A level 2 power stone was something hard to come by. Raze hadn't even seen it at the normal markets, so he assumed that it was something that was mostly either given to the second-year students at the Pagna Academy or something that you could only get at an Auction house or something similar.
He still wasn't very well-versed in the World of Pagna, so he could only base it on the things he saw. Either way, he was delighted. Not only had he obtained a level 2 power stone, but achieving it wasn't too much of a hard task. The beast he had defeated using a combination of his magic and Pagna skills produced a devastating blow.
"I'm going to be busy for a bit!" Raze shouted out. "Just protect me, or stop anything from getting close to me if you see it."
Raze didn't give time for Dame to reply, and immediately he had run back up the mountain and was now hiding behind a tree. Since the snow was still thick, he used his finger to draw circles in the snow. His finger quickly turned red and was getting numb, but he didn't care. The excitement, along with the adrenaline, was too much for him, and shortly after, he had finished drawing the circle.
"What is he up to?" Dame said to himself as he made his way back up. It didn't seem like there would be any beasts coming after them, but if they were to head further down, it might be a different story.
Having looked at the dead beast that was on the ground before, the image of what Raze had done just moments before had flashed in his head. The attack was strong, strong enough to take out a level 2 beast like that.
'Raze, I'm starting to wonder, do you have any idea how strong you are?' Dame thought to himself. 'You were able to take out a head disciple that was at the third stage, and you had done so using your skills as a Pagna warrior and now with your magic.
'But when you combine your magic and skills together, you're able to create something out of this world. Even though you are a Stage 2 warrior, I would think you could take on a Stage 4 at the moment.'
What Raze was currently doing was absorbing the level 2 power stone. He was adding its strength to his power core because it had the attribute of Ice. After absorbing the crystal, it meant now on top of Wind and Dark, he would also be able to use ice as well.
Taking in one deep breath, the remains of the crystal energy had disappeared, and they had been added to his magic core.
'It's a success!' Raze said as he stood up from his position from the tree. He immediately noticed that his body didn't feel as cold as it did before. It was proof that it had worked.
'It's a shame I can't tell how strong the attribute is. I'll have to create another ring? I wonder, do I even have enough fingers to have rings for all the elements!' Raze thought. 'Either way, now that I have the ice attribute, I can increase its affinity.'
When walking back to Dame, Raze started to ponder. Ice was one of the types of magic that Raze didn't have much knowledge of. So much so that he didn't even know what one was meant to do to naturally increase its affinity, other than to absorb more ice-related power stones. That's when another idea had popped into his head as he came across Dame.
"Ah, did the crystal go? I thought that you would have wanted to create an item with it, or a Qi pill. What did you even use it for?" Dame asked.
"I used it for my magic," Raze said as he swiped his hand through the falling snow, and it started to freeze over. As it got heavy, it fell into the snow right after. "I can't always use power stones for items; I need to balance myself so I'm not so reliant on one or the other. Speaking of, do you know any Pagna techniques that could relate to the ice element in any way?"
Dame started to scratch the side of his chin as he was trying to work out if he did or not.
"I can't say I do honestly, but we should be heading to the library soon, so honestly, we should know by then," Dame explained. "But why do you need a cultivation technique?"
The cultivation techniques of this world were also able to strengthen Raze's core as long as it matched the affinity he was trying to train.
"It just helps with gathering a specific type of energy sometimes," Raze explained.
"Ah, I see now," Dame said as he walked over, and the two of them were next to the large snake-type dead beast that they had killed. "You need the crystal because it gives you ice-type powers for your magic, but what about the body?"
"The body?" Raze asked.
"The body," Dame replied and placed his hand on one side of the creature's head. "You see, a lot of power is in the power stones inside them, but there is also lingering power in their bodies as well. If you take the power from the bodies to increase your magic, you keep the level 2 power stones for yourself?"
It was in Dame's best interest to get Raze as many crystals as he could because he would be buying and selling them as well, but they needed crystals to do such things.
Closing his eyes, Dame looked as if he was focusing on something. That's when all the veins on his left arm started to show. They were bulging as if he had next to no skin on his body.
Flowing from the beast, the energy was running through his veins and inside him. It only took ten seconds or so, but Dame was done, and he was hoping it had managed to make some type of impression.
"What I used was an extraction technique belonging to the Demonic Faction. That body still had plenty of energy, and it's useful to take it right after one kills," Dame explained.
Watching carefully, Raze could feel the energy moving from the dead beast into Dame. It was no joke; the issue was, the mages didn't have an ability like that at all.
"Why don't you teach me this extraction skill of yours?" Raze asked, and he had done so in a somewhat polite way, which wasn't like him.
"As much as I would love to, I can't," Dame replied. "This isn't my skill; this is the Demonic Faction skill. Honestly, I'm not sure if you showed those skills like you did in front of the Dark Faction, that my Demonic faction would act the same way."
Raze felt like it was too late for him to go back on what he had just heard; he needed that skill because he knew how well he could use it now and in the future.
"If you teach me how to use that skill, then I'll make you another item, and who knows how strong that will be this time," Raze said.
Hearing the words "another item," and from the Dark Magus no less, it was an offer that Dame couldn't refuse.
"Another item, huh? I guess as long as you keep it a secret, it will be okay. Let's teach you the extraction technique."