Frostbitten (248)
And like that, a whole day passed.
Cecilia and Petunia passed the time by playing random games together. The blonde child taught the ex-Queen how to play rock papers scissors and x's and o's in the snow, meanwhile Cecilia taught her some strange mental memory game.
Kai joined in from time to time, but he was mainly focused on his Statshifting.
And after a day of doing so, he had completed his new build.
He had gone for a more Strength and Luck focused build, which should work out fine in the future.
Of course, it didn't really matter where he allocated his stats considering that he had another 3150 stats at his disposal if he were to make use of Soul Inferno.
Still, he had moved some of his stats, so this was what his Status looked like now.
Strength: 776
Dexterity: 500
Constitution: 450
Mana: 505
Stamina: 500
Will: 400
Luck: 748
Kai had increased his Strength and Luck by a fair bit, and he had given a little bit to his Stamina, but overall happy with how his Status looked, he was a little more confident about passing the second trial.
Another thing that had happened over the last day was that Esurient had managed to kill three beasts, all three of them being low leveled Glacial Goblins that they had managed to find somewhere on the mountain.
Sadly, Kai did not end up leveling up from the kills.
Which was fine, every little bit of XP he received was bound to help him in the future. The closer he got to his next skill selection, the better. It would also mean he would get closer to his next class selection, although he didn't actually know when that would be.
And all that brought him back to the present moment.
Kai was sitting in the corner of the tent, blankly staring at the roof as he took a sip from the glass of water in his hand. He also had a plate with some pasta beside him, which he had nearly finished. Cecilia had decided that they may as well eat and drink as much as possible before challenging the second trial, just in case they ended up stuck in there for a prolonged amount of time.
"Say, Cecilia. What would you say to me trying to get you to level ten so you can get a Class?"
Cecilia blinked, her spoonful of soup still in her mouth. After elegantly finishing her spoonful, she wiped her mouth with a cloth before saying.
"Sir, is there any need for me to reach level ten? It's not like it would make me any more useful, and what are the chances of me actually receiving a Class that could benefit us?"
She froze, then added:
"Unless it is your wish for me to receive a Class, then I shall not say no."
Kai laughed and shook his head.
"Who cares if the Class is useless? Are you telling me that you want to stay level one forever? Plus, you're the one that said you have to level up a bit so your body will finally return back to normal."
Unable to refute what Kai was saying, Cecilia looked down at the ground and accepted defeat.
"You are correct, Sir. But how exactly am I to level up?"
Kai shrugged blankly.
"After the second trial we'll go find something, I'll weaken it, then I'll temporarily loan you Esurient and get you to finish the job, simple."
Cecilia accepted that proposition.
After everyone had finished their meal, the group emerged from the tent and made their way back to the imaginary wall.
This time, since Kai was careful, he did not walk into it and make himself look like an idiot. This time, he managed to stop a step before reaching it.
And once he had reached it, he sighed, turned around, and asked:
"Everyone ready?"
After watching everyone else nod their head, Kai selected the 'Yes' option that had been presented to him.
And after that, a familiar voice rang out in his mind.
Trial 2 beginning
Trial of Mind
Trial 2 objective...
Be correct
Kai blinked. That objective was a little strange, but it didn't necessarily sound dangerous... right?
Suddenly, Kai was overwhelmed by a feeling of nausea as his visions darkened. It wasn't like he had been blinded by something externally, it was more like his eyes had been forcibly removed from his skull.
Just as he was about to panic, his ability to see suddenly returned.
Only when it did, he couldn't help but gasp.
Surrounding him was a massive arena of ice, countless seats all around it. It was like an amphitheatre, only it was completely empty, not a soul took up a single one of the seats.
Suddenly, a beam of light shot down on Kai, another three appearing to his left.
Flinching, Kai lifted a hand up to shield his eyes just as the light dimmed down a little, allowing him to see a little better.
In front of him was a stand made completely of ice, like what a speaker would have in front of them when giving a speech.
To his left were Remy, Cecilia and Petunia, each of them behind their own respective podium and each of them having a beam of light blue light shine down on them.
It kind of reminded Kai of the set up of an average game show, but that couldn't be right-
"Welcome, one and all, to the greatest quiz show of all time, Frostbitten! I'm your host, Frosty, and I hope you enjoy the show!"
Normally, there would be a round of applause from the audience after this part in the average game show, only since there was no audience, there was no applause.
"Ah, damn, it never gets better."
Finally seeing what the voice belonged to, Kai watched as a small blue spirit descended from above them.
It was like a mixture of a cat and a fairy. It had a furry, light blue body and eyes that looked like shards of ice. It also had a tail that resembled a curly icicle.
"Now, its time to greet our contestants! Tell me, contestant number one, what's your name?"
Suddenly, the light above Kai got a little brighter.
"Uh... my name is Kai."
The spirit done a small flip, the microphone of ice in its hand following its lead as it continued to speak.
"Alright dear viewers, the leader of this team and contestant number one is called Kai. The name is a little bland if you ask me, but what can you do."
Kai's expression twitched ever so slightly. Who was this spirit to judge him, it was literally called Frosty!
Using Soul Sense, Kai got ready to look at Frosty's soul and-
Kai's eyes widened in shock.
It's soul was unlike anything he had ever seen before. Its soul still resembled a soul, only it looked more like a chunk of ice than something that was meant to be part of one's very being.
But that wasn't what Kai was worried about.
No, he was worried about the fact he couldn't make out the spirit's Stat Sparks or level.
Meaning that the floating host of this show was at least S-Rank.
As Kai felt his blood run cold, he realised why this particular trial wasn't a fighting one and was actually a quiz.
Frosty cast an amused glance down at Kai, smirking to themselves before they moved onto contestant number two.
"Now, contestant number two, what is your name?"
Cecilia hesitated before speaking.
"My name is... Cecilia."
Frosty nodded, a small smile on their cute feline face.
"A pretty name, a much better one than Kai. I approve!"
Kai wanted to say something, but didn't want to risk angering the spirit.
"Now, contestant number three, your name?"
There was no delay before that question was answered.
"Petunia."
Frosty floated closer to the young girl, circling them before giggling and returning back to their normal position in the air.
"Short and to the point, a little like yourself, I like it."
Petunia rolled her eyes, making the ice spirit laugh even more.
"Now, onto our final contestant, mind telling me your name?"
Remy squeaked a couple of times, them having climbed onto the stand in front of them in the time Kai and the other two had been saying their names.
As Remy spok- squeaked, Frosty kept nodding over and over again, them resting their chin on their microphone.
"I see, so your name is Remy. Well, I'm not sure of the origins, not yet at least, but I will know in a minute."
Frosty rose even higher into the air, a few snowflakes forming and reacting to the ice spirit, some of which landing in Kai's shaggy hair.
"Now, I know that you all probably want to reach the peak as soon as possible, nobody wants to spend time with little old me, so how about we get down to business and I explain the rules?"