James walked unsteadily along the cliff wall, away from the snowy passage and back towards camp.

The bird monster nesting cliff, blessedly, was still empty. James had no idea how long his ill-fortuned exploration had lasted. An hour? A day? He had entirely lost track of time within the blizzard, and during his recovery after escaping.

He hurried past the cliff full of empty nests, and passed by the ponds and pools. A crab monster skittered towards him aggressively, claws raised, and he dispatched it mechanically. He quickly harvested the water magic crystal and again left the carcass where it was. His emotions felt dulled, even now after his physical recovery. Even thinking of the lake and the water spear it could launch at him did little to stir his spirits. He merely shifted his shield to his right hand, made sure [Reflect] was active, and continued on. Shortly, he reached the alcove, and quickly passed it by to his base camp.

Still feeling mentally numb, he walked towards his sitting area near his forge and smoker, the warmest area, and shed his armor.

What he saw was appalling enough to stir a small dismay in his heart.

The tips of his fingers and his feet were pale white, and the bulk of his arms, legs, and torso were bright red, almost like a sunburn. The skin even felt warm. The pale parts, however, were even warmer, and felt numbly tender.

He was able to move his fingers and toes, but slower than normal. And they were sore.

Now feeling warmed by his forge, James drank some Pure Water, and quickly realized he was dehydrated. Badly so. He forced himself not to gulp the water down, instead drinking in sips, but he drank five full cups before he started to feel sated.

Even now, his emotions were dulled.

Stripped nearly naked, wearing only his tattered pants, James set up his Green Iron Tower shield, propped up between himself and the lake, activated its [Reflect] enchantment, and went to sleep next to his forge with its smoldering embers.

After a dreamless sleep, James awoke in severe pain.

His entire body hurt. All his muscles were sore, and his skin felt like it was cracking and tearing with every movement, although it was merely red when he looked at it.

The worst was his hands, and especially his feet.

The skin was still pale, but now blisters had formed all over his hands and feet. He could barely move his fingers and toes, and attempts to move them hurt more than any other part of his body.

James grunted in pain as he tried to sit up, and failed. He flopped back down, grunting again as his skin flared up with even more pain. He lay there, panting, and grit his teeth as he forced his arm over to his magic bag, blessedly within arm's reach of where he had lain down the night before.

Not that the light in the Dungeon ever changed.

James tried to speak, and felt his lips tear and a trickle of blood drip down the side of his face. A pang of dread shot through him as he thought what a sight he must look.

Instead, he concentrated, thinking what he wanted from the magic bag.

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Bread.

His fingers felt the bread, and he painfully pulled it out, bringing it to his mouth. He ate it, bits smeared with his blood adding a salty-iron taste, but he ignored it.

He needed to eat.

After the loaf of bread he ate some smoked mole monster meat, and fell back asleep.

After a week, the blisters subsided and healed. The reddened skin on his torso healed and returned to normal, and the redness on his arms and legs lightened. His hands and feet had first turned grey, before the skin then turned red.

After another week, his arms and legs had recovered to mostly normal. His hands and feet were still red, but the blisters were completely gone, so he was able to crawl around the campsite on his hands and knees.

There was a stench about the campsite.

The pile of bird monsters, initially set aside for later, had started rotting in a massive pile. The scent, of course, attracted crab monsters, who positively swarmed around the edge of the ward. James' first priority, once he could crawl, had been to recharge the magic power fueling the ward.

It was under a quarter full when he started recharging it.

His stored smoked meat supplies were running low by this point.

After another week, his hands were almost fully recovered. His feet were still tender, and he could walk on them if he needed to, but he tried to keep off them as much as possible, letting them heal.

Finally, after the fourth week, the Smith was fully recovered.

And it was almost entirely because of his Endurance and Willpower.

Without his Endurance, his recovery would have taken much longer, and he might have lost his hands and feet entirely.

Without his Willpower, he would have succumbed to the cold in the snowy passage, and frozen to death.

James felt keenly how close to death he had come.

His emotions had returned to him after his first night's sleep, though the pain kept him from expressing them overtly.

He desperately needed a way to deal with the cold.

And with the time he had had to think about it, he had a plan.

First, during the week he had spent with the use of his hands but not his feet, he had crafted himself a pair of mole monster leather mittens. Riveted, of course, not sewn, but good enough to keep snow out and some heat in. Wearing them, he could grasp his war hammer and shield, and that would have to be enough. He also made himself extended leather moccasins, reaching almost up to his knees.

Not being a Leatherworker, this project took the entire week.

That done, and his body nearly fully recovered, James forged a thin strip of iron slightly shorter than his forearm, and etched into it the pattern for the [Heated Blade] enchantment.

He only had the one fire magic crystal, from the Pangolin's chamber on the upper floor.

Carefully, oh so carefully, James ground down his one crystal into fine magic crystal dust, and enchanted the strip of metal.

[Appraisal]: Heating Strip, Quality: Very Low, Durability: 2/2, Enchantment: Heated Blade (8)

James was mildly surprised that [Appraisal] had worked on the craft. He had only expected to view the enchantment, after seeing that his enchanting had been a success.

He activated the enchantment, using his [Enchantment Activation] skill, and quickly produced a very hot, dully red glowing strip of metal. He cut off his supply of magic power, and the iron strip cooled off over the next few minutes. Finally, he dipped it into his quenching bucket to ensure it was fully cooled.

Next, he again used his [Enchantment Activation] skill, but also his [Mana Manipulation] skill to reduce the amount of magic power he supplied to the [Heated Blade] enchantment. Used normally, on a sword or a knife, there would be no point in doing this. In fact, it would be detrimental, as it would reduce the damage the sword or knife could do, due to the blade being less hot.

But James was not interested in burning himself.

It took some trial and error, but James got a feel for how much magic power to feed into the heating strip. From a faint trickle that barely warmed the metal strip at all, to a steady flow that kept the strip warm, but still not so hot he couldn't hold it, to a stronger flow that made the strip too hot to hold bare handed, but not so hot that it glowed red.

And James still had half of his red magic crystal dust remaining.

But that wouldn't be enough.

The Enchanter gazed out to the edge of his camp, where crab monsters continued to gather and skitter about, testing the edges of his wards and a way to the pile of rotting bird monster flesh.

He needed to harvest resources.

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