Chapter 57: A New Feature Has Been Unlocked
For now, that guess seemed the most plausible.
’I never expected it to reach all the way inside the gate.’
A space where people could no longer live.
Looking at the Blue Hole, now frozen over completely and hardly any different from the outside, Walfred clicked his tongue.
’Well, fishing’s off the table now.’
In the end, he left the gate with nothing to show for it.
Walfred headed south again.
Across the frozen Passaic River, he passed Newark Technology Park, where he’d once shaken off Hector. A little farther on, a familiar sight came into view.
A pure white membrane. The boundary of the White Dome.
’Finally...’
He was getting out of here.
Walfred quickened his pace. Just as he was about to pass through the white membrane and head outside,
Thump!
"Hm?"
His foot bumped into something.
What was that? Was he imagining it?
Walfred reached his hand out in front of him. And he felt the solid sensation of touching a real wall.
"...!"
His eyes went round.
It wasn’t his imagination.
The boundary of the White Dome had turned into a transparent wall, blocking his path.
"What? Why...?"
Couldn’t he get out?
When he’d come in so easily?
As he puzzled over the inexplicable situation,
Ding!
-----
[Notice: Escape Impossible]
[To leave the Forbidden Zone, [Nest of the Frost Dragon], the owner’s permission is required.]
-----
The system alert gave him his answer.
Walfred’s eyes widened.
’I see. So that’s why...’
That was why not a single one of the people who’d gone in to search the White Dome had ever come back.
To think there’d been a restriction like this.
Walfred let out a low sigh.
But unlike those who hadn’t been able to leave this place, Walfred had a way out. After all, the owner of this very nest was right beside him.
"Elsa."
"Yeah, Daddy!"
"Want to head outside together?"
"Okay. Let’s go!"
Elsa smiled brightly.
And in that moment.
Swish!
With the sound of a curtain being drawn back,
the boundary of the White Dome that had been blocking his path split open to either side, forming a passage. It was a sight reminiscent of the parting of the Red Sea.
Walfred passed through the passage with Elsa in awe and stepped outside. The wall then closed at a rapid pace and went still once more.
’I’m finally out.’
He’d successfully escaped the White Dome.
Walfred took a deep breath in. The air on this side was definitely less cold than inside the White Dome.
And then.
"Huh?"
His body suddenly felt heavy.
As if lead weights had been tied to his arms and legs.
And then.
The reason his body felt heavy became clear.
Ding!
-----
[Notice]
[You have left the Nest of the Frost Dragon.]
[The Blessing of the Frost Dragon effect is diminishing.]
▶Cold/Frost Resistance: [-30%]
▶Dragonkin Skill Tolerance: [-20%]
▶Enhanced Physical Abilities: [-250%]
-----
The moment he saw it,
Walfred recalled something he’d forgotten.
’Oh, right.’
[Blessing of the Frost Dragon] doubled its effect only inside the [Nest of the Frost Dragon], didn’t it?
So now that he’d come outside, the effect had naturally diminished by that much. It felt like something given and then taken away, which was a letdown, but there was nothing to be done.
It wasn’t as if he could spend his whole life inside the White Dome, after all.
As he was quietly accepting reality,
"Daddy, Daddy."
Elsa suddenly tugged at his hand.
Her eyes sparkling with curiosity.
"Where are we going now?"
Ah, come to think of it, he hadn’t told Elsa where they were going. Realizing his mistake belatedly, Walfred met her eyes and answered.
"I’m planning to go to Key West."
"Key West? Where’s that?"
"It’s a big island down south."
"How big?"
"Hmm, probably ten times bigger than where you were?"
"Wow! Really?"
Elsa’s eyes shone with curiosity.
After that she peppered him with all sorts of questions about Key West, but there wasn’t much Walfred could answer.
’Well, I don’t really know either.’
Walfred had never been to Key West.
Actually, he’d been so busy just scraping by that he’d never once gotten on a plane like everybody else.
As he gave a self-deprecating smile,
something suddenly flashed through his mind.
’Wait, a plane?’
In that moment, Walfred looked at Elsa.
Elsa was a dragon. And her original form definitely had wings.
In that case...
"Elsa."
"What?"
"I’m just asking on the off chance, but if you turn back into your original form, can you fly?"
If she could, it’d be huge.
There’d be no need to walk the whole way. They could travel as comfortably as boarding a plane.
"Yeah! I can fly!"
Elsa answered with a smile on her face.
It was good news.
Walfred asked, his face full of expectation.
"Can you do it while carrying me?"
"Carry you? Where?"
"On your back, or maybe your neck..."
In novels and movies, people usually rode on the neck or back, after all.
Elsa, meanwhile, closed her eyes as if thinking it over.
Then she shook her head from side to side.
"My body’s still too small, so no."
"...Ah."
That snapped him back to his senses.
Now that he thought about it, Elsa’s original form had only been a little bigger than a small dog.
She and Walfred were in completely different weight classes.
Just then, Elsa spread both arms out wide.
"But if my body gets bigger, it’s fine!"
"How do you make your body get bigger?"
"You just eat lots of snow."
"By snow you mean..."
"The stuff I ate with you yesterday, Daddy!"
Snow of pure mana.
At those words, Walfred furrowed his brow.
’And where am I supposed to find that again?’
He’d never even seen it anywhere outside the White Dome to begin with. And even if he could find it, he had no idea how much would be needed.
So in the end, did he have to give up on traveling by flight?
As he quietly let out a sigh,
Ding!
-----
[Notice]
[Partial system restoration complete]
[Your departure from the Forbidden Zone [Nest of the Frost Dragon] has been confirmed. From now on, you may freely use the Hunter Community.]
-----
A notice that he could access the Hunter Community.
And on top of that,
the alert he’d been waiting for appeared.
[A new feature has been unlocked.]
[System: Hunter Shop]
[Would you like to access it now?]
At last, a place to spend his coins had appeared.
Walfred’s eyes lit up.