Frostbitten Wayfarer

Zoe woke up on the floor to the familiar sounds of Joe setting up the kitchen for the breakfast service.

“Morning Joe,” Zoe said, rubbing her eyes. “Hey, did you know the gunk in your eyes when you wake up is called rheum?”

Joe looked at her like she’d just said the dumbest thing in the world. “What?"

“Yeah, I read about it before. It’s called rheum. Stupid name, right? Like a room in your eyes or something.” She laughed.

“If you’re up, go set up the dining area.” Joe shook his head.

“Actually, I was thinking about going to get a new book from a bookstore I found if that’s alright?”

“Sure, just see if Rizick needs anything before you head out at least.”

“Will do, see you later then. I don’t think I’ll be long.” Zoe said, heading to the main dining area. She saw Rizick fixing himself up from the night of sleep on one of the chairs.

“Morning Rizick. I’m headed out to John’s Books this morning, do you need any help before I leave?”

“Hmm? Oh, morning Zoe. No I should be fine, lemme know if you see any books I’d like. I guess you wouldn’t with how that book store works anyway though.” He said, standing up and prepping the table again for service.

“Right, well I’m off then. I won’t be long, see you in a bit!”

Zoe left and headed down the road to John’s Books. She felt really good, and wasn’t sure why. Her problems didn’t get up and vanish but they felt so much more manageable after a night of rest.

The walk to John’s books was shorter than she thought, and she was surprised to see a vague shape of a book on the front of the door now. She looked closer, seeing it was made up of more letters than she could count, floating just off the front of the door, casting the same eerie dark shadow behind it.

She opened the door and stepped in, seeing the same green monster sitting by his desk. She extended her [Vampyric Empathy] and felt a sense of upset, loneliness. Anger. Her face drooped for a moment.

“Hey bud, how’s it going?” She asked.

‘Pleasant.’ The being spoke to her mind, the somewhat familiar pressure pushing into her head.

“Good, you seemed upset when I came in.” Zoe said. “So, I’ve got an odd question. I still don’t technically have a class. The whole vampire thing was supposed to give me a vampire class but that kinda fell apart because of some weird bug. I’ve been working as help at a tavern nearby and got a bunch of tavern related classes but I dunno. I want something more, I guess?

“Where I come from, there are these things called video games. And this world feels similar to that and it just… settling for a janitorial class feels so lacking. I want something more. Something a lot more. And I feel like I have an advantage because I’m a vampire without the vampire class so I just want something really good.

“Maybe I’m greedy but I’m going to live forever apparently so it just seems to me like I should spend more time on my class. Or does it not really matter anyway? Everybody else says to just take something and it’ll class up later. But all I have are classes that make me more effective at serving beer to pricks.”

The creature paused for a moment, before it wrote out words between the two of them. ‘Did your world have magic?’

“No, not like this anyway. We had people who would use sleight of hand and call it magic. But nobody could fly or write words into the air like you can. Even cleaning wasn’t magical over there, we just had to pick up a broom and sweep.” Zoe responded.

The creature waved its hand and books floated through the air. Some towards the creature before they disappeared, others settled on a bookshelf next to Zoe. More books came out from the creature and settled in the same bookshelf nearest to her.

Zoe watched in awe as the books floated around, and then took to the filled bookshelf next to her, reading through every book as though it were the most important thing she’d ever see. The hours passed as she looked through them all. Some outlining requirements for very simple classes, apprentices and slaves. Others for things she thought she’d never be able to reach.

Darkness began to seep in through the windows, and Zoe looked up, seeing the sun setting.

“Oh, sorry. Uh, how long until you close? I didn’t realize it was getting so late.” Zoe said.

The creature shook its head.

“So you don’t close? Like, ever?” Zoe asked.

‘Shopping.’ The creature wrote.

“So you only close when you’re shopping? Wow… Ok, guess I’ll keep looking for a while. Thanks.”

Zoe spent a few more hours, late into the night, searching through all of the books for something of interest. She kept coming back to one that she found earlier in the day, the pure white book seemed to radiate cold, the tips of her fingers feeling the bite of winter every time she held it. It contained the details on many cold classes. Combat, travelling, utility. Everything she could think of filled the book. It felt comfortable to her, for some reason. It felt right.

She brought the cold book up to the desk. “I came to this world in a snowy forest so ice just seems fitting, I guess. The requirements seem the easiest too. Uhh, story for a book right. Ah! OK, so I was at school one day, a while back.

