“Fate isn't set; those that can glimpse the future need to be wary of it changing as they only see a small part of what could be. The realm shifts, gods make their moves, and fate twists and turns.”

  Aster

  The snow crunched as I stepped through it, the satisfying noise and feel of the ice compacting something I knew I would never stop enjoying. It had been a while since we'd set out to explore the northern part of the continent. Has it been over a month? Definitely. Two? No, the event started in a week. I paused in my steps as a thought came to me. How long had I been out of the forest? How old was I now? Seventeen? Eighteen? Did the time spent in the dungeon count? Giving a shrug, I decided the math wasn't worth it when I was out in the snow enjoying the peace.

  The daily snow storms and sparse wildlife weren't a worry and, in fact, were more enjoyable. Each beast or monster gave a good hunt, and with the constant distance traveled, it was never a problem to find food. There had been two times Umbra and I had had to flee a monster or higher grade beast that was above a grade three, but being able to fly proved to be the greatest gift. One of the most interesting things we found in our exploration was the ocean.

  The endless stretch of blue had been described in books and stories, but it didn't do the view justice. I remembered the view with no small amount of wonder. Sheets of ice had been spread out, and foam and waves had greeted us at the shore, washing our feet and talons. The water itself had even held the taste of salt, which had been disgusting and, well, salty but still wondrous.

  I sighed as I took a look around me. We were currently inland a few dozen miles away and set up semi-permanently until the event started. The massive hill that we used as a wind block was a good cover, but staying inside the walled cover did grow boring. Ever since finding my mana core, I have practiced moving it a few times a day. That practice resulted in daily nosebleeds when I was done, something Umbra worried about but didn't seem to have herself. The progress was slow, very slow. Starting to move my very sluggish core into a spin was like trying to start a storm with just a single cloud. Hey, that was a good analogy.

  Rubbing my ears and removing the snow buildup, I finished my climb to the top of the hill. Using Frost Control, I cleared the snow away from a single spot, revealing the grass, and sat down. I'd come up here to think. With Umbra away practicing her own skills, I was free to let my thoughts race, and they did with a thousand different things.

  The event was going to start soon! My tail twitched and flicked with excitement, but I forced it to calm. I wasn't a pup or, rather, a child. It was almost certain to be dangerous, but we'd done all the preparations we could and trained, even if it was only for a few months. Taking out the token, I flipped it. The event was structured by a god. I didn't know a lot about the gods, but I knew no one would know what to expect. Everyone who had a token would be going in blind.

  The only knowledge anyone actually had and could rely on was the notifications and the token itself. I hummed As I looked over it before shrugging and storing it. I wasn't a researcher, and all the plans and preparation possible had been done. With Umbra, I knew we'd do well at almost anything thrown at us except riddles. Screw riddles.

  Leaning back, I looked at the snow flurries. My bow skills were good. My armor was ready, food was set, and I had over twenty rune arrows to my name. That was one side ready to go. Pulling on Primal Shift, I felt the skill. It was my biggest time sink other than finding my core. The skill itched as I held it with a grasp of mana ready to be used, a hair away from activating. The form of the wolf was almost addictive with its strength and size. It was powerful, easy to fight with, and faster than I was. It took ten seconds to activate. It's not long but not small in its time during a fight.

  Those were my preparations, all that I could get done in the time I had. The rush for levels in the dungeon hadn't been enough to grab the single skill I was aiming for, one that would allow me to level all of my skills, but something told me I'd be getting levels in the event.

  “I wonder if Kat is ready or Fernand,” I spoke the words aloud Into the snow, voicing the thought to the world. There wasn't a response. If I saw either in the event, would I team up with them, or would we go our own way? Could we even team up? I wanted to see them, to know they were doing well even if we hadn't left on perfect terms.

  Placing my head In my hands, I watched the snowfall. The realm event would include anyone with a token. Once inside, I would be focused on the event, but outside right now, my biggest curiosity was what would happen after the event.

  The System Update talked about integration and changes and put the dungeons to sleep. It'd stopped a dungeon break and saved me in a roundabout way, but why? What was an integration?

  I had so many questions, too many, and I knew my mother had answers. I didn't regret going north but felt the pang of knowing I wouldn't be able to see her for a while. As the sun fell, I crossed my legs and stopped pushing the snow away every few minutes with Frost Control and instead let my meditation skill pull me into a soothing moment of peace as I felt tears words around me. For a while, I just enjoyed the feel of the cold, but after a time, I focused on my core. I didn't touch it directly, but I did touch the mana around it.

  Moving the mana wasn't an easy process. The process wasn't a physical one and not exactly a mental one. Using mana from around the core and my will, I could push the other mana into moving. If I wasn't careful, it would bounce off the core or the walls, and it was painful. It could cause nose bleeds, headaches, and even once caused blood to run from my ear. Umbra had been extremely worried about that, but all told, I held fast and was taking it slow. My cores's mana had begun to move, if not exactly spin, days ago, and it was getting easier to get the motion right with fewer mistakes in the process.

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  Right now, I focused on the core, feeling sweat build up and freeze on my body as I pushed the mana around the core ever so slightly to move faster. It flowed in a sluggish manner, but the flow of mana didn't speed up.

