What a coincidence. They were the last two standing back then as well.
And they also didn't last a minute against Katar.
The cat pulsed with aggressive energy. Icard had to focus.
"Be careful. It's really strong" Icard said.
"Yeah" Eric said.
Eric then jolted forward and poured a torrent of fire at the cat who disappeared that instant.
"Above us!" Icard said forming ice shards and hurling them at Katar. However, Katar sent his own attack at them mid-air, destroying Icard's ice.
Icard barely dodged, escaping being fried alive by Katar's lightning which burnt the place where he stood.
Katar landed with electric sparks snapping around his body and then shot at Icard again who couldn't avoid it this time and got blasted away.
This enraged Eric even more, as he closed in next, blasting Katar with all the fire he could summon.
And Eric kept at it until he heard the cat talk again.
"How foolish" it said from the flames.
Eric's eyes widened as he watched it disperse his fire with a burst of electricity.
Since he was too close, Katar's electric pulse coursed through his body. The shock flung him away and knocked him out.
"Tch." Katar clicked his tongue. "I can't believe I took both of you seriously for a moment."
He relaxed slightly, the electric-blue glow around him beginning to fade.
Then, on the ground, a straight vein of ice, like a narrow torrent came at him and froze him up in an instant, with protrusions pointing away from from Katar's iced form.
The frost fog spread out then as Icard surfaced.
[Third Floor Access Confirmed]
[Dual Skill Activation]
[Frost Tree]
[Regelation (Active)]
Icard stood watching where Katar had been frozen from a distance, while his Regelation repaired his body.
Frost Tree was a long or short ranged attack, like a large tree root, reaching and freezing the target explosively.
It was a really effective skill he used regularly in his past life.
But somehow it drained him now. The fatigue was clear this time and he still spent mana repairing his body.
He needed time to recover but the frozen cat had already begun cracking the ice from inside.
'Ahh, crap' Icard thought as the ice suddenly exploded. The frost dispersed immediately too, revealing Katar who stood there, pulsing with even more energy.
He too panted now from destroying Icard's ice this time. He adjusted his stance, looking at Icard, clearly taken aback by his capability.
"Heh. I told you" Icard smirked, catching his breath now. He still needed a little more time to recover more.
Katar's expression sharpened then.
"I see. You're quite capable and experienced for a starter" Katar said, narrowing his focus on Icard.
'Damn it, he's really clever. I'm still fatigued but I have to access the seventh floor' Icard plotted, sweat running down his face.
"You're still a new incarnation but I won't go easy on you from now" Katar warned, preparing a different attack.
"Heh. You don't have to go so far--" Icard muttered but Katar's energy exploded then, shaking the entire place.
Icard could tell that if he didn't counter this properly, he would definitely be left critically wounded.
"The seventh floor should be enough" Icard muttered.
Katar took an attacking stance then that Icard could recognize from his past life.
'Thunder charge?'
A skill where he charges at his opponent himself at lightning speed, covered in plasma energy.
'If I didn't know this, I'll definitely end up in a really bad shape from this attack' Icard thought to himself.
In the moments leading up to Katar's attack, Icard then attempted to use it.
The Seventh floor's Deep frost.
Icard issued the command but then,
[Seventh Floor Access Denied]
[Skill Activation Cancelled]
The panel came up before Icard and his mouth hung wide open in dismay.
"What the hell?!!" he yelled.
Katar was almost done charging up. There was no time.
He tried again but the panel kept coming up.
That was when he knew...he was effed up.
Katar surged with energy and then burst at Icard and there,
*BOOM!*
It was an attack that shook the whole area. The rumblings continued for some time before it finally quietened, enough to draw attention.
A big cloud of dust had erupted from Katar's final attack and slowly it cleared, revealing Katar who had already dismissed his state, returning to his regular snow cat form.
His attack too was draining but then, it was enough to take down Icard completely, as he lay motionless, charred, with smoke drifting from his body.
"What's that?"
"Have they come again?"