“We were in computer class. Computers are like these machines that can show pictures and stuff. Like your lights but if there were billions of them and they were really small and you could control what colour each one was. It makes a picture and the computers did all of that while you just controlled it with a couple of tools.

“One had all the letters of the alphabet so you could write stuff and the other controlled the focus, I guess? Anyway, I was using a computer and watching a video. Which is like a flip book? But it was on the computer screen. And there was sound. Anyway the computer froze on a frame of an iceberg. Froze is like, it broke.

“The computer stopped working and the screen stopped updating so it was just frozen in time kinda. But not really any time shenanigans, it was just broken. I thought it was funny cause it froze on an iceberg, which is cold. So its like the iceberg froze the computer.” Zoe laughed.

“Kinda fitting that I’m here looking for cold classes actually isn’t it?” Zoe asked through her giggles. “Is that enough for the book?”

The creature nodded its head.

“Thank you!” Zoe said, and rushed out the door.

She hoped Joe and Rizick were alright, her shopping dragging on a lot longer than she expected. For that matter, she hoped they’d still be up so she could get to her new comfortable bed instead of the kitchen floor again.

Rizick was still up reading at one of the tables when Zoe arrived.

“Hey Rizick, took a bit longer than I thought it would, sorry. I didn’t see any books that looked easy but I mostly got distracted looking through my selection.” Zoe said to him.

“That’s alright, we made it just fine today anyway. Joe was a bit worried but I told him it was a very fancy bookstore, after all. He gave me the key to our room and told me to lock up after you got back. I was going to head up in a bit but I can show you it and give you the key if you wanted to get to sleep earlier?”

“I think I’d like to read my book as well for a bit, pretty excited about it.” Zoe said, sitting down across from Rizick at the table.

“What’d you end up getting”? Rizick asked.

“Frost. It’s a book about cold classes, something just felt right about it for me.” Zoe showed the book to Rizick.

“Ooo, you’re finally going to get your first class?”

“I think so, if I can find something that works. All I’ve got is still just normal labour and tavern stuff which doesn’t really fit me. I appreciate Joe and I even kinda like it here but I don’t want to stick around forever. I want to explore and see all kinds of things.” Zoe said.

“That makes sense. I think I’d like to be a merchant someday. Travel the roads, meet lots of people, peddle my wares. Seems like a nice life to me. Don’t let me keep you from your book though!” Rizick replied.

“Sounds nice, I hope it works out for you.” Zoe looked down at her book.

Frost

I have spent the entirety of the last decade researching requirements for the first two classes, with a strict focus on ones that are likely to lead to classes with the cold attribute. I have tested these requirements extensively on myself, but I regret to say that I have already taken my first class. I have worked with many civilizations in colder climates to discover interesting first classes, but there is a limit to the testing that can be done on another. People aren’t willing to take the same risks I am, especially with their child. And I can’t force this.

Firstly, there are a few skills I’ve discovered that can be acquired by anybody, that can all lead to cold classes. There are likely more available, but these are what I have found to work.

- Cold Resistance. A simple one, merely take a substantial amount of damage from the cold and you will naturally acquire it. It helps to have a mage who already has access to cold magics, but the weather can provide as well in a pinch.

- Ice resistance. Equally simple. Take a substantial amount of damage from ice. I have not determined if it is possible to gain this resistance with naturally occurring ice. My testing has not shown evidence of this, but that doesn’t rule it out. Best to find a mage.

- Heat Resistance. Another simple one. Can be acquired by taking a substantial amount of damage from the heat. Again, a mage may help, but fire is equally viable. Fire will also provide Fire Resistance, although I have not seen this required for any cold classes. I wrote this off at first, but eventually I stumbled into a plethora of classes that focused on general thermal control rather than cold specifically, but which were no less capable overall.

- Meditation. Focus inwards on yourself and empty your thoughts, feel the energy around you and inside you. It should feel natural. Many cold classes require this skill, I assume because of the stillness of frost.

- Other resistances and skills you may know of. Many classes require a certain number of resistance, skills or both, rather than specific requirements. It is in my opinion a mark of a good class to have several specific requirements, as well as many unspecified skills. Getting as many skills as you can, and levelling all of them is never a bad decision. But make sure you also do have any cold ones you may find, although I have listed the only ones I have discovered personally.

There are also a number of feats I have discovered that can be acquired with relative ease and have contributed to class requirements.

