The tower was getting stressful again, and the team had a few ideas as to what to do… But then, Sornid mentioned the time for just a moment. It will be Sieny 2nd tomorrow, or in other words the day of the Frost.

  Or, better said by Bariton, Priuna’s day. The party decided to throw away their previous plots of shooting through floor 24, and instead decided to focus on having a fun Priuna’s day, on claiming one despite the hellhole that they were stuck in.

  Bonus - A Tower Christmas!~

  Sornid was simply plotting on how to clear this winter themed floor as fast as possible, to bite back against the hand of the system, to bite back against the world quest. It was a nice progression after floor 10, that they weren’t anywhere near the top after a few months.

  But, it was still only a few months, Sornid knew that alongside the secrets of the system, alongside the secrets of magic, the five of them would be successful in their endeavor to save the world.

  And now, as he opened the system to check the time left, he double checked it against the time that was left when they first entered on Clemust 16th, Knowledge day in Forsivo thanks to the greatest academy Sornid participated in…

  And he knew it was Sieny 1st. “It’ll be The Day of the Frost tomorrow.” Sornid was the first to mention this as the party stood around the fire they formed despite their immunity to the cold at Level 75.

  “Pardon?” Bariton was the first to question it, and Sornid was just about to correct himself to fit a more common vocabulary before Clara explained it to Bariton, alongside Judine.

  “Ah, it’s called Priuna’s day more commonly, but Adventurers and Mages call it Day of the Frost because Cryomancy is strongest that day!” Clara’s description was… actually awfully accurate, and what Judine added wasn’t too hard to believe either.

  “It is called that in law as well, since it makes it harder to date bodies based on decay rates due to the slowed degeneration of the bodies.” Sornid actually wrote that down in his notes; curious to learn more on this, but Judine kept them on track as usual. “Now, I’ll take it we will probably be making our own gifts for the other four of us?”

  “Of course!” Pallad was first to say that, and he acted like it was the most obvious. He wasn’t even dressed somewhat normally for this weather, his usual wife beater making Sornid wince in the cold weather. “I mean, we’ve all cleared so many dungeons that dungeon rewards would be pretty useless, no?”

  Sornid couldn’t help but agree with the Paladin’s logic. “Well, let’s split up after tonight and meet up again when the moon is high to exchange gifts.” Sornid took the leadership role even quicker than he would’ve liked.

  But it was clear he was the most experienced adventurer, at least the most experienced one at working in the same party for longer than a few days at most. “Sound fair to you?” The party’s agreement afterwards was nice, and they kept up their usual activities around the fire. He knew of the doppelg?nger’s existence, but they were also level 2 monsters and particularly dormant in the winter.

  Sornid enjoyed watching the party talk, how Bariton talked about romance with Clara, still speaking of rumors that were months old at this point, Judine talking with Pallad about morality of the death penalty.

  That conversation piqued Sornid’s interest quite a good amount, and he did strain his perception to listen in on it while awaiting sleep himself. The points brought up on both sides were quite strong, with Pallad actually being against it being morally correct; especially with how he mentioned that the executioner now has to live with blood on their hands.

  As a mage, Sornid felt inclined to enter the conversation more than a few times, especially as they started talking about the value of a soul. Animancy, being his most sought after magic archetype, proved the value of a soul and how it connected to life. But he refrained as he also thought through gift ideas.

  He let his eyes close one more time, staring up at the stars above. They were nothing alike what he saw at home, with none of the usual constellations, and even the northern light being slightly dimmer.

  The entire night sky was dimmer than what he was used to; and he couldn’t even see the galaxy from here. It was dull. Or maybe the weak light glimmering across the sky was the galaxy, and it was just fainter here.

  That was a more likely case, but it was also unrealistic Sornid thought. At least, he thought that until sleep gripped him like a vice.

  ******

  Sornid awoke to the snowfall of the era, the other four already gone to make gifts for the others that weren’t for themselves. And so Sornid wandered off into the tundra forest, allowing the cold air to lift his white and gold cloak, based on the uniform of his old academy.

  And he helped it lift him as well, as he chained Aeromancy expertly together to help the air lift him, using minimal mana of his own. He flew into the sky and let the wind blow him away from the camp, after all he only had a day.

  A single day to make the grandest gifts he could make with just one day’s worth of mana, even if he had double the amount of the normal person’s at his stat point he had to carefully spend it.

