For the next couple of months, Seven would distract his mind from the repetitious routine with conversations of the new land. He learned of Deep Elves. A hardy subterranean blacksmith tribe with a penchant for ores and battle. Tamer Elves, a nomadic tribe that contracted with any beast. Living off of the lands and trades with humans and other elven tribes.
"I thought humans and elves didn't interact?" Seven recalled as he manipulated wind and earth simultaneously, the wind flowed over his earthen armored arm. It was the newest part of the routine. Eat, sleep, train. All while maintaining the two elements at all times.
"On Atla, yes. It's not an open trade, obviously, as the floating cities are all connected and aware of each other. Elves despise the floating cities, but humans here aren't aware of them, as they never venture into the forbidden zones. The humans here are vastly different. Kinder in most ways, but ten times as brutal in others." Theloseus replied as if this was a lesson Seven needed to learn of.
"Elaborate? In what way are they more brutal?" Seven requested further information.
"Hmm, well, let's see. There was once a traveler. He crossed the lands of Redeal, stopping in kingdom after kingdom to write of his beloved continent. He wrote his journey in great detail, and when it was published and released, each kingdom learned of information from their surrounding neighbors. That information started a war that lasted seventy years." Theloseus told a story instead, and a vague one at that.
"What was the information?" Seven leaned in, eager to know more.
"Oh, the Tamer Elves were trading with each kingdom at different discounts, and they got jealous of each other. The kingdom that had the highest discount was eradicated in the first decade of the war. Their banners were torn and burned, bloodlines ceased to exist. It only ended when the elves promised a fixed rate of ten percent discounts in bulk purchases. And the book was burned to preserve that peace." Theloseus laughed humorously, as if it was the most amusing incident.
"I thought it wasn't an open trade." Seven noticed a flaw in the story that didn't quite fit with the reason.
"It isn't. That's why the book was burned after, and trades became even stricter and more covert." Theloseus corrected the miscommunication with more detail.
"I see. What about this mountain? Anything special about it. Other than the mana density." Seven made sure to mention the last part, to avoid another dodged reply.
"Honestly, I don't know a lot. What I do know is that any higher than this, the conditions become lethal past three days of exposure. Rumors are that at the peak, there's special metal, known as Glacial Iron. The deep elves received a piece of it a long time ago, and the origin was from the near bottom of this mountain. So it's speculatory, but if those ore crazy smiths get ahold of more, they'd go nuts." Theloseus briefly explained with as much detail as he could, which meant there wasn't much to know.
"What if I went to the peak to get it?" Seven offered his idea to Theloseus.
"Hahaha! If you can survive that climb and come back, I'll consider our training concluded on harsh discipline." Theloseus laughed in response to the notion. Seven stood up, his eyes slight with determination.
"I shall return triumphant." Seven started climbing the nearest cliff wall. The smile faded from Theloseus' face as he watched Seven climb.
"It was a joke…" He mumbled as he watched Seven disappear into the white fog that covered the top. Seven climbed relentlessly, the cold bit into him with renewed vigor. He increased the armor and wind veil to its maximum, but it barely held against the increased intensity. The climb seemed daunting, as if rejecting any advancement. His fingers went numb from the cold and the continuous strength used to grip the small holds. But, his determination to survive and prove himself was stronger than the fatigue.
Eventually, after half a day climbing, he reached a plateau, the clouds were now below him, and the sky had brightened with the moons and stars' light. Ahead of him was a snow field, and in the distance a grove of trees. A few caves outcropped and dotted the landscape.
"Now, what does Glacial Iron look like?" Seven began inspecting the closest cave, he was shivering from the absolute absence of any heat. The air was thin, dizziness crept in behind his eyes. Several icicle like stalactite formations hung ominously from the entrance. Seven touched one, and the cold instantly breached the armor like an attack of frostbite.
"Bingo? Mm, but I don't like the look of these ones." Seven looked at each cave in order. He slowly approached the cave within the grove of trees, in that instance, he noticed fruits hidden within the leaves. Light-blue fruits shaped like large oranges. The tree bark was a deep blue, the leaves were white with near invisible blue veins.
"Well, I haven't had my portion of scraps today…" Seven reached up and grabbed a fruit, it was cold to the touch, but not frostbite cold. He tore open the protective skin layer, revealing the pure white flesh inside. With relish, he started taking slices off and popping in his mouth in quick succession. It was tangy, like an orange, yet sweet like watermelon. The cold stopped biting as hard, and felt more like a light winter breeze.
"Maybe I should bring these down with me as proof too. Perhaps, Master will know what they are?" Seven eyed the fruits, but decided there was no way to bring them down and moved on to the cave. At the entrance was more of the stalactite but, all around the entrance were chunks of it strewn about, as if something had used the entrance— or broke out of the cave at some point.
But what caught Seven's eye, was a brighter, straighter, and sharper looking stalactite growing straight up instead of down.
"Now that looks like something I can use." Seven reached out and grabbed the piece, hoping it was Glacial Iron, and yanked hard. It didn't budge, the frostbite attack was stronger than the last one. Seven stepped away, shaking his hands off and bringing them up to his mouth and blowing on them to heat them up.
His next approach was grabbing it and using mini tremors to hopefully vibrate it out, but only the ground around him and the cave itself shook with the attempt.
"Fuck off! I want this one!" Seven yelled in frustration at the stubborn stalactite. The ground shattered under him from the outburst, and Seven let go of the stalactite. He hunkered down, hands on his head. His breathing became labored, his heart beat erratically, and he began to sweat even though he was freezing.
"No… not again…" Seven trembled, his voice a hoarse whisper. His eyes trained on the fissures in the ground. His fear of exploding, of not being in control, was showing itself in reality. Nothing had changed, he was still volatile and obsessive.