- Winter’s Master. Survive a winter without shelter. This can be dangerous in many places, I suggest finding somewhere with either a short winter or a warmer winter. For whichever reason, the temperature is irrelevant, merely shelter. I could not determine what counted as a shelter exactly, but a lean-to counts, while a cave does not until it is more than about fifteen paces deep. A particularly large bonfire also counted as shelter, although I doubt anybody else would make one quite as large naturally. Interestingly, visits to shelters did not seem to immediately nullify the feat, nor did remaining within a city. I am unfortunately unsure precisely what qualifies as a shelter but my advice is to avoid extended stays within anything you may think could qualify.

- Summer’s Master. Survive a summer without shelter. This is generally much easier, but keep in mind how dangerous the summers are wherever you are. As with the heat resistance, this can lead to more general thermal control classes, which is an option I found interesting and powerful but did not end up pursuing in much depth.

- Slayer of Frost. Kill a cold aligned elemental. This is quite easy with an escort, or if you can find a very young elemental who has yet to develop any notable power. I would avoid this feat if you don’t already have a plan in mind.

- The Unfrozen. Be entirely frozen and then unfrozen. This requires specific mages available to help, your entire body must be completely frozen to the core and then defrosted. I would avoid this feat if you do not have capable mages you trust to assist you.

And finally, there are some more… miscellaneous requirements for classes that I have found. These can be mixed and matched in ways that seem logical.

- Being in a mana dense environment. This provides classes with more powerful magic modifiers.

- The current season is winter. This provides classes with more powerful cold atmospheric modifiers.

- The current area is below zero. This provides classes with more powerful cold modifiers.

- The current area is rapidly shifting temperature between hot and cold. This almost guarantees a more general thermal class, though these areas are difficult to find, and difficult to be in.

- Higher stats tend to provide classes with related modifiers. Intelligence gives more magical power, endurance gives more staying power, etc. I have found a few interesting classes with high endurance and intelligence that are capable of creating very powerful ice walls fit for city defence.

- The current area is an ocean. This provides classes with water modifiers, which can pair very well with cold modifiers.

With this preamble out of the way, I will share the specific classes, modifiers and requirements that I have found in my journey.

The book continued on, listing classes and their requirements. Zoe thumbed through the book, picking out a few classes that stood out to her.

Apprentice Cold Mage

Requirements: 25 intelligence, currently winter or temperature is below zero

Modifiers: Minimal bonuses to magic power and mana regeneration.

Notes: Very easy to obtain, and for most is likely adequate enough.

Cold Wizard

Requirements: 40 intelligence, current temperature is below zero, environment is mana dense, has the meditation skill

Modifiers: Respectable bonuses to magic power and mana regeneration, as well as to cold damage dealt.

Notes: Is relatively easy to obtain with a mage capable of saturating the atmosphere around you with mana.

Wall of Frost

Requirements: 30 strength, 25 endurance, has the cold resistance, has slain enemies with the power of their frost, has the Winter’s Master feat

Modifiers: Respectable bonuses to physical power and defense.

Notes: Suffocating an insect with snow is sufficient to meet the requirement. Respectable defensive class.

Cold Mage

Requirements: 50 intelligence, has the apprentice cold mage class, has the meditation skill

Modifiers: Minimal bonuses to magic power and mana regeneration

Notes: As with the apprentice version, this is very easy to obtain. Has little to speak of otherwise.

Master of Frost

Requirements: 50 intelligence, 20 endurance, 20 dexterity, at least ten resistances, has the cold resistance, has the ice resistance, has the meditation skill, has the Winter’s Master feat

Modifiers: Substantial bonuses to cold magics and physical power.

Notes: In theory you could obtain this as your first class as it doesn’t require a prior class, but the stat requirements are too steep for any of my testing to confirm this.

Thermal Archmage

Requirements: 70 intelligence, has a fire or cold aligned class, has the meditation skill, has the heat resistance, has the cold resistance, has the Winter’s Master feat, has the Summer’s Master feat.

Modifiers: Moderate bonuses to magic power and mana regeneration, as well as to all heat and cold related abilities.

Notes: I was unable to confirm this in my testing, but I have a suspicion that a generalist approach as this will leave you much less powerful later on, but with far greater adaptability.

Frost Incarnate

Requirements: Has at least fifteen resistances, has the cold resistance, has the ice resistance, has the meditation skill, has the Winter’s Master feat, has The Unfrozen feat, has the Slayer of Frost feat

Modifiers: Significant bonuses to all cold related abilities as well as granting natural manipulation of ice and frost

Notes: This is likely the most powerful starter class I have found.