  He found a nice secluded part of the forest, the snow still fresh and untouched from anything; with no animals nearby to interrupt his casting and interrupt his own methods. He sat down in the snow, allowing his obscenely high Constitution to let him just tank the impossible cold.

  This part of the forest was perfect though, it had a high ambient mana that the other party members probably wouldn’t notice if Sornid took a little bit here, a little bit there… Yes, Sornid had a plan all along for this Priuna’s Day morning.

  The gentle snow fall would probably cause problems, at least it did in Sornid’s mind, so he engraved the ground with a light Hydromancy rune to push the snow away, using the ambient mana after the base activation.

  And now he had four items to engrave with mana for the party members… Sornid now had to think on what the other four could use, or what the other four could attain for the sole sake of magic.

  This was going to be a task herculean in nature, but it was also a task necessary… For Bariton, Sornid thought of a cloak imbued with a stealth kind of spell; the bard may enjoy seeking attention, but sometimes he did avoid drawing it.

  For Pallad, a sword engraved with pyromancy may be best. Pyromancy supposedly had the best connection with Lumenmancy, something Pallad had shown interest in and even something Pallad had given Sornid reason to believe he could use it to a slight degree.

  For Clara, it was a similar case as Pallad, with how she clearly has shown a want for her Lumenmancy to be less connected to biomancy and be more capable of violence. That’s where his idea of a bow engraved with Lumenmancy spawned.

  For Judine, Sornid had few ideas… But then he remembered how she listened to his magic theory; or at least his understanding of it alongside the evidence the tower gave. And that’s how he got his idea for Judine.

  Her seeking for information was on par with his own, and the best one for someone so engraved with justice isn’t something for violence, but rather one for reading the world. He pulled out a base monocle he bought one time a while ago, and he thought maybe a Psychomancy enchantment would help Judine best.

  And he set to work, getting out an average cloak, an average greatsword, an average bow, and an average monocle. The enchantments were best done separately, and he decided on the cloak first as it was cheapest to make but the hardest to get just right.

  Sornid knew this wasn’t his main craft, enchantments. But, it was close enough to his main craft that he went alongside it. There were many ways to make a stealth based enchantment, some bent light around the target to make them completely invisible, others bent air to cause a more obscuration…

  But Bariton deserved the best. He deserved the bending of light one, with an extra one to ensure Bariton could still see but be obscured by the bent light. The lumenmancy rune was difficult to shape, but he ensured to shape it by allowing the cloak to soak in ambient mana when the enchantment was inactive, to ensure durability costs stayed low.

  The ambient mana collection was a mixture of aeromancy and hyrdromancy, taking in the air’s natural movement and the moisture to collect the ambient mana. And now, the lumenmancy enchantment required an outer layer to ensure the base effect works, and then another layer deeper inside, being made carefully with Sornid carefully watching the mana flow to ensure the right connections between the mana points are made.

  A single wrong connection could make this cloak functionally worthless, maybe good for a commoner who could work well when blind, but not for a hunter who would be receiving this as a gift for the sole purpose of stealth.

  And now, after a few hours he succeeded. The mana he had was running out quicker than he thought it would, so he downed a mana potion. He almost threw up from the terrible bitter taste and sour sensation that felt like it ate away at his tongue.

  He stomached it, as it vanished after 15 seconds. 15 agonizing seconds for Sornid as he placed the cloak neatly folded hung on a tree to allow it to attain some ambient mana already. The next were the more analysis based enchantments. They didn’t require nearly as much effort as the cloak, he was sure.

  This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

  The monocle was easiest for Sornid, or so he thought. He gripped the chain of the monocle with care, knowing it was a fragile item. He gripped a thin strip of Psychomancy mana, and with the care and finesse of making a balloon animal twisted it into a shape that resembled most enchantments of similar nature Sornid had seen before.

  And then it faded immediately. Sornid frowned as he thought as to why it would do that, the attuned mana turning ambient with no semblance of a reason or purpose behind it. Sornid decided to waste some mana creating a stabilization enchantment, out of only Psychomancy.

  Then, he did the same, and attempted to use the monocle for just a moment, and saw it’s durability plummet. He almost swore, but caught himself. “Curse that Bard’s foul mouth…” he muttered under his breath as he employed a similar method to the cloak.

  This monocle however would be more tinted like sunglasses to gain ambient mana. He worked to create a mana building enchantment that blocked light using Lumenmancy, and a light prayer to the god of darkness.

  Shadowing Voices or Brightness’s Delight answered his prayer as the monocle’s glass darkened and… Was building way too much mana way too quickly. He added in a limiter and when it slowed down he changed the limiter to the analysis spell he originally wanted added.

