Abyss Domination

They didn’t walk very fast.

It took one day for the group to walk for thirty to forty kilometers, and once they entered the forest area, their speed was even slower. At this rate, It would probably take them two or three days to enter the Elfenland. Vivian hid her little head behind Soran all the way, but her face was still blushing red because the cold wind was strong. Aladdin had no energy to speak, and he followed the group silently. The only relaxed ones were Soran and Gloria, the former with had 20 Constitution, while the latter had the aid of magic.

It was now evening.

They choose to camp in a leeward valley. When Vivian came down, she stretched her hands and legs out. After that, she helped Soran to set up the tent. However, because of her size, she couldn’t help that much. The Halfling sat on the rocks to catch his breath before he started to help. Some of the level 0 spells were very useful now as they stacked some fairly dry wood together and made a fire. Soon enough, there was a little bit of warmth around them.

Soran sat beside the fire and was roasting some meat. Gloria was also quietly sitting there to warm herself up.

The Halfling seemed to have recovered part of his strength, but he was still not very active. He was holding a pan that had frying mushrooms. Vivian stood behind Soran and was massaging his shoulders. The little girl was trying her best, but unfortunately, her strength was too weak to have any effect. When she saw that Gloria was also quite tired, she immediately went over and massaged her too. The Halfling thought happily that Vivian might come and give him a massage too. Unfortunately, he was totally ignored by Vivian.

The temperature dropped quickly.

The temperature was around zero degrees now. Soran stretched his muscles for a bit and proceeded to take off his clothes.

The two that sat next to him looked shocked, especially Gloria, who looked at him as if he were an idiot. Soran laughed and waved to Vivian, indicating that he was okay. Then he went into the snow and covered himself with snow. After a while, almost every part except his head was buried under the snow. Both Gloria and the Halfling’s mouths become O-shaped. They were wondering if Soran had gone mad.

“It’s a way to train my resistance to cold,” he explained. His face was slightly blue, mainly because it was extremely cold.

With his extraordinary 20 Constitution some of the low-level resistance specialties can be trained automatically already. In the future, if he needed to go to higher-leveled places, especially in some areas of the Abyss, the temperature in that area has been known to be much colder. Right now, he was just giving his body some advanced training. His high Constitution gave his body some level of adaptability, so it was possible to master a corresponding additional skill in special environments.

Half an hour went by quickly.

When his lips were almost going to turn green, a row of data appeared in front of him.

“Training successful.”

“You received 12 frost damage and built some resistance to the cold environment!”

“You have learned [Minor Cold Resistance]”

…

“Woohoo!”

Soran pushed away from the heavy snow and ran to the fire for warmth. At the same time, he took out a bottle of medicine and said, “Don’t worry guys, I’m not crazy. This is just a special exercise to train my body. There are also classes who trained in extreme environments, and my body just so happens to have the requirements.”

12 damage of frost damage.

An ordinary person would have surely died in such conditions, especially after staying under a pile of snow for half an hour.

“Shall I cast a resistance buff on you?” Gloria looked at Soran with a strange look. She really disagreed with his self-abuse, but she had heard about some classes training in extreme environments; Most of them, however, were monks and not Rogues.

Soran shook his head and explained, “No need. That would render the training useless.”

After awhile.

Soran maintained his core temperature with some hot soup and then proceeded to take off his pants, leaving only his underwear, and went into the snow again.

The edge of the Halfling’s mouth twitched as he mumbled, “He has totally gone mental now.”

It was almost night now.

Soran has covered his whole body in snow four times in a row. The accumulated frostbite damage has made him look pale and rather weak. Vivian heartily told him not to train anymore but Soran waved and said, “It’s all right. I can still take it. I promise I won’t delay our journey tomorrow.”

“What a weirdo,” Gloria stared at him with a complicated look, but was still quite shocked by his persistence.

What a persistent madman.

Soran was again covering himself in snow. When the frost damage was around 60, a different message appeared in front of him.

“Training successful.”

“You’ve suffered 6 frost damage, and built some resistance to the cold environment!”

“You have acquired the skill [Minor Cold Resistance].”

…

Success!

With the emergence of a row of data, Soran felt a warm current flowing in his body, and his whole body seemed to have adapted slightly to the cold.

Even though he was covered with snow, he didn’t feel as much pain as he first went in.

