Chapter 144: Snow Queen

AN: There will be no chapter on 26th, Wed. I will be going back to some early chapters and updating them since this story is getting a lot of traffic recently.

In the dungeon to the north of the forest is a vast snowy landscape with dunes of now and spires of living ice. I call it living ice as it looks exactly like ice, but it's actually a huge... something, it's almost like a fungus.

Living Ice (Grand), level 3 Heat Eater (Minor), Level 23 Ice Bond.

It doesn't say that it is a fungus, but it is certainly like it, maybe very distantly related, or maybe it was never related to fungi at all. Like most plants, it's very weak and low level, probably getting its kills through passive heat consumption; this place will likely be environmentally dangerous.

Ice mana dominates this area, turning it into a cold climate, likely because of this Living Ice. They may not produce a lot of ice mana individually, but there are a lot of them, and they actively reduce heat in the area, so its effect is greater than one method.

I have my clone walk up to one of the spires and cut a chunk out with my Pack Fang Dagger. The flesh is meaty like a mushroom, and I store it for testing. If it's not poisonous like almost everything else is, then we may have another source of food.

I move on, noting a distinct lack of life other than the Living Ice. For almost an hour, I fly across this white desert, an eerily silent and still place, until I come across a tall stone tower reaching high into the sky. Living Ice crawls up its sides like vines climbing a building. Atop it is a large floating diamond, perfectly cut and saturated with winter essence. Snow falls constantly fall around it as a serene humming can be heard from the diamond, calling out into the silent landscape around it.

Inside are winter fairies flitting around with tiny snowflakes falling off their buzzing wings.

Snow Fairy (Grand), Level 524 Snowgrace Dancer (Major), level 566 Snow Bond

The fairies can also have winter, ice, and beauty Bonds, too, with a few other elements, but those are rarer.

I enter the tower at the bottom where a Dungeon Waystone is and attune the key to it. I then enter the next room, where several fairies are dancing and giggling, others are chasing each other in a game of tag. They all stop and look at me curiously as I enter; they do not attack but slowly wander closer like they've never seen a Runalymo before.

Curious as to what they'll do, I summon one of my fairy imitations but observing these real examples, I add glittering dust that falls from its wings in addition to a few minor changes.

Ting! Your Bond skill, Fairy Soldier, has evolved into Fairy Avatar!

The fairies all jump back before realizing what I did. They all get close to my fairy making small chittering sounds before twirling and making excited noises. One of them touches my fairy before running away.

{Play with them} I order my fairy, who runs off to play tag.

These monsters don't seem hostile, so I continue onto the next room. This time they seem to recognize me and gesture for their own new friend to play with.

How do they know what happened in the other room? I ask myself. I didn't see any spell being used, so it must be some sort of skill that allows them to communicate with each other. I summon a friend for these ones too and continue up the tower, giving out 'friends' like Santa clause.

At the top of the tower, under the giant diamond, is a large fairy almost two meters tall with large beautiful butterfly-like wings on her back. She has long pointed ears and hair as long as she is tall, flowing down behind her. A crown of ice adorns her head, and a dress of snowflakes covers her body.

Snowfairy Mother (Exalted), Level 1223 Snow Queen (Heroic), Level 1098 Everwinter Blizzard (Heroic), Level 857 Royal Gracedancer (Heroic), Level 1685 Snow Bond.

Behind the Snowfairy mother is a stature much like one I've seen before, but for a different person.

Likeness of Varath (Legendary) (Ancient):
Made by Kayafe in dedication to the god of war, Varath, as a symbol of the three aspects of Society.

"Welcome, friend," the Snowfairy Mother says. "I am Queen Sylanna, the ruler of the snowlands."

I curtsy respectfully. "Pleased to meet you; I am Alysara."

"I have met your kind before, but they hunted us down. That was thousands of years ago, though, and I wonder if your people have changed. You look different, larger ears, longer tail, and more beautiful, you also seem to be well in tune with beauty, but to what degree I cannot say, your clone does not give me such insight."

Well, she knows I have a clone.

"I am sorry for what my ancestors have done," I say with a lowered head.

"Don't be; you are not those of the past, and I will not judge you based on what others have done before but by what action you do," Queen Sylanna says, her voice carrying the cold of winter but somehow the serenity of winter.

"I will inform my people that you are friendly; perhaps in time, our peoples can become friends, and the ugliness of the past can be overshadowed by the beauty of the future," I say, channeling a little of my diplomatic role.

Queen Sylanna giggles, exuding a serene presence.

"Be yourself, Friend; there is no need to pretend unless you want to play!"

"I can play a game or two; what do you want to do?" I ask.

When in Rome...

"Let's race! I saw you coming with those gorgeous wings of yours; let's see who can fly the fastest!" Queen Sylanna says. All of a sudden, the fairies in the ower start moving upward to the top of the tower flying around us like a whirlwind, laughing and giggling.

"We fly around the tower. On three! One. Two... Three!" Sylanna says, and we take off.

I push my wings as hard as I can, but Sylanna easily keeps up, giggling musically before zooming ahead.

"I win!" Queen Sylanna declares when I return to the tower.

I give her a smile. Somehow I made a new friend.

"I can tell you're not like most who enter this world," Queen Sylanna says. "You seek beauty and Peace; it will be sad to see you go, even if you aren't actually here" There is a hint of sadness in her voice.

"I can always come back," I say. "I need to study that statue anyway."

"That old thing? But it's full of war and strength essence. Kind of ugly if you ask me."

I can't help but chuckle at that.

"If you don't want it, then can I take it?" I ask.

Queen Sylanna pauses for a few moments before answering.

"No. If you take it, then you have no reason to come back."

I give her a warm but amused smile and continue playing games with her. Meanwhile, I have another clone scouting the west. A vast grasslands with grass standing over three and sometimes four meters tall.

