Frostbound [LitRPG Apocalypse]

Chris

Lakeshore

Two months. That was how long it took to make sure everything was set and ready. I could have left earlier, but that was 'unproductive to long-term morale and unity'. The citizens of Lakeshore, or what was left of them, were inordinately fearful of us.

Fearful of the wilderness. Fearful of just about everything. It took a long, long time to get them to stop flinching around me or fleeing when I came walking down a street.

It was... frustrating. The main thing I wanted to do, grab them and shake some sense into them, was about the worst possible thing to do, so I couldn't. Abigail stayed, which was beyond helpful, and so did Grace and Sophia, but everyone else departed.

Winter kept the coffins frozen, allowing me to stay behind while they traveled home. I did take leave for a few weeks to sprint there and back for the funerals, but other than that, I was stuck.

And it truly felt like being stuck, as Lakeshore didn't even feel like my city at all, even after we claimed it.

Most of what I spent my time on was forging again. The enchantments around the city were a boon to look at, as the style was so very different than my own. There were even new Runes to puzzle out and add to my repertoire, which was a rare treat.

Sadly, when the survivors were questioned about who was responsible for such work, the man was dead. By my own hand, they were moderately sure, as he was a member of the group I pulped with [Hammer Reverberation].

Unfortunate, but not the end of the world.

I couldn't dive too deep into my craft, as I still had to go around and make myself seen, as Abigail put it. More interactions would work to dispel some of the inherent fear. I also left the investigating to Abigail, who claimed she was getting nowhere.

Other than those two things taking up a large majority of my time, two other things were on the schedule, which were at least moderately fun. At least more fun than tiptoeing around people who could barely look you in the eye.

Both of which resulted in a fight.

One was the Settlement Wave that came, and the other was the Dungeon. I handled the Wave nearly single-handedly, but there were a few brave enough to stand with me from the populous. Either free of the previous leadership's restrictions, pushing them into action, or something else, but it was better than none.

They were severely under-leveled and could only fight from the partially ruined wall, but they fought, and that was what mattered.

The dungeon, though, was a treat. I wasn't sure if dungeons could have elemental alignments, but this one certainly favored fire. Of its twelve floors, over half of them were made up of fire monsters.

Seeing the Leader, who I later learned was called Victor, was a Fire Mage, I questioned why he was even up here in the first place. After running the Dungeon, it made a little more sense.

Almost all of the drops were fire-aligned in a various mishmash of resources. Metal, stone, leather, you name it, but it was fire-aligned. It wasn't exactly helpful for me, but it was still fun to run.

Snuffing out fire was always a joy.

Plus, Rachel was happy with it. She had spent most of the time before the army left running it and gaining fire-related treasures. Mainly the floors above the Tenth.

She also had me keep a lookout for any high-grade wood dropped from those floors as she was looking for materials for her staff. The one she had now was good, but now that she was D-rank, she wanted a better one.

Jonathan, our resident Faction Merchant Head, and Abigail both thought they would sell well with the Eternal Flame Faction. Rachel was primed to explore such an avenue the next time she left.

If anything, it could be used as gifts to allow Rachel to use the treasure she needed. With Factions getting settled, Rachel was sure her access would soon be cut off if she didn't formally join Vanessa's Faction.

That was unless we, Frostheim, made a deal.

From what Rachel knew and described, such a deal would almost certainly include an Alliance of some degree, which would force us to militarily aid Vanessa in the case she was attacked.

From what I had heard, that was looking more and more probable as time passed. I wasn't looking forward to being dragged into anything, especially for a city so far away and a fight I didn't care about. But, if it allowed access to the Flame for those with the Fire affinity, it seemed worth it. That way, we would have a treasure for Water, Ice, and Fire. Maybe Jayla would find an Earth treasure from digging through the mountain.

But I didn't have to think about that! Nope, not today! That was a later Chris problem that I was quite happy kicking down the road.

My smile slightly dimmed as I saw Abigail walking toward me with what appeared to be a teenager in tow. The young girl looked to be barely 18 or so, but my sense of age was never the best, even Before.

I hoped she was older, as I wasn't quite sure of the reason she was walking toward me, let alone in Abigail's wake.

"Chris, this is Alyssa." Abigail, all smiles, introduced the young woman, who looked slightly older up close than I first assumed.

Alyssa performed a small wave but otherwise looked very much like she didn't want to be anywhere near me. I sighed. It was starting to hurt on a personal level every time someone visibly grew fearful of me.