“Minor Cold Resistance [Personal Ability]: In the process of fighting the cold, you have gradually adapted to this environment, and you be fine in most of the cold climate. Your resistance to extreme cold has also increased. From now on, you are immune to any cold damage below 1. When attacked by spells or spell-like attacks, any damage with cold effects will be reduced by 1.”[Prerequisite: 16 Constitution or above]

Soran’s face soon regained its color. He dried his whole body with a spell and then quickly put his clothes on.

The change could be said to have occurred in an instant, and the two next to him were staring at him in awe. At first, Soran was frozen till stiff and pale, but now he looked like someone who’s okay. The Halfling was shocked for a moment and murmured, “That’s a real training?”

Aladdin couldn’t help but show an eager look to try, but he eventually gave up.

He was scared that he might freeze to death.

Soran used to swim in the icy waters for several days before he mastered [Minor Cold Resistance]. Now, he had an extraordinary physique and regeneration skills, which allowed him to challenge more difficult training methods. However, it would be exponentially harder to level up the skill from now on. For example, to get to [Weak Cold Resistance], special environments would be needed. Conservatively speaking, it would probably require training that accumulated more than hundreds of damage of frostbite to acquire [Weak Cold Resistance]. Consequently, it would be difficult to succeed in a short time without the help of a Priest.

Reduced 1 point of cold damage seemed trivial, but in critical moments this could be life-saving. Furthermore, as the skill leveled up, it would also increase the person’s resistance to an array of ice spells. Many Northern Fighters have cold resistance because of their natural living environment, which was also the reason why Gloria was relatively resistant to the cold.

The hardest thing to train for, however, was fire resistance. One couldn’t just get burnt to train fire resistance.

Only slow injuries could produce training effects. One also had to let the body gradually adapt to produce the corresponding resistance. Soran had previously trained for flame resistance in volcanic environments; in the end, he leveled up because he fell into lava. The easiest to train was toxin resistance, but the training process was more painful and would take longer; Soran has not yet had time to give it a go.

…

On the second day.

Soran was obviously having an easier time. The pain from the cold had drastically reduced.

The Halfling, after seeing the effects of training, tried to fight the cold as well, but he wasn’t as crazy as Soran, who just wore a shirt to train.

His lips trembled with cold when he came out. But there were still some effects, as his body gradually adapted to the cold climate, and it was not so painful anymore. If he wanted to acquire [Minor Cold Resistance], he would need to train for a longer time. But the short-term training effects had made him adapt to the colder weather like the northerners.

The group journeyed for three days.

Soran had carried Vivian for more than a hundred kilometers. When the trees around them became more arranged and the traces of the road became more obvious, they knew they were approaching the Elves’ territory. This was a place blessed by the gods; like Autumnfall, where the snow only formed a thin layer. There was always some power in the place that the gods protected. Otherwise, the gods in other fields could drop random disasters freely. Like, the Goddess of Plague and the Goddess of Disease.

They would spread plagues and diseases because fear among the mortals would strengthen them.

So, there was definitely no shortage of worshippers in this world who prayed in reverence.

With less snow and ice on the road, there were more animals moving about. Soran noticed symbols carved on trees, which were left by the Elven patrol guards. Elves were more resistant to other creatures, but they do not show obvious hostility.

It’s not easy to enter their territory, but it’s not very difficult either. In the afternoon, they saw a village of the Elves. It was not as beautiful as they had imagined, rather it was just a more detailed and refined tree house. The Elves also cut down wood to build houses.

The glory of the High Elves had faded along with the destruction of the Arcane Empire. The remaining Elves were simply a little more sophisticated than other creatures.

The Elves were obviously more beautiful and handsome, but it was not to a profound degree. They were just generally were better looking than humans.

Vivian looked around curiously. The Elven guards in the village warned them not to cause trouble and then proceeded to let them in. The outer Elven villages were closely linked to other creatures; the closer it was to the forest, however, the stricter it would become. This was especially true near the Elven capital. Ordinary people weren’t allowed to enter.

There were Humans Half-Elves living here, but the number was relatively small. The Elves also farmed for their food since they wouldn’t be able to support so many people from just hunting and gathering.

The villages were surrounded by clear rivers and fresh farmlands. The ordinary Elves didn’t seem very elegant or noble since they weren’t born professionals.

Their skill was also acquired through training and working.

The most striking thing in the village, however, was the Elven Skytree. Every Elven village had one in the middle of the village. Legend has that the Ancient Tree Guardians (Challenge rating 12) lived there.

But right now, they were still silently sleeping.