Frost Hare

Chapter 3

The northern city took its name from the family that had guarded it for generations the same went for the other main cities. The city was bordered by the Savage Frost mountain range. The mountain stretched for thousands of miles serving as a natural border between the Theidor kingdom and the Kreniel kingdom.

The two kingdoms relationship had never been good. Being close neighbors fights for territory and resources happened all the time. The strength of the Kreniel kingdom came from their uniqueness of making a spiritual contract with magical beats and using them to fight along side them. Due to this reason everyone in Azure Dragon city was very knowledgeable of magical beasts.

About fifteen miles outside of the city was the entrance of the Frost Forest that was filled with magical creatures. The way it was divided the deeper you went into the forest the stronger the creatures were. Even if the previous fellow had only rudimentary knowledge of magical creatures due to focusing all of his time into training, he knew to stay in the entrance of the forest where the low level beasts resided.

Ambrose had prepared rations for a three day training trip, he wanted to test his strength and see where he was power wise. He walked into the forest towards a small glade that he had discovered years ago where no beast usually entered and was perfect for some solo training.

He put the Katana down and opened his backpack pulling out cloth bandages he wrapped them around his fists in a practice manner. He looked at a worn tree that had some scuffed marks after being hit one too many times. The trees in the Frost Forest were known as Frost Steel Trees, due to the low temperatures and high ice spiritual energy the trees absorb the energy turning as hard as steel.

The younger trees that were on the edge of the forest were the best for weapon manufacturing as well as strength conditioning training. The other Ambrose had come here day after day to practice his martial arts until his fists bled. Now that he had awakened the dying will flame he needed to see how strong his body was.

He then needed to hunt some magical beasts for points and unlock a dying will bullet to see how long he could hold it and how much strain it would put on his body. Due to his body awakening the dying will flame, the cold temperature didn't bother him, so he took off his jacket and shirt and then gathered his strength and punched one of the trees.

Before for him to leave a mark on the tree he would have had to hit the same spot over and over again for at least ten times. Now the scuff marks appeared on his fifth punch, meaning he had gotten a lot stronger than before.

Without meaning to Ambrose fell into a rhythm of punching and kicking, the martial arts that he had practiced were very suitable for when he could unlock the X-gloves. As Ambrose got used to the flow of the martial information flowing through his body he had a fairly good understanding of his physical strength. As he got more comfortable he decided to go all out and punch and kick as hard as he could.

With each fist and kick the tree shook a little and small branches fell to the ground. After going at the tree for a couple of hours he stopped. His arms and legs felt numb and he could see blood seeping through the bandages, he sat down next to his backpack and took off the bloody bandages seeing his knuckles, he hissed in pain.

"Guess this world's flora is many times harder than my own. Then again I didn't go about punching things back home."

He pulled out a medicinal ointment from his pack and applied it to his wounds, the medicine in this world was also many times more effective than what he knew. Here alchemists refined many medical ingredients and infused them with spiritual energy, the rarer and older the plants the better. The ointment that he used was the lowest and cheapest kind of ointment made from relatively young plants but it worked wonders on his busted knuckles.

With the ointment his knuckles would be good as new in a couple of hours. He leaned his head against a tree and sighed in relief. He knew that his lazy attitude from his own world won't cut it here, he needed to be strong.

"This world will eat the weak and kind, but I don't want to be turned into a monster either. Guess the most logical path would be to follow both the ideals of Vongola Primo and Secondo. Protect the weak, keep the family safe and make who threatened the family pay."

Yeah those ideals were ones he could live by. He looked at the ring on his hand, the first step to becoming strong was not punching a tree, that he did because he needed to see how strong his body was. The first step was to manifest a flame.

According to the reborn world the dying will flame was fed by my resolve or according to Hibari Kyoya and Dino, irritation but that was a special case. He calmed his mind and thought about what he had experienced, dying getting reincarnated and all the grievances that the original owner of this body suffered. He wanted strength but not just for strength sake or to take revenge; he needed it to make sure no one he loved would be trampled by this world's cruel nature.