  Sornid smiled lightly as the monocle worked, and it even lightened up slightly with the limiter such that it could be seen through just fine. It didn’t self reflect either, which Sornid was proud of.

  He then unattuned himself from it just enough so it’ll only work for Judine, same with the cloak as he hung it from a different tree branch to allow it to soak up ambient mana as well, watching it carefully as he grabbed a sword.

  He thought carefully as to how he was going to do this one, and then realized this one would be a formation based rune. A lumenmancy rune leading into a pyromancy rune to activate it, allowing the user to use minimal of their own mana but still a type that they were effective with.

  The first rune was engraved within the lumenmancy rune, to light the sword ablaze. Sornid knew that would lower the integrity of such a weapon, so he applied a hydromancy rune to the sword to prevent it’s temperature from changing.

  And of course, the cauterization of the wound would be an issue, so he used geomancy to reshape it to be slightly more hooked. It could tear through flesh instead of cut it, allowing the cauterization to actually be more fatal against healers and those who can.

  Sornid was proud of his work, and so appeared the system was.

  [Rare Equipment Created; Barbed Flare Sword]

  He smiled lightly as he made it with just a regular common sword. He placed it next to the other two gifts and Sornid finally grabbed the bow. The bowstring was probably most effective to enchant a stringy mana like Lumenmancy.

  He set to work, using Lumenmancy in combination of Aeromancy to speed up the arrows to explosive speeds, potentially faster than even an S rank adventurer. Although Sornid knew how unlikely that was.

  The Lumenmancy was actually layered within and outside the aeromancy, one to convert it to in the very center, then to convert it back to an arrow without at the last second. The string glowed a brilliant gold afterwards, and the System granted him a similar message to the sword.

  Sornid smiled slightly as now he thought of how he’d get these in a box. A proper box, a container for these gifts. He hadn’t packed nearly as much as he thought he’d needed, but he never thought he’d need carpentry tools.

  Thankfully however, Magic covered what he lacked. He used biomancy to look deep into the nearby fir tree, and then he used it to split the bark cleanly. He ensured it landed nowhere near him nor the gifts he created using aeromancy to blow the bard away and shred it.

  He gripped the four gifts and planted them within his inventory, such that they’d be safe. Sornid was working constantly, allowing his mana to drain for the second time as he examined the tree for where it was moist, and slashed it with aeromancy mixed with geomancy to make a miniature sawblade of air and gravel.

  He drunk down another one of those awful mana potions the System made; the taste just as awful as before. This time, he was unable to prevent his own vomit from exiting his body, and he was beginning to go into a cold sweat of exertion.

  Sornid stood back up, and collected his Hydromancy and Biomancy attuning the mana within himself to those fields as he drained it from the wood, keeping careful track to keep it within the range of usable lumber.

  And after it reached that point, he cut it with the aeromancy geomancy saw he managed to make, allowing it to whip out, lashing the wood into usable planks. He then used his biomancy to grip the wood and place it next to each other, creating splinter free boxings for the four gifts.

  The sword was given a thinner box, akin to the bow which bent backwards as he unstrung it with his hands while his magic gripped the wood carefully. Sornid used Geomancy to create nails from the previously iron rich soil.

  He hammered them in by hand, allowing his hands to feel strong from the effort, and he barely finished the fourth box by the time the sun was beginning to head down. He downed another one of the god awful mana potions, and wound up bent over beside a tree he hadn’t cut down.

  The vomit hurt his throat, and he quickly stitched his body back together with his biomancy, but he had to keep moving. He took flight and grabbed all four boxes, engraving the names of the gift receivers on each one as he let the air bring him forth.

  Eventually, he found the smoke of the fire, and Pallad was there first. Bariton was second, with Judine and Clara being close fourths. Sornid let himself fall gracefully, having placed the four crates in his inventory.

  “Happy Priuna’s day!” Sornid was the first to say the cheer of festivity, and Pallad raised a mug, likely filled with ale from the bitter smell. They all said it back, and the fire was a nice type of warmth his body didn’t feel anymore since his Constitution reached the 100 mark.

  It was nice being next to his friends again, and he almost collapsed down from how much Sornid worked. Pallad managed to catch him slightly and offered him some ale. Sornid declined, and Clara then offered wine.

