Beneath the Dragoneye Moons

Chapter 274.3 – Major Interlude – Iona – Sigrun III

Chapter 274.3 – Major Interlude – Iona – Sigrun III

"Fast. Best class for me?" Iona asked her guide the moment she arrived. She expected a weak, weak healer class - she’d get in all sorts of trouble long term for it, but she’d be alive enough to GET in trouble - or some sort of wilderness survival class. Something like [Wounded Warrior of the Modu Wastes].

Her guide was her, and knew everything that was going on. Iona had complete faith in her guide’s ability to pick the right class for her. With a snap of her fingers, they arrived at an altar.

"Here." She gestured.

Iona didn’t waste a moment, getting down on her knees to pray. Still, she noted a dozen details, even as she started her class selection.

The braziers were burning blue. The moons were etched into the relief above the altar, and a pair of familiar statues flanked the place of worship.

Iona opened her eyes to a string of notifications.

[*ding!* Congratulations! You’ve upgraded your third class - [Paladin of the Moons] - Gravity]

[*ding!* Congratulations! [Paladin of the Moons] has leveled up to level 8->30! +50 Strength, +50 Dexterity, +50 Speed, +80 Vitality, +40 Mana, +40 Mana Regen, +100 Magic power, +100 Magic Control from your Class per level! +1 Free Stat for being Human per level! +1 Mana, +1 Vitality from your Element per level!]

She couldn’t believe it. The goddesses had chosen her to be their [Paladin].

At the same time, she could. Rare was the individual who’d been blessed by their gods, who didn’t get offered a class related to it.

Iona closed her eyes, sending off a quick prayer of thanks.

Lunaris. Selene.

Thank you. I will repay your trust.

She didn’t have much more to say, simply sending warm feelings their way.

She spent half a second looking at her new class. Gravity element, and it looked to be a spellsword. She’d need to use her magic just as much as her physical prowess.

There was another notification waiting for her, obtained while she was in the world of her soul.

[*ding!* Congratulations! [Ice Affinity] has upgraded to [Ice Authority]!]

Iona lifted her head up, intending to get out of the pool. She was rudely jerked back down, as her blood-soaked hair had frozen solid to the cold ice below.

In the moment she’d rested her head against the ice, her blood-drenched hair had frozen solid to the ice. With a roar, Iona ripped herself from the ice. She then twisted around, and crawling, using her arms to move the rest of her body, dragging her stumps behind her, she hauled herself out of the pool.

Or tried to at least. Blood on ice was one of the slipperiest combinations possible, and Iona was hurt. She didn’t have a good grip, or good leverage. With a splash, she slid back into the bloodbath.

The most valuable skill Iona had immediately unlocked was [Telekinesis]. The ability to use her meager magic power and mana to move objects around.

Well, meager for her level. Significant for the tasks she needed to perform.

Iona reformed her Mallium to act as a claw-ice pick combo, and with a scream, slammed it into the bloody ice. Using [Telekinesis] on the rest of her armor, she gave herself a minor lift, negating gravity’s pull on her just a bit. Roughly a quarter of her weight.

It was enough. She was able to drag herself out of the blood as her mana pool rapidly drained. She accepted the notification that was presented to her.

[*ding!* Congratulations! [Snowflake Drift] has moved from [Traveling Archer] to [Paladin of the Moons] and turned into [Flight of the Valkyries]!]

Iona got to work.

The wyvern’s body represented a large fortune. Iona couldn’t carry out even a fraction, and was more concerned with survival. Her legs still ended at her knees, and she was still one-handed.

With some effort, she got her Mallium to rearrange itself, making crude prosthetics. They didn’t work well, and they cooled rapidly, transmitting the cold directly to Iona’s bones. Every step, every move with them sent pain lancing through her, [Chilled Mind] taking the edge off.

They also thinned her armor to the point where it was nearly worthless, and forget about forming a shield. The only value Iona’s armor had at this point was to be a basis for [Celestial Armaments], which could reinforce it.

Iona was forced to move slowly. Her collection of injuries was impressive, and she found herself using her newfound Gravity skills more and more to make simple, mundane things happen.

Shelter was the first task. She used the wyvern’s body, where it lay, along with the natural formation of the nest as the start of a shelter. Hacking off one of the wyvern’s wings let Iona encase the area entirely, keeping the elements off her.

It also kept the heat in, roiling waves of heat coming off of the wyvern’s spilled blood. The arctic conditions were trying to freeze it, but for now it was a source of warmth.

However, it wouldn’t be able to warm Iona forever. Nor would the flesh that she cut off and ate raw stay warm the entire way back home, even if she could, by some divine miracle, carry it all.

No, she’d need her armor to keep her warm, and she didn’t have enough of it. Not enough to walk on prosthetics and keep the heat in.

Iona improvised.

Using her hands and [Telekinesis], she ripped scales off the wyvern’s body, then carefully placed it on her armor. She reformed her Mallium around each piece, the wyvern scales giving bulk to the armor, along with being fantastic protection and insulation themselves.