"Get ready!"
Voices came from a distance, curious about the explosions.
Katar watched Icard for a few seconds more.
'He's not dead' he thought. 'He even reduced the damage. What kind of incarnation is capable of commanding this much power so early?'
Just before he hit Icard, Icard had used a defensive technique like the one he used earlier. It was much effective though, like he had poured all his mana into it.
"He's definitely talented. Although, I was sure he was about to use a stronger attack--or was it just my mind?" Katar muttered before leaving.
And so, their first encounter with the erwald concluded.
Icard and the rest of them lay, unconscious.
However, Icard's consciousness was in a different space.
Darkness.
Cold.
A familiar chill surrounded Icard as he opened his eyes.
There, the Frost Tower stood before him.
"Ugh…"
He touched his head and groaned.
Above him, Alyxara stood at the tower's peak.
She chuckled and Icard's eyes narrowed.
"What was that?" he asked. "You said my progress here was still valid but I couldn't access the seventh floor"
"Hmmmmm" Alyxara hummed. "Is that all you want to know?" She asked.
"Huh?" Icard said, clearly irked.
"Didn't you experience a drain from using skills from the third and fourth floors?"
Icard's expression sharpened even more.
"You knew--don't tell me you did that" Icard said clenching his fists.
"Nooooooo" Alyxara answered. "I didn't do anything, Icard. It was all from your body"
"What?"
"Take a look at this" she said and a panel appeared before Icard.
[Attribute Status;]
[Strength: F]
[Agility: F]
[Endurance: F+]
[Mana Pool: F]
His studied it for a moment and began to understand.
"You seeeeeee. I didn't do anything. Your attributes are just not capable of handling skills from the higher floors" Alyxara explained.
"Compared to using skills from the first floor, using from higher floors would drain you since your mana pool attribute is still--first floor" Alyxara explained them chortled again.
"Your mana was just not sufficient for the seventh floor, so it was actually you"
Icard could tell. It all made sense now. In this world, F level attributes represent those of a normal and average human.
'I was careless. The Frost Tower didn't regress but my body did and so did those attributes. My body is still weak as of now, so of course it's reasonable'
It also made sense to him why she laughed before he left last time he was here.
"I see" he muttered. "I guess I didn't read into it well enough and got careless. It's on me"
Alyxara hummed in muse.
"Heh. Seems like watching me barely escape death is the only cure for your boredom" Icard said with a calmly tense smile.
Even though he had been really shook by the system's behaviour just earlier, he was already back to being calm and composed.
He had to be, especially when he was around Alyxara.
"So that's why you showed me the AP panel too. To kindly remind me"
"Well, not really..."
"I thought I didn't have anything to level up but then, I have my attributes. Being F level means I'm still pretty much average. Thanks a lot, Alyxara"
Alyxara hummed, a bit disappointed at Icard's reaction. She had expected more frustration.
"You're also okay with this, Icard. You thought you were starting from the top of the tower but you're a bit lower than that. And you're okay with that?"
Icard smiled again.
"Yeah. Honestly, it would have been a little boring if I were all powerful. I'll just have to work up my attributes at least so things can get a bit more exciting"
"Hmmm. You're really weird, Icard. You know that, right?"
Alyxara said.
"Yeah, I guess"
Then he opened his eyes. He was lying on a bed inside a familiar room and on a different bed next to his was Eric, still asleep with a towel on his forehead.
"Ugh"
He sat up, covered in warm blankets.
"Don't do it like that. Do it like this!" He could hear Reya yell from the front yard. Then thuds followed.
He looked at his hands then, opening and closing his fists like he was testing if they were his.
'I should still be able to use skills from the higher floors at this level but they could drain my mana at one go. So it all depends on the situation, I guess'
Then he looked at Eric. Although he was unconscious, his eyelids moved.
And moreover, he was sweating profusely, like he was having a fever, hence the towel on his forehead and Icard instantly knew what was up.
"Damn" Icard muttered.