I see many burrows and rodent-like monsters scurrying about, catlike creatures with exceedingly tall bunny-like ears that appear to be wrapped in light mana, probably some sort of invisibility. Praying on the local wildlife are antlered snakes that flash a bolt of lightning at small rodents. Scurrying ferret-like beasts with long sickle-like claws runs back to their dens, where large families of around thirty hide.

Cloaked Loopradin (Adept), Level 232, Grassland Jumper (Minor), Level 98 Grass Bond

Lightning Grass Snake (Adept), Level 264 Flash Striker (Adept), Level 133 Nature Bond

Meracin Scout (Adept), Level 199 Grass reaper (Adept), Level 126 Earth bond.

The grasslands seem to be rather low tier, and I wonder if any dens are the same or much stronger. Environmentally this place may prove a challenge with the tall grass and small monsters that can utilize their home environment to harass people.

I continue to look around the endless grasslands finding a cave with light crystals growing in it. A dungeon waystone stands to the side of the cave mouth, indicating that this is an intended Den. The ground is uneven, and the ceiling is low, making fighting in it difficult; some parts are even so low that it will force people to crawl to the other side.

Large centipede-like monsters skitter around with their numerous legs, long antenna waving around, a ball of light mana shining from the ends, likely a lure with which to attract prey. Three sets of mandibles one above each other, tear the meat off a recent kill.

Dark Hunter Skitterer (Major), Level 343 Nocturnal Lure (Adept), Level 159 Light Bond.

I look around the skitterer den, taking notes of what I find and writing them down on the map I am drawing.

In the middle of the grasslands, I find an overgrown city made with stone, looking like it had been abandoned. Grass sprout from between the stones, growing tall and obscuring the Runalymo sized preying mantis. These preying mantis' has an additional set of arms with four long talons, spikey carapace, and some fly to rooftops with beetle-like wings.

Grasscythe Predator Mantis (Major). Level 612 Urban stalker (Major), Level 455 Grass Bond.

The Grass City has many treasure chests within the houses. In the city center is a massive nest with dozens of large fleshy eggs. A building-sized mantis leisurely takes a sip from a grand fountain.

Grasscythe Mantis Matriarch (Heroic) Level 789 Broodqueen (Grand), Level 636 Grass Archmage (Grand), Level 602 Grass Bond

After looking through the Grass City, I continue on looking through the grasses finding an enormous nest like that of a colony of weaver birds... if the birds were the size of people. The nest is built on the land and even digs further under. The grass nearby looks to be shorter, but considering that the nest is built from the grass, that is to be expected. The overall size of the nest is almost as big as the town with all of the mantises in it. Next to the nest, hidden undergrowth of the grass, is the dungeon waystone.

Inside I find large rooms where the birds can easily fly. The birds themselves are coated in many elemental feathers, each feather one of the eight different elements with no seeming favorability in them. Their Bonds also reflect this with the population not favoring any element, but I also note that essence Bonds are much rarer; not entirely absent, but it seems only the bosses – and only a few of them – have essence Bonds.

The monsters have long, sleek feathers and parade in courtship rituals, and if I could hear them, I would probably hear their singing chirps. They have long whiplike tails with a barbed stinger on the end and sharp talons like knives on their feet.

Siren Jewel Bird (Major), Level 534 Charm Caller (Major), Level 351 Dark Bond

Windstorm Jewel Bird (Grand), Level 703 Windblade Singer (Grand), Level 587 Wind Bond.

I send my clone to fetch the waystone key to attune it to the 'dens' of the grasslands. There's probably more to find in the snowlands, but for now, I've done enough exploring. Maybe one day, I'll walk Lotis and Kyhana through some of the easier dens and help her level up.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Lotis and Kyhana sit at a table with a beautiful golden book in front of them. Sounds of cooking and sizzling Domr emanate from the kitchen as her Momara cooks dinner, the air filled with sweet caramelized butter as it is seared into the butter marinated Domr meat.

The book has some weird split circle on it but with black lettering standing out from the golden cover: Sense Mana: Skill Guide. Alysara says it's still incomplete but has said that it should be enough for now.

Lotis opens the book to the first page; it lists the table of contents, showing what page each chapter starts on. Lotis flips the page to the introduction, which outlines how to obtain [Sense Mana] as well as how sensing skills work in general. She has already obtained the skill but reading through it again; she realizes that some tings were skipped over, like how other sensing skills work on the same fundamental 'feeling out' method.

By reading the introduction, Lotis gains one knowledge level in her base skill, but she has already gained three from one of Alysara's lessens. She turns to the first chapter after finishing the introduction and starts reading on the first breakthrough. Kyhana sits close so she can read it too. The chapter talks about mana pressure and how it 'acts like air' to form currents, like how air has wind. The more Lotis reads, the more she is fascinated by the amount of information written and frustrated by the parts she doesn't understand.

She doesn't understand several things and will have to ask about them tomorrow morning, but she has already gained two knowledge levels by reading half the chapter! Her reading session is interrupted when her Momara sets dinner down at the table.

"You can continue reading once you are done eating," Momara Yla says. "You don't want to get your teacher's book dirty."

"Yes, Momara," Lotis says, obediently closing the book and setting it aside.

Her plate is served with a butter marinated and seared Domr claw, one of the more delicious parts of the Domr. The domr shell has been removed, already letting her cut into the soft meat. A bowl of melted cheez sits next to her plate for her to dip the meat into while sliced Fuchy fruit and roasted nuts decorate the plate as a side dish.

After dinner, Lotis and Kyhana goes back to reading the skill guide, learning as much as they can. Once it is time to go to the Lojyo, Kyhana meets up with her parents so they know that she is well while Lotis waits for her so they can play some games together.