"Hello, Alyssa." I greeted.

"I-it's good t-to meet you, sir." The girl stuttered.

Abigail frowned at me, "Do you mind reining it in a bit, she isn't very high level."

I very much didn't like keeping my aura contained anymore. On a personal level, it was uncomfortable, and on a security level, I couldn't use [Aura Detection] anymore. After being stabbed and caught off guard, it was like a habitual tic to check the area every so often.

The assassin was the second time such an event had occurred, with the first being in the tutorial. For all I dismissed Rogues, they had managed to get the drop on me not once, but twice. I wanted to make sure a third time never happened, but in the face of being somewhat polite, I pulled it in as best I could. I highly doubted the girl would jump out and stab me, and it wasn't because she was a woman.

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Abigail had grown more weary than I was of potential assassinations, and she was the one who brought Alyssa with her.

Alyssa changed without the weight I put off surrounding her, and stood taller, without the signs of fear she had portrayed before.

Good.

"And to what do I owe the honor?" I asked.

"This," Abigail waved at the girl, "is the very first Golemancer, who came all the way from Frostheim to meet you. She just received her E-rank evolution and is the prize of our Golem research so far."

"Golemancer?" I couldn't help but ask.

"Magic practitioner who controls and empowers Golems to fight," Abigail explained.

"Oh, from the Golem books we bought." That felt like forever ago. One of the Professions that we purchased information on with our Reward from the test was the Golem Smith Profession, but I hadn't given it much thought since then.

I was much more interested in what Sarah and her growing followers of Beast Tamers could do, and how they could expand.

"Yes, but she took it one step further than that. Not only did she receive the Golem Smith Profession, and to quite a high Rarity, but she also received the Golemancer Class as well." Abigail described.

"Oh, um, wonderful? I do not mean to be rude, but why is she here?" I asked, "Not here in front of me, but here in Lakeshore?"

The trip to bring her here would have been a touch faster than our army, but not by much. We were still working out transport and logistics between my two cities, which hadn't had a whole lot of time to cut down trees or build roads to hasten the travel time.

"Because she is the solution!" Abigail gestured excitedly. "For here and for further expansion! You should see what she's capable of, and she's only an E-rank!" Abigail turned to Alyssa, "No offense."

"None taken," Alyssa muttered.

"But think about it! She's a walking force multiplier. If we can get a few more like her, or even just a few more Golemancers, we would be able to greatly expand our manpower during the Settlement waves to cover everywhere. Frostfall and Snowbrook barely require our assistance anymore, so all we have to consider is Frostheim and Lakeshore." Abigail's eyes were a light with a plan that only she could keep track of or see.

I wasn't quite sure where this was going, but a part of me was fearful of its end.

"Hold on, before you go any further into... whatever this is, I'd like to see what she's capable of." I managed to get a word in before Abigail plowed on ahead. I then turned to the girl, "You up for a bout, eh?"

I had to restrain from adding kiddo that sentence, as even though the woman was on the smaller side and certainly looked young, she was by no means a child. Calling her one would be insulting.

"I am. My golems are outside, and all I ask is that you not destroy them." Alyssa said, nodding at the idea of a spar.

The walk wasn't far as Lakeshore wasn't quite as large and spaced out as Frostheim. There also wasn't two layers of walls to consider, with an inner portion that had a population density much, much lower than the rest of the city.

While the three of us walked, I took the time to inspect the newcomer more. It was mightily difficult to rein in all of my aura, so there was still enough of it leaking out to use [Aura Detection] on someone so close by.

The result was exactly as I expected.

[Human (Golemancer) – Level 54; (Golem Smith) – Level 51]

It was much more information than I would usually get, as she was at a much lower level than me. Getting a Class and Profession was new, even though I already knew them from Abigail telling me, it was nice to see them.

Outside the newly repaired wall, six... lumps were spaced out in a small semicircle. They looked like horrendously blocky snowmen to my eye, but Alyssa seemed to brighten up upon seeing them. Their bodies were mainly stone, as it was missing the usual connection I felt if it had been ice, but they were covered in a thick coat of white.

I felt a distinctly familiar touch that made me pull on my Profession skills. [Formation Mana Flows] lit up, and I could see the runic enchantments running along the outside layer of stone.

They were similar in construction to what I imagined a Stone Elemental would be.