  The mana was a mix of a liquid form and gas. It was light. I could tell it was, but it stuck to itself if it wasn't moving. I wondered if I could compress it to make it easier to move, but I had no clue how to do that. I knew the mana in my body was frost affinity, not cold affinity, not snow affinity, not ice affinity, but frost affinity. It's a small distinction, but it's an important one. Everyone can have an affinity or none, and it affects their skills and spells. Each person's affinity is slightly different as well, almost like a mark. From what I know, opposing affinities exist in a broad sense. Fire and ice, earth and spatial, wind and force, dark and light. There are hundreds of different types, but just because they oppose each other doesn't mean one is better or worse; they just have a stronger reaction when they meet or clash. A good example would be, well, my frost affinity. From what I can tell about my own, it's mostly ice with a bit of spacial and wind. It's a guess since I have no way to tell anything other than my sense of it. The only issue with opposing affinities, in the few books I'd managed to read about them, is how they affect skills and spells. I could acquire fire skills, but they would be weaker than those of someone with an affinity for heat, fire, or magma. The fact that I could, in time, alter my affinity with skills and different classes was something people had to consider, too.

  Why was I thinking about this? Simple. Frost Affinity was what my core turned the ambient mana into. In a cold area like where I was, it was perfect, ideal. My skills wouldn't have to fight with the ambient mana nearly as much, if at all. In a desert, my mana would be slightly worse, having to deal with the ambient heat mana fighting its effect. Apparently, This was what most mages learned early on since it affected them the most, but it did apply to everyone. I wanted to take full advantage of the mana around me while I could, and to do that. I figured meditation and working on my mana core were the best ideas.

  I wanted my affinity to match with Umbra as well, and for the most part, it did. The only difference was how much closer to the cold or ice affinity she was than me and how I was leaning slightly away with wind and spatial. It wasn't a choice per se, but I did use a movement skill or two and a lot of ranged attacks that favored the wind affinity.

  Rubbing my face, I slapped my cheeks. I was getting off-topic. I'd come to the top of the hill to work on my core. Knowing my affinity didn't change a lot, but it would help in some way. I could tell, or feel, that much.

  Kat

  Kat ducked under the blow, bending to the left, then shifting on the balls of her feet and pushing the arm that had been angled to strike at her away before she twisted the dagger in her hand and pointed it at the throat of the man. The man dropped his sword with a snarl. Not mad at her but upset at himself

  Her dagger wasn't glowing orange. No fire lit its surface. It was a training dagger carved of wood. Using fire wouldn't be a good idea.

  “Well done, your skills have jumped quite far in just a few months.”

  Kat looked over at Ren, practically forgetting about the man on the mat as she scowled at her brother.

  Three others were around the sparring arena: a mage named Sel, two warriors, Ian and Tal, who were twins, and a ranger named Omissa. They were her party.

  Her brother had somehow managed to find four other token holders in just a few months, ones willing to travel with her to the Realm Event. The combination of classes was good, but Kat hardly knew them. Ren said they were loyal to him, but she wasn't happy with her brother, so that wasn't something she cared about.

  Still, her skills and levels had jumped in the months, and now, in just a week, she'd be able to ditch her brother and explore this realm event. She huffed, looking as Omissa and Sel took the mat. Neither were close combat fighters, but having the practice wouldn't hurt, and her brother pushed for all to be able to fight.

  They didn't turn to look as Ren moved next to her and kept watching the fight. Omissa couldn't throw a punch, but she could avoid one quite well.

  “They're not a bad team, Kat, and you'll be leading them. If I had more time, we could have gotten a bigger group, but five is a good party size, and if you find others from Karvum, you have the authority to order them,” Ren spoke casually but also had a worried look.

  Kat had to resist the urge to scowl again. Her brother, as much as she loved him, was getting as bad as their father with how he overlooked simple things. She didn't think her new team would do badly, but she didn't want them. She wanted a team she had picked, one she had studied with and at some level knew. Taking a breath to calm herself, she thanked the years of training in finding her emotions as she responded, “They're good fighters and should do well.”

  She, however, wasn't going to bet on her leadership skills because she had none. If she was being blunt, Sel or Omissa would be a better fit for leadership. Both had experience in their training for leading small groups and were quick to respond to different scenarios, which was more than she had.

  Ren frowned at her but didn't say anything else, and Kat didn't look at her brother. He'd changed in the time she'd been gone, and she wasn't liking the way he acted now at all. He'd pulled her away from Arilons Academy, had her watched, and had killed Aster. The last was the worst; she could understand the other two, but Aster had been forced to come with her and stay at the camp and all but shoved into dungeon after dungeon. When she didn't come out after a few months, Kat knew her friend had died.

  The feud with her brother and dragon riders she understood but silently was starting to disagree with. Yes, she hated them as well; they had killed her brother, but they had saved her life, too. That Baldwin person had saved her, Fernand, and Aster when the Monster had attacked them in the capital of Arilon.

  Her emotions were mixed on the topic, to say the least, but none of that would fix her issue with the current situation. She had left Karvum to get out from under everyone, but she was right back where she started, just instead of her father, it was now her elder brother. Looking up at the sky, Kat watched as a cloud passed over their training area and wondered if she could ditch her brother when she got back.