Frostbitten Wayfarer

Zoe wandered around the streets for a while, enjoying the city’s simple beauty until she arrived at a park that caught her interest. There was a simple wooden pathway that led through the rather short trees compared to the Kaira park she was used to, and colourful flowers lined the edges. Bits of moss and grass poked up through the cracks in the wood, and Zoe’s smell was hit with the smell of pollen and a mild sweetness.

She found a bench just off the path and sat down on it to think for a while. The inn was nice, but nature always comforted her. Zoe had stagnated a bit, she realized. Rizick explored the world, saw so many different things and cultures and even decided to settle down after having his fill of it.

In comparison, Zoe had done so little in the same time frame. She’d built herself a home, explored a dungeon and a cave and it took her almost twenty years. Almost nothing compared to the stories Rizick was able to share, if she were being honest.

It almost made her feel as though her sense of time had skewed too far in the other direction. Though it’s not that she didn’t enjoy herself, either. It was just a bit surprising to see how much she might have missed out on. But was it really missing out on things, if she’d live forever? She would get to them, in time.

She supposed it was. Flester was gone now, what if she ended up in Korna first instead, and wanted to go check out Flester someday but never managed to get there before it was destroyed? How many places would be destroyed while she floundered around without a care?

It was a difficult decision to make, but she decided she enjoyed her current lifestyle, and wanted to continue exploring the world at her own pace. If the world was destroyed before she saw it all then so be it, she’d never have the time to see every single thing the world had to offer anyway. There were cultures on the other side of the world, or even on other worlds in this universe that were living and maybe fighting wars. Ruins that were appearing, or ruins that were being overtaken by society.

There was no point to beating herself up over not being able to see it all, all of the time. She’d get there eventually, and she was fine with that.

But, it did raise the question of when would she finally reset her classes? It had been months, maybe even years since she decided she wanted to. Zoe found time was hard to quantify often. Months and years blending together as just ‘a while.’

Now seemed like a good time, she thought. Korna was safe, as safe as anywhere would be that she knew of. Surrounded by strong walls and defended by high level guards. Even the fire elemental that destroyed Flester might have been fought off by Korna, and something like that wasn’t common, she hoped.

Zoe gritted her teeth at what she was about to do. She’d reset her fourth class a few times at this point, but that was only around level one hundred. This time she had Transcendent on her side giving her far more stats and was up to level one hundred fifty three. The immense quantity of stats on top of two entire classes being ripped from her was going to suck.

She took a breath, and urged the system to replace her Chrono Enchanter class with Seasoned Torrents. The system’s magic smashed through her like a wrecking ball, ripping apart the bits of her soul responsible for her class skills and bonuses, and tearing out thousands of stats.

When the system was done, Zoe took a few minutes to breathe and calm down. Everything felt so different with her stats ripped out.

Name: Zoe Mara

Race: Human

——

Stat Points: 0

Strength: 50

Dexterity: 50

Vitality: 57

Endurance: 30

Intelligence: 191

Wisdom: 79

Health: 1140/1140

Stamina: 600/600

Mana: 3920/3920

——

Class 1: Earthian (22)

- Identify (104)

Class 2: Seasoned Frost

- Cold Affinity (151)

- Time Affinity (162)

- Restoration (148)

- Frozen Arsenal (126)

- Alacrity (173)

Class 3: Seasoned Torrents

- Water Affinity (1)

- Time Affinity (1)

- Torrential Echo (1)

- Adaptive Torrents (1)

- Torrential Arsenal (1)

Her dexterity and strength were the most noticeable difference. Every movement felt sluggish and heavy, like she was pressing through corn syrup. Her health was a tenth of what it was moments ago and that made her deeply uncomfortable. When she first reached a thousand health, that was an enormous pool and she felt like she could conquer the world. But now, when she was used to having sixteen thousand? Her health may as well have been empty.

Her levels were comical. A level twenty two with skills over one fifty would shake most people’s shallow understanding of reality, and the power she wielded because of them would probably be unmatched by any other fresh third class she could find.

Seasoned Torrents in the third class was as she expected. Somewhere between the second and fourth classes. Twenty two stat points per level, two seventy five boost to regeneration and one seventy five boost to cold and time aligned effects.

It was a strange feeling, resetting to such a low level. She knew she wasn’t weak from an objective sense. Last time she was level twenty two, she felt confident enough to run all the way to Gafoda by herself and take on the dungeon.

Zoe wished she could go back in time and change her stat allocation for her first chosen class. So much intelligence and so little vitality made almost zero sense at this point. She was carried by the power of her skills and feats for her magical power, but had very few bonuses to her ability to survive. If she could, she’d like to rip out some of her stats from Intelligence and put them into Vitality.

How did the system determine which stats came from which class when she got Transcendent anyway? Maybe she could find another feat that does a similar thing someday and push as many points as possible towards Vitality to fix the problem. But for the time being, resetting back to this class just to be stranded with so few points in Vitality was a problem, for her.

If she were attacked by more bandits as she travelled the roads, would she be able to defend against them? Sure, she was stronger than most level twenty twos, but that was a small bar compared to people with their fourth or fifth classes.

Zoe shrugged and stood up. It didn’t matter, anyway, since she wasn’t planning on leaving Korna for a while. There were so many things to do and learn about in a new town, why would she turn back and go home already? She wasn’t sure how much weight the experience through the passage of time part really pulled, but was excited to find out.

The next month Zoe spent while keeping her skill usage to a minimum, mana for using enchantments, and her normal always on skills like Alacrity and Vampyric Senses were all she used. And by the end of the month, her level had skyrocketed from twenty two to thirty seven, even without any combat or dedicated practice of any kind.