Knowing what I did about Runes and Formations, I noted not to hit them too hard. Or in the wrong spot. Or... maybe I shouldn't hit them at all? They were made and used by someone 50 levels below me who only recently reached a new Rank.

"What do you want them to fight?" Alyssa said and looked around the snowy plains.

"Me," I stated calmly. "I won't hit back so I don't damage them, but it will give me a sense of how strong they are."

Alyssa seemed overly hesitant to launch an attack on me, but didn't need to be told twice. Mana flared out of her and into the six lumps, and they all shook off the layer of accumulated snow and stood tall.

They were a foot taller than me, at around seven feet tall, but weighed much, much more. Even if I was of a stocky built, I was never going to beat stone in the weight department.

The shape left a lot to be desired, but I could tell there had been an effort made to make them bipedal in a vaguely humanoid shape. Two legs and two arms connected to a large torso.

Most of the runic engravements centered around the chest area, where I assumed the core or power source to reside. The only thing missing was a head, which was distinctly off-putting to look at.

Alyssa activated more skills, and the Golems glittered with enhancements of some kind. A thin mana shield appeared around the torso, and the hands gathered mana similar to what a weapon skill would do.

Alyssa looked at my unarmored body, completely at ease expression, arms at my sides, and warily looked to Abigail for confirmation, which my sister gave with a nod.

One of the six stepped forward and punched out with surprising deftness, given their size and appearance of... clunkiness.

The stone fist, which was more boulder than anything, hit with a muted thud on my chest, causing my shirt to flutter. The fabric held decently to blunt damage, I noted. If it had been a sword or cut of some kind, it would have been ruined.

The force behind the blow left a lot to be desired, but I had to remind myself that this was a level 50.

"Is that your most powerful attack?" I asked.

"Um.. uh... no," Alyssa looked between my chest and the golem a few times, "I didn't... No, it wasn't."

"Then use it all. Law or whatever you have, too."

More mana was spent, the glow around the golem was a bit brighter, and two more stepped forward to surround me on all sides. Three at once? I felt a touch of Law be used, Earth Law, and the blow that landed was a good degree stronger.

My shirt ripped, but I was otherwise fine. That could do decent damage to a level 50 beast, though.

"Have you used these against the Stone Boars on the Fifth Floor of the Dungeon?" I asked, wiping away the dust that transferred.

"Yes, they were even able to take a charge from one without damage!" The girl was initially put out by the lack of reaction from me, but got excited when talking about her creation's capabilities.

"Oh?" I nodded, "And you make these yourself?"

"Yeah, it takes a while, but I made all six of them. Jason and the rest of the Golem hopefuls help, but these are my own handiwork."

I turned to Abigail, "Sure, this is cool and all, but how does this change things?"

"You can't see it?" Abigail asked, "Give her a few levels and she'll be able to control a lot more than just the six she has now. Some training with mana manipulation, a few choice skills, the rest of her Class skills, she might be able to reach 12 to 15, depending."

"Okay, while I admit that the attack was strong for its level, it was slow and easy to dodge. What is your plan exactly?" I questioned.

"We can use them against the Waves. Defense is where they'll shine, and maybe for sieges too, but if we have a few dozen Golemancers controlling dozens of golems each, we wouldn't have to worry about the Waves anymore."

"The Waves aren't a problem now." I said, "Sure, Lakeshore added a bit of trouble, but it will resolve itself given time."

"No, not just Lakeshore," Abigail was grinning, "More. More settlements, villages, cities. We don't have the same population as other Factions, and this will help even things out."

"Woah, woah, woah, we don't have nearly the manpower, resources, or the logistics to support any of that. We're struggling with just Lakeshore. I don't even want to think about mass expansion. Even if we did add all that, who would fill it? Our growth has stalled, and we only gain a few hundred a month. There just aren't that many people this far North." I wanted to slow this train before it got going.

"Sure, the influx of new people is slowing down, but the birth rate is rising rapidly. Don't you look at all the reports I send you?" Abigail narrowed her eyes.

"The birth rate? You keep statistics on births?"

"Of course I do! Why wouldn't I? It's a great metric to tell how safe a population feels and whether they feel secure." Abigail described.

I groaned. "Abigail, that's two decades away before those kids grow up. Why are you acting like this is a pressing issue?"

"It is pressing. We need to plan ahead for the future. This battle was between us and another Faction without a lot of people. What if the next one is with New Boston? Or Empire City? They have millions of people."

Ah, there's the root problem. She's scared of the future.