into the gifts early." I said. "I was a bastion of patience."

"Yeah, right." Gabe sassed, "It must be my memories that were rattled from all the hits to the head. No, wait, it's you that fights with a giant hammer."

"What are you two bickering about over there?" Abigail cut in with the rest of the group that came to meet me.

"Sister, how was Twin City?" A short hug accompanied my greeting.

"Good. Marcus was friendly and I can see a long partnership ahead of us." She said and hugged me back.

"Mom, how are things?"

"Perfect now that you're back."

"Austin! Man is it good to see you! How've you been?"

"Good, good. I see you're whole again, I can't believe I missed making fun of you for losing an arm. So many jokes left unsaid." Austin lamented.

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I still remembered the ones he made when I lost a finger. I couldn't imagine the number of jokes he would come up with for an arm.

The same scene followed with the rest of the group. The group who left with Abigail along with the people who stayed behind minus Rachel.

A round of hugs later, I took the time to examine all of them.

"You've grown," I said. It wasn't only Abigail either. Everyone felt much stronger than when I last left, the Winter months doing them good.

Austin had changed the most, but he had also been away the longest.

"So have you, as annoying as that is." Austin remarked, "I don't know why I thought I caught up as you clearly don't follow the same rules."

"You get used to it." Jonathan cut in. "I had my Anchor for barely a week before he came back with his own."

"Don't even get me started on his Law. I thought I was good having a Tier 1 Ice Law out of the tutorial and he comes blazing in with a Tier 2 Law." Gabriel added.

"Hey! This is supposed to be a warm reunion, not pile on Chris for being different." I defended.

All three men just looked at me blankly.

"Fine, then I guess you don't need this Gabriel." I faked pushing the frozen beast away and that got him to change his tune real quick.

"Let's not be hasty about things! It was all in good fun." He scrambled.

"Yes, let's talk about the live beast you were planning on dragging into the City," the cadence of Abigail's voice was slow, dragging out the two words, "Because that's what you were planning to do, wasn't it?"

I looked down, "I will not confirm nor deny."

I had been planning to bring it into the City. In my defense, my Ice kept it completely restrained but it was a better idea to keep it out of the Walls. It would wreak havoc if it somehow got out inside the City.

It was hard enough to capture the first time without killing it. I wasn't sure if I'd be able to do it again.

"Well, what is it? I can hardly see anything through the block of ice."

Everyone was already staring at it in suspense, so I removed most of the Ice to let people see it clearly.

With the ice blocking their vision removed, they could clearly make out its features. A long snout filled with short, sharp teeth. A fur as white as snow, near-perfect camouflage in its environment. A body not much larger than a human if one was lying down.

And three fluffy white tails.

"It's a fox." Austin unhelpfully degraded my prize.

"Not just any fox. A Three-tailed Arctic Fox!" I said.

Austin wasn't convinced, "Which is still a fox."

Gabriel, on the other hand, looked at the beast with wide eyes. He had been looking for a suitable Bloodline forever. He was upset that most of us had one already while he didn't.

My mother also didn't have one but she wasn't as disappointed by it as Gabriel was.

"What's so special about it?" Austin asked after seeing Gabriel's heavy glare.

"It's one of the best Bloodlines when it comes to pure manipulation. Arctic Foxes are natural mages. Their small size and physicality make it hard for them to win fights against larger creatures, but their magical abilities more than makeup for it.

"They're born with an innate ability for spells and magic rather than having increased size and strength." Abigail summarized.

"It was also near the top of Gabriel's wish list when it came to Bloodlines," I added.

I had looked for the other things Gabriel wanted but couldn't find any of them. Even if I did, I doubted I would've been able to capture it and bring it back. I had to run from Polar Bears, let alone anything with Draconic blood.

"Now, you can still wait it out until we chance upon a Frost Wyrm, but I highly doubt we'll find one of those. While I saw Mammoths and Wooly Rhinos that came back from extinction, we still don't know if there are Dragons here." I said.

Gabriel, like Rachel, had Dragons at the top of his list for Bloodlines but without a method to buy it from the store, he was left without a way to get it.