Ambrose thought about all his plans and the strength he would need to make them happen. He felt a warm feeling in his chest, he owed it to his parents both his previous and new ones to succeed and be happy and he made a promise to the original owner of his body.

As the feeling grew hotter he looked at the ring as a bright orange flame danced around it. A wide grin appeared on his face as he stared at the flame. He remembered that Gamma the leader of the Giglio Nero Family's guardians and Millefiore Family Black Spell third captain created a shield of flames just from his ring without any boxes or weapons.

His flames were Lightning flames with the hard attribute and his ring was a fake Mare Ring but it was still a strong A-rank ring. Tsuna the Vongola's tenth generation boss could create a flame shield but he had the X-gloves.

Ambrose wanted to know if he could do the same with the sky flames. He sent his will towards the ring picturing a disk shaped shield in front of him. The flame kept dancing on top of the ring with no change. Ambrose kept picturing the shield in his mind sending the image to his ring. After fifteen minutes a small disk size shield barely big enough to cover his fist appeared, excited to see the change he kept going making it bigger.

"I don't believe that I can't make you bigger." Determination filled Ambrose's eyes then the shield burst into life with new energy and grew from the size of a small dinner plate to cover half his body, the temperature in the forest rose as the shield grew bigger.

The shield flickered to life for a second before exhaustion filled Ambrose and the flames fizzled out. He felt like he had just run a marathon, but he grinned nevertheless. He took out some jerky from his pack and started eating. He now had a defensive technique he just needed to find the right size to make the flame and increase the duration.

"Once I'm rested, the next step would be to hunt some magical creatures."

While he ate, he looked through the KHR System. Eventually he planned to be an all around fighter both for close and mid-range combat. That way he could use the system to its fullest. Due to him not only having the sky flames and the price for a new flame is too high at the moment he couldn't get the Sistema C.A.I of Gokudera Hayato since to make that little puppy work he would need five flames for a total of 150,000 points. just in flames not to mention the weapon itself.

So for close range fighting he would use the X-gloves and Lion Spark as for mid-range fighting the best option would be Xanxus' flames of rage and those were twenty thousand points, of course right now he didn't need the destructive power of the flames of rage. To solve his needs he just needed Xanxus' dying will guns.

The dying will gun was something that Fabio, the Seventh Generation Vongola boss created along with the dying will bullet due to him having the weakest flame of all the bosses but with this new weapon the flames were compressed into the bullets to release a much more powerful blast. Of course since he didn't have the flames of rage his destructive power wouldn't be the same but that's okay, he just needed something to cover the weakest of a close range fighter.

Looking at the dying will gun in the KHR System they were priced at seven thousand points because there were two of them and were more expensive than the X-gloves. The dying will bullets were 50 points a bullet, the same price for the dying will pills which had the same effect as being shot by a dying will bullet allowing him to enter dying will mode.

"Ughh this system is a robber. Everything is so expensive." Ambrose complained as he finished his jerky feeling much better.

"Well there's no use complaining now that my energy is back, time to hunt some magical beasts and see how much trouble I have to go through."

He sighed and picked up Lion Spark from the ground pulling out the dark blue blade out of its sheath. He tied his pack and the sheath on a branch above the ground before putting on his shirt and jacket.

Ambrose wasn't very familiar with sword techniques, he only knew some very basic strokes as he preferred to fight with his fists and hadn't had the time to dedicate himself to the sword. All in all he knew three pitiful moves, a horizontal, side and diagonal slash. He hoped that that it would be enough for him if not he could coat his sword with sky flames to make its attacks stronger.

He wandered about for close to an hour never going that deep into the forest when he spotted his first magical beast. Its small body was silvery white with two red beady eyes, long ears and a fluffy white tail, a rank 1 Frost Hare. It would have looked like a cute pet if it weren't for those red eyes and razor sharp claws and teeth.

Magical beasts were also ranked in this world, there were seven ranks with the lowest one being on par with a level 5 rank Apprentice. Speaking in terms of this world he would be outclassed, but he had the sky flames and he would not let a bunny get the best of him.