Most of her time she spent wandering around Korna’s streets, chatting with Eliza and Lila or trying out new restaurants that caught her eye. Oaniga had many, and they were all delicious but they also came with the performance of Oaniga which wasn’t always a good thing. Somedays, being a part of the lavish spectacle was fun and exciting, but some days she just wanted to sit down in a grimy restaurant and eat some greasy food.

Korna was beautiful, in so many ways. The buildings lacked the incredible mysticism that Flester’s buildings had, but people decorated their buildings in their own small ways. Bits of magic that floated around their doors when they were open, or colourful flags that hung in their windows.

The people’s clothes never stopped amazing Zoe, the selection of fabrics and the different styles that people wore were fun and exciting. The people in Korna loved their clothes in all forms, and Zoe was surprised to see how unrestrictive the city was when it came to what was appropriate. The number of breasts or furry behinds that Zoe saw only just barely covered with lacy fabric tied in fanciful patterns was incredible, or often not even covered at all was incredible.

Most covered themselves, but every few days Zoe would see another near naked person wandering down the streets like it was the most normal thing in the world. And in Korna, it seemed like it was. Nobody batted an eye at it other than Zoe, and it’s not as though Zoe particularly cared about it anyway. It was just surprising to see how accepted and open people were to the idea.

Zoe had found many clothing stores, really most of the buildings she walked past tended to either be a dedicated clothing store or at the very least have a section for making clothes. But she hadn’t stopped at any of them yet to buy some.

She wanted to, but there was this unspoken pressure she felt as she saw everybody walking around in their own styles and fashions. There was overlap, of course, but it seemed like almost everybody put their own spin on their fashion. Their own little touch that made it their own. Maybe they added a pink bow to the back of their suit, or maybe they printed a design of their choosing on the frills of their dress.

And Zoe wasn’t sure what she wanted. It wasn’t a big deal, she supposed. But she also had all the clothes she needed to get by already anyway, and the first piece of clothing she got from a city renowned for their clothes felt like it needed to be special.

She had tossed and turned on it for a while — did she want something that was a reminder of Earth, or perhaps something that hinted at her vampyric origins in this world? Maybe she could go with her passion for gaming, but that felt so distant now. Even if she made it back home, gaming didn’t interest her much. She’d probably spend her time in the garden now, building out more boxes and really getting into what and how to feed all of her plants.

Maybe she’d buy some land and farm flowers for a living. Not that she could get back anyway, the idea had long since lost its appeal for her. She’d accepted that this was her home, and at this point she’d almost spent half of her life here, there was little reason to think otherwise.

But something from Earth could be fun, anyway. Gaming didn’t interest her, and she didn’t have all that much of a desire to return, but it was still her home planet. Where she grew up as a child, went to school and learned what the mitochondria was.

It was just hard to know what really represented Earth when it came to fashion. Greens and blues? But that would be too restrictive. A print of the planet? She could hardly remember what it looked like exactly at this point, and while the planet was beautiful for many reasons, visually it was quite ugly in her opinion.

Zoe gave up thinking about it, and walked into the first clothing store she found, one by the name of Kendra’s Designs and greeted the person behind the counter. An older man with gray hair and a brown silken top with colourful flowers embroidered across the chest.

“Hello,” He said when Zoe walked in.

“Hi,” Zoe answered. “I’ve been in Korna a bit and I love all the clothes y’all wear, but I’m not really sure what I want.”

“Ah, I see. Yes I’d be more than happy to help. What kind of clothes are you looking for?” The man asked.

“Yeah, I’m not sure. I have a lot of clothes that I’m already pretty happy with, but it’s all,” Zoe gestured to herself. “Pretty simple compared to what everybody here seems to wear. I guess I’d just like at least one nice dress, and a nice suit too. And a bikini, I’d like a cute bikini. I haven’t gone swimming in way too long, I’ve just realized.”

The man laughed. “Anything in particular you’re thinking of for the design?”

“Yeah, kinda. I have a bunch of things that I just can’t really think of good ideas for. I thought maybe something from home, or maybe something to do with my classes. Also I like bats a lot, I guess.” Zoe shrugged.

“Hmm. Something from home, something to do with your classes, and some bats. Any info you can give about your home or classes, if you don’t mind my asking?” The man asked.

“Mmm, yeah. I lived on an island, I guess. Lots of water around us, lots of beautiful green forests. And my class is cold,” Zoe summoned a cloud of frost in her hand then dissipated it. “Lots of frosty stuff.”

“Right, alright. Yeah I can work with that. Any type of fabric you like more than others? We’ve got most of the common fabrics here.” The man asked.

“What’s your preference?” Zoe asked. “I don’t have much experience with it other than what I’m wearing now.”

“Well, how do you feel about what you’re wearing now?” The man asked.

“It’s good enough, I guess. I don’t have any complaints really.” Zoe said.

“We can go with the same fabric, if you’d like? Or we could try something a little softer or harder, more pliable or more stiff. Anything you’d like to change about what you’re wearing?" The man asked.

“I guess a little softer would be good, but I’m generally not a fan of silk. I like feeling the fabric, usually. But not super tough that it scrapes on my arm hairs.” Zoe chuckled.

“Excellent. A little softer it is then. Anything else you’d like me to keep in mind?” The man asked.

“No, that’ll be it.” Zoe said.

“Then I’m happy to be your first choice in Korna’s clothing. For the suit, dress and bikini that will come to one silver star.” The man smiled.

Zoe summoned a silver star and handed it to the man.

“Pleasure doing business, I’ll have your clothes ready in two hours. Feel free to stop by any time after then. If you’re not here in three days time then your clothes goes to the bargain bin, alright?"

“Yeah, no worries. I’ll be back in a few hours then. Thanks a bunch!” Zoe smiled and left.