Piece by piece Iona reformed her protection. With the basics secured - food, shelter, water from melting ice and a plan to not immediately freeze to death, Iona took a much-needed rest.

She was woken up by the sound of breaking eggs. She got up with a start, and moved as quickly as she could over.

Her hundreds of injuries were slowing her down. She moved too quickly, and the gashes on her stomach opened up, Iona’s bright red blood mixing with the wyvern’s blue. Every inch of her skin screamed, protesting any movements after having been bathed in acid, after having been digested and corroded away. Her hip didn’t work properly, and that was before her crude prosthetics were causing problems.

The eggs were hatching.

The first snout broke through the egg, but Iona had no mercy. She wasn’t going to pit herself against more wyverns. She wasn’t going to let the monsters grow up to become larger threats one day.

She wasn’t going to let them all hatch, then outnumber her thirteen to one. She was too weak.

Wyverns were, fundamentally, beasts. Animals. Her [Vow] didn’t apply when it came to extermination missions.

At least, that’s how Iona saw things.

The first and last thing the baby wyvern saw was Iona’s axe descending upon its head.

One by one Iona smashed the eggs, smothering the wyverns before they even had a chance.

Iona got to the last egg right as the baby finished fully hatching. She raised her axe up high, then hesitated. Seeing something in the baby’s eyes.

Her heart wavered, then softened, a plan rapidly forming.

One baby wyvern was manageable. She didn’t think it’d successfully kill her, not with Iona’s stats and levels.

Iona was also a dead woman walking. She was deep in the frozen wastes of Modu, on top of a mountain. A mountain that a wyvern lived on, one among many. She had an entire mountain range to traverse, then she needed to cross the entire frozen wasteland of Modu while crippled, hoping that one injury or another of hers didn’t finish her off, or attract predators that sensed weakness.

With no food. She could only carry so much of the wyvern’s meat, and that was on top of needing to climb and scale cliffs one handed, no-footed, while carrying the food.

In other words. A dead woman who hadn’t stopped moving yet.

The wyvern was looking around, already demonstrating signs of unusual intelligence.

Iona saw hope and promise in the wyvern’s eyes.

She could bond with it.

Protect it.

There was a difference in perspective with her [Vow]. A beast, that was potentially a threat to her? Fair game.

A helpless baby that Iona had chosen to protect and defend?

Well. That was a different story. A trick of perspective.

It would let Iona’s [Vow] kick in, giving her a gigantic edge against the threats that roamed, while having a partner that radiated threat, who could sense other creatures in the wilderness. Whose very nature could drive off problems.

Iona quickly hacked off a piece of the infant wyvern she’d just killed, then extended it to the newly hatched one. The last remaining wyvern.

It sniffed at Iona’s hand, then snapped, devouring its sibling without a shred of remorse. Iona hacked a piece of leg off of the dead wyvern who’d almost killed her. The mother of all the eggs here.

The baby wyvern ate the meat without a shred of complaint, looking at Iona with measuring, hungry eyes. Recognizing Iona as a source, a giver, of food. Wanting more.

"Fenrir." Iona whispered, petting the wyvern. "Your name shall be Fenrir."

<table width="638">; <td width="638">[Name: Iona] [Race: Human] [Age: 22] [Mana: 96,753/129,880] [Mana Regen: 99,066] Stats [Free Stats: 0] [Strength: 33,220 +(403,623)] [Dexterity: 33,220 +(403,623)] [Vitality: 61,732 +(160,503)] [Speed: 36,655 +(445,358)] [Mana: 12,988] [Mana Regeneration: 39,464] [Magic Power: 10,451] [Magic Control: 10,451] [Class 1: [The Dusk Valkyrie - Celestial: Lv 520]] [Celestial Affinity: 508] [New Moon's Dance: 488] [Weapon Mastery: 475] [Strength from the Stars: 520] [Celestial Armaments: 520] [: ] [Stellar Body: 520] [Gaze of the Galaxy: 420] [Class 2: [Traveling Archer - Ice: Lv 370]] [Ice Authority: 370] [Shortbow Skills: 365] [Blizzard Shot: 360] [Chilled Mind: 370] [Trick Shot: 357] [Ice Arrow Conjuration: 358] [Glacial Slow: 370] [: ] [Class 3: Paladin of the Moons - Gravity: Lv 30]] [Gravity Affinity: 15] [Telekinesis: 18] [Lunaris's Gaze: 2] [Lunar Mass: 30] [Flight of the Valkyries: 30] [Eclipse Strike: 1] [Selene's Grace: 1] [Harmony of the Spheres: 1] General Skills [Drawing: 190] [Valkyries Valor: 520] [Adaptable: 366] [Tracking: 244] [Vow of Iona to Lux: 405] [Magnetic Charm: 190] [Comprehensive Education: 282] [Dinosaur Husbandry: 290] Other Blessing of Selene and Lunaris ;

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