According to what little he knew about magical beasts the rank 1 Frost Hare was a close combat specialist magical beast. It used its incredible agility in combination with its claws and teeth to kill its opponents.

Ambrose gripped Lion Spark tightly in his hands, he knew that those claws and teeth would kill him if he wasn't careful. His sword was a high Mortal rank weapon, its edge was razor sharp so all he needed was a quick thrust to kill the Frost Hare before it could jump and kill him.

He moved slow and silently out of the way of the Frost Hare, he was about to swing the sword when it caught on a branch breaking it. The Frost Hare turned around and faster than Ambrose could react it jumped over him raking his shoulders with its claws. A sharp hot pain shot through Ambrose's shoulder and his arm dropped.

He looked at the wound and saw that it was bleeding very bad, not only that but the bloody rabbit jumped into a tree and flew at Ambrose raking him again and again. The damn thing was like a fluffy pinball with teeth and claws. He tried swinging the sword to cut the beast but it was too fast. His whole chest and arms were covered with blood and his clothes were in tatters.

His arm felt heavy and his mind was woozy from the bloody loss. He looked at the Frost Hare with its claws dripping with his blood and its red demonic eyes looked at him as if he were its next meal. He could have sworn the bloody bastard licked his teeth. Ambrose saw the rabbit tightening his back legs for another attack. He knew that if he didn't do something he was going to die and he refused to let a little puff ball kill him.

[A situation for personal growth has been triggered. Initiating Katekyo feature. User time to fight with your dying will.]

Ambrose was shocked to hear the KHR System announcement. He was suddenly thrown back into the snow with the feeling of getting shot in the chest. His life started passing through his eyes.

If I had more power, I could deal with this monster.

A strong force suddenly erupted within his body as the sky flames started to circulate his body faster and faster before a tongue of sky flame flared to life between his brows and his eyes turned orange. The force from the flames inside his body ripped his clothes to shreds leaving him in his boxers.

"REBORN!" He leaped up from the snow bursting with energy.

Ambrose felt like he was on the biggest caffeine-sugar high of his life power coursing through his body in waves. He looked at his chest but didn't feel any pain, then looked at the Frost Hare and leveled Lion Spark at it. Sky Flames sparked from his ring and coated the blade of the sword.

"I'LL DEFEAT YOU WITH MY DYING WILL! OREAAAAAAAAA!"

The Frost Hare looked at this strange human yelling obscenities at him. It was him that had bothered him while it was eating now it wanted to kill him, fat chance. He let out a shriek and pounce at the human.

Ambrose noticed that the Frost Hare was several times slower than before. He screamed with all his might and rush to meet the creature of doom that had cost him so much pain. At the first swing of his sword the hare dodged it before trying to bite the back of his neck but he blocked it with the sword chipping one of its teeth.

The Frost Hare looked at Ambrose with so much hatred, the pride of any self respecting Frost Hare were their teeth and tail and this perverted human had cut one of his. It was personal now. The hare shrieked again and launch itself with all its might to one tree to gain momentum before launching himself right at the human.

Ambrose put all of his strength into his next attack as he saw the rabbit jumped from the tree straight at him. The flames along the sword flicked faster as he rushed the rabbit and swung with all his might.

The blade sliced through the neck of the Frost Hare as the beast raked his chest with its claws. The rabbit landed on the snow in a pool of blood, it looked especially macabre all that white splashed with red.

Ambrose was breathing hard as the danger passed and he knew that he was alive. The sky flame between his brows and sword flickered out and a bone shattering weariness wrapped his entire body and the sting from the different wounds almost sent him to his knees.

He started chuckling softly before laughing like a mad man. "Take that you no good Bugs wannabe."

Ambrose breathed a sigh of relief before going to the body of the Frost Hare and using Lion Spark to cut the skull open to remove the light blue marble sized core where all the energy of the monster resides. He then picked up the rabbit and brought it to his camp site. He was so hungry that he grabbed a couple of branches and started a fire and began to cook the rabbit.