"No, this is perfect! While it's not as flashy as a Dragon Bloodline, it's just as good." Gabriel said, still not taking his eyes off the beast.

Good, I thought.

I was worried he wouldn't like it. It would have made all the work I put into capturing and hauling the beast pointless, but that was nothing compared to the other reason.

Gabriel had already evolved without a Bloodline once, missing the first chance to empower it. Missing a second chance to hold out for a Dragon Bloodline would've done more harm than good.

It was good that I wouldn't have to convince him otherwise.

Not having a Bloodline before evolving to E-rank, wasn't that big of an issue. It was something he could recover from, but missing two, the first two to boot, would have left him far behind.

Austin wasn't convinced, "How are foxes comparable to Dragons."

"Dragons aren't the end all be all," Abigail answered before Gabriel could. His... rants got lengthy. "As much as Rachel would have you believe, they aren't the uncontested best Bloodline. It depends on what you want."

"Why are you arguing for it, Austin? You didn't even pick a Dragon Bloodline and you had the chance to." I asked.

The man scoffed, "Yeah, but I got one just as good that fits me better. You're comparing a fox to a Phoenix."

"The highest tier of Arctic Fox Bloodlines are comparable to your Phoenix one." Gabriel defended, "At the peak of its power, it turns into the Nine-tailed Arctic kitsune which can rival Frost Dragons in strength."

"A fox can rival a Dragon?"

"A Nine-tailed fox, and yes it can." Gabriel answered, "While Dragons may sit at the top when it comes to Fire, they can't say the same for all the other affinities."

Austin coughed.

"Fine, allegedly sits at the top when it comes to fire." Gabriel sighed before muttering, "But I'd like to see a Phoenix beat a Dragon."

"So... you'll take it then?" I asked my brother.

"Of course. It's a top-tier Bloodline for my affinity. I'd be a fool not to." He said like I was stupid for even asking.

"Alright then!" I said excitedly and clapped my hands, "Connor, get to it!"

Connor blinked.

He looked at me, then at the barely contained beast, then at me again.

"Yeah, I don't know how to do that."

My grand plan began to crumble. "What do you mean? Aren't you an Alchemist?"

"Yeah, but that doesn't make me all knowledgeable in every aspect of it!" Connor cried.

"It can't be that hard. Just... you know... extract its Bloodline." Austin nudged his brother.

"First of all, the process is much more complicated than that. And second, I don't even focus on that. I make poisons and explosives. Sometimes potions when we need them. I have no idea where to start when it comes to something like this." He waved at the animal.

"You're an Alchemist, though, shouldn't that account for something? Don't you have a skill that could help?" Austin asked.

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A vein in Connor's head bulged, "The only reason I can do what I do now is because I have a base understanding of Chemistry from my degree. Poisons, explosives, even potions, somehow, are similar enough to what I know. The processes are wildly different, but I adapted enough of my old knowledge to sus out new ones."

"This," he pointed at the fox, "Is a complete mystery. No amount of chemistry knowledge is going to help to distill an animal's bloodline."

"Well, shit." I said, "Do you know anyone who could do it?"

"I do, but you're not going to like who it is." He said.

At my stare, he continued, "I know all of the Alchemists in the city and none would know where to start with this. No one here focuses on this. The only person I know who delves into this kind of stuff is at the Fort."

Oh, no. I didn't like where this was going.

"How would you even know that? You've never even been there." Abigail cut in.

Connor looked aghast, "Did you think I wouldn't investigate further after you told me someone was trying to make Vampires?! You guys just came back and dropped a bombshell like that and expected me not to ask further questions? That's batshit insane and I'm here for it! I wrote a letter to him to see what his ideas were and he was surprisingly amenable." He added thoughtfully. "We don't write often, but he's a good dude."

"Connor," Austin said slowly, "Are you telling me you've been in contact with someone attempting to make a race of Demons and that wasn't something you deigned to tell me!"

Connor wilted slightly at his brother's intensity, "I didn't think you'd care."

"Of course, I'd care!" Austin yelled, "Vampires are awesome!"

Abigail pinched the bridge of her nose, "That's not– You know what, never mind."