  Sornid declined all the alcohol and Bariton was quick to offer him some cider. Sornid accepted the cider, and Bariton passed him a nice cup of it. “What a wonderful time it is,” Sornid began, as he tilted out his cup ever so slightly. “But shall we just exchange with each other the gifts we had made one another, or bought a long time ago, for the night of joy to follow?”

  “Yeah!” Bariton leapt up, almost spilling his own cider all over himself, “Let’s do this!” Bariton quickly cast out for evenly sized boxes, expertly made and even painted and passed them out to the party. Sornid could feel an interesting weight with the box he wielded.

  “Mhm!” Pallad put down his cup of ale on the log he was sitting on, and pulled out multiple bags each with a different person’s name upon them, written in wonderful glyphs. Sornid’s name was written in pure darkness.

  “Alright, so…” Clara began next, offering out her carefully wrapped boxes, all a perfect cube. Sornid’s was also an interesting weight as well, so likely not spatially modified. And now Sornid took the initiative before Judine could.

  “Grand gift wrappings everybody…” Sornid stated as he pulled out the four crates and left them all in the proper positions. They’d require a little bit of power to break them, but they were all Level 75. He didn’t need to analyze them to know they could break a fir box.

  “Unfortunately neither of us could match them.” Judine finished Sornid’s statement and passed out similarly made crates, although hers were a lot smaller. About a full margin smaller, and felt comparatively weightless.

  And now, it was finally time to open gifts. Sornid was more focused on his own gifts, as he heard Bariton and Pallad crack open his first. So he opened theirs first to show the same kindness. He sipped his cider as he looked upon Bariton’s painted box’s contents.

  It was a ring, with an amethyst in the center. It even had a message inscribed in primordial, both on the inside of the ring and on the outside. It read “For the Mage” on the insides, and on the outside was a stereotypical blessing for greetings. “May the Angels Bless”. Sornid looked up at Bariton looking joyously into his new cloak, and equipping it nearly immediately.

  Sornid gave the same joy to Bariton, as he placed the ring on. He then opened up the bag the paladin offered him. The sheer excitement he felt when he saw a new grimoire, clearly handmade with the imperfections the Paladin, and only the Paladin, would be capable of making.

  The gold corners of the book almost glistened with the pyromancy magic stored inside them, and every competent mage knew that it was a terrible idea to place pyromancy in a book, especially without any cryomancy wards to block it’s self-destruction.

  It was almost completely empty, except for a single Primordial phrase written in the center. “We’ll always be with you!” Sornid grinned slightly as he read it, and placed it next to his cider on the log before taking another sip.

  When he looked over to Pallad, he was swinging his sword wildly, with Bariton narrowly dodging and laughing. Sornid laughed a little bit before returning to his gifts, now onto the ones that intrigued him most.

  Judine’s was next, due to the sole sake of it being in a similar container as his, but her’s was made with a better finish. His was definitely the crudest make, but he tore it open and saw a wonderful new cloak.

  His was getting torn up from the adventuring, and noticed the self repairing enchantment on this one. And on top of that, this cloak held amethyst along the gold encrustment, and when he looked over at Judine, she didn’t even accept his thanks.

  He opened Clara’s, still in awe at the replacement Judine gave him, and was even more starstruck. He saw something that rivalled even a legendary item in terms of want in Sornid’s heart, something Sornid could never attain in the library due to it’s high lack of people seeking stuff like this.

  A book so wild, and so adventurous no adventurer dared to touch it, a copy of the Encyclopedia of Diseases, a strange rare item that granted diseases and the knowledge of said disease all the same.

  Sornid looked at all of his friends, and noticed all of them now wore similar rings, and are actively testing his gift alongside Pallad’s gift. Clara now had a staff and a bow, alongside something else in her inventory.

  “Thank you all.” Sornid was first to speak into the flame, and Judine was the only one who noticed as Bariton was already back to sparring Pallad, and Clara was firing her own arrows that moved near light-speed into the forest.

  Judine offered the same thanks in response, not accepting his, but rather building atop of it. The flame seemed to grow just ever so slightly warmer as he thought of this. And he smiled, the first smile he got to have on his face on this tower, and hopefully not the last.

  He sipped his cider one more time as the party did something they rarely did. Party, and have fun, instead of progressing deeper into the tower, the cider tasting well with a splendid blend of cinnamon and whatever apples Bariton used for this being a perfect blend.

  Sornid continued to laugh with the party, and they did this until the moon stared down at them like an eye at midnight, when they decided to go to bed, letting rest take them after such a wonderful Priuna’s day.