As the rabbit was cooking he closed his eyes and found himself in front of the KHR System screen.

"What's the Katekyo feature?" He had some idea but he wanted to confirm it.

The screen blinked to life. [Welcome User. The Katekyo feature of the KHR System is activated when a moment for personal growth is within reach, the user is then shot with a dying will bullet to unlock his potential.]

Ambrose nodded thinking that his assumption was right. His body was weary the strain from being in dying will mode was a lot on the body so he needed a way to strengthen his body. The fastest way was through combat and using dying will mode more and more. But for that he needed dying will pills.

"Guess that family tournament is the best motivation to get stronger, nothing short of the championship will be enough to satisfy me. System how do I exchange this core for system points?"

A bright flash blinded Ambrose for a few seconds before he could open his eyes again. Once he did before the screen was a small square table with a circular hole in the middle.

[The user inserts the monster cores into the slot and the system will absorb its energy. Depending on the rank, age and power of the core it will determine how many points its worth.]

He looked at the bloody core in his hand, the Frost Hare he fought was pretty fierce so its core would be worth a lot of points. He placed it into the slot and waited.

[Analyzing monster core, please hold.]

A meter gauge appeared on the screen next to an hourglass. A couple of seconds passed before the system spoke again.

[Analysis completed. Please wait for results.]

Ambrose's eye was starting to twitch at how long the system was taking.

[Magical Creature: Frost Hare.

Rank: 1

Age: Infant, no more than three months old

Points: 10]

Black lines started forming on Ambrose's face before he finally exploded. "Are you screwing with me! Ten measly points!? I almost died for ten pathetic points? And that bloody vermin was a baby? Screw you!" He forcibly kicked the screen in a fit of anger.

[KHR System defense mechanism has be activated.]

Green lightning shot out of the screen shocking Ambrose to the ground. Once the shocks subsided he got up and glared at the system. "So I have to hunt older and more powerful magical creatures to gain more points?"

[That is correct.]

Ambrose sighed in distress; if a baby rabbit had giving him so much trouble he didn't want to think how much trouble something older and more powerful will give him. He left the world of the system and went back to the forest. He pulled his pack from the tree branch and cleaned Lion Spark before sheathing it, then he applied the ointment all over his body, a surge of relief flowed from him as the medicine took effect.

Finally he changed out of the rags he was wearing into something warmer and took the roasted rabbit and started eating it, he had never tasted anything so delicious before. Magical creature meat was many times more rich in flavor than anything he had in his own world. Before long he finished the food and fell asleep on a nearby branch. He needed to get stronger faster and the best way was to spend time here in the forest before going back to the complex.

Hullo guys HK here with another chapter for you. Hope you guys are enjoying reading the story as much as I do writing it. Once more a warm thank you to Kalypso Fox for editing the chapter, girl you rock.

As we saw the system is much more complicated than what our dear hero thought it would be. Here's hoping that his luck improves. I would also like to let you know that I'll posting some original stories on the sister page Fictionpress under my same username so if you get a chance drop by and check them out. Its two stories Divinia the divine continents and Dragon Rising. Anyways as always leave your thoughts on the reviews and I'll be sure to answer each and every one of them.

Speaking of.

Meteoryte: it's interesting!

HK: Thank you so much hope you continue to like the story, very happy that you liked it.

merendinoemiliano: Pretty good chapter, i hope you had a good Christmas and will have a great year. Keep up the good work and see you later, i also hope you will continue your pj' s story.

P.s. but the clan's surname was taken by Castelvania?

HK: I did thank you so much for reviewing and glad you like the story. My pj story...honestly I don't know when I'll get back to it but I have a few ideas running around just haven't had the right spark to sit down and write them.

As to the clan's surname it was total coincidence and didn't think about it until after it was finished but given the nature of the world he is in right now. It's not out of the realm of possibility that vampires will show maybe a whole arc could be dedicated to them...he does have access to the Sun flames so who knows lol.

Well you guys I'll see you next time. Hope you have a good day.

HK.