Frostbound

Life had a way of moving on, whether you wanted to or not. Austin took time to deal with his feelings but he wasn't the same anymore. He let anger come quickly and frustration got the better of him. It was sad to see my friend hurt the way he was.

I wasn't a feelings guy. I didn't know what to say or do to help him through what he was going through. I used humor and sarcasm to get through most of my issues and even those were failing me after so much had happened.

There were therapy sessions that the camp paid for but I couldn't force him to go. I probably wouldn't if I was in his shoes. Time would help him through it and I couldn't stop what I was doing to hold his hand.

We hunted in mostly silence ever since his Dad died. He targeted stronger creatures than we usually did, but I let him take the lead. The higher levels weren't enough to stop our combined might.

My new skill turned me into a walking tank with enough power to hold my own. The level difference alone wasn't enough to stop me.

Austin used anger to fuel his attacks and they fed on that emotion well. His style became more cynical if that made sense. Surgical precision mixed with ruthless efficiency killed anything that stood in his way. There was no playing around or anything resembling the jovial troublemaker he was before.

The feints and misdirections he used to throw out were mostly gone now. They were still there but they served a different purpose now. If they weren't necessary in a fight, he didn't use them. He leveraged his speed to keep him ahead of foes and poked them to death with his spear.

He dove into training with such abandon that it was hard for me to keep up. I liked the slower approach that I had been using. A couple of hours hunting, a couple of hours in the forge, a couple of hours spent practicing mana manipulation and [Ice Manipulation]. Some time spent on my Law. An even approach.

I had to trim down some of the time I spent on other areas to make sure that Austin didn't kill himself on a monster too strong for him to handle. He was strong, as strong as me, but the path he was headed on only ended one way.

Fighting the stronger enemies, our skills refined themselves in other ways. Practical experience was a teacher in its own right. A merciless one too. Injures were common but we learned quickly not to make the same mistake. Fighting the stronger enemies, the stakes were higher. There was less room for error and a larger strain on skill. We usually overwhelmed the bosses with numbers with 5 of us attacking it, now with only two we had to adjust.

Austin's skills advanced as I noted before, but mine were evolving in their own way. My skill with the hammer increased and I felt myself becoming more comfortable with the weapon.

If my past self was told that I would become comfortable wielding a Warhammer to battle against monsters of fantasy, he would balk at you.