The royal hall had fallen into a heavy silence. The sound of the wind passing through the frozen cracks of the castle echoed like the moaning of lost ghosts in the dark space.
Lian closed the diary. For a few moments, he did not say anything.
Even Seris had become quiet.
The atmosphere around them was suffocating. Not because of the cold, but because of what they had just understood.
Lian quietly looked at the bones on the royal throne. Then he turned his gaze toward the broken door of the hall.
"Now I understand."
"What?" Seris raised her head.
Lian sighed.
"Those bodies we saw outside, the ones sitting by the walls in the entrance hall."
He was quiet for a few seconds.
"Do you remember how they were not close to each other? Each one sat at a distance from the others. Their weapons were also next to them."
Seris’s eyes slowly narrowed. Then she suddenly understood.
"You mean..."
"Yes."
Lian did not take his gaze off the bones.
"Hunger. They were afraid of each other. Afraid of one another."
"After the food ran out, they started eating each other."
Seris did not say anything, but her face had clearly changed.
Lian continued.
"The princess probably realized the situation was getting out of control. That is why she ran away. She locked herself inside this hall."
"She closed the door from the inside and hoped the others could not get in."
Then he pointed to the bones on the throne.
"She survived for a while, but in the end, she either died of hunger or from the cold."
Seris clenched her fists.
"That is inhuman."
Lian looked at her for a moment.
"You are wrong. That is completely human. When you take everything away from a person... civilization, morals, hope, food... what remains is the animal nature of a human."
For a few seconds, neither of them spoke.
Then Seris asked:
"So what happened to the rest of the people?"
"If this city fell, why did her brother not come to help them?"
Lian thought for a moment, then slowly shook his head.
"I don’t know."
"But the people of that village are definitely connected to this city. The flags were the same. The symbols were the same."
"They were probably the survivors of this city, or at least the next generation of them." But he immediately frowned.
"But there is a problem."
Seris looked at him.
"The bodies here are only bones. But the bodies under the village still had flesh and skin. They seemed much newer."
"So either these events happened at two different times... or we still do not know a large part of the truth."
Lian had doubts about this matter and did not understand what had happened in this part. Because if nothing had happened to the survivors who went to the village back then, then why did they not come to help?
First of all, he needed to know exactly how many years had passed since this event. But there was no evidence that could tell him that.
Seris frowned. It was clear she did not like these mysteries. She was more a person of the sword than of thinking.
Finally, she stood up.
"I want to look around the castle. The air here is suffocating me." Today she had faced something beyond her understanding and perception of humans, and her worldview had changed.
Lian nodded.
"Okay, but be careful. There should be no monsters inside the castle. But if something happens, shout."
Seris said nothing. She just left the hall. The sound of her footsteps slowly faded away.
And the silence returned. Lian sat on one of the frozen chairs. For the first time in hours, he had a chance to breathe.
And more importantly, a chance to examine himself.
"Status panel."
A blue window appeared in front of his eyes.
[Name: Lian Vonhelm]
[Level: 8]
[Race: Human]
[Class: Monster]
[Talents: Dormant Monster (SSS), Child Of Winter (C)]
[Innate Skills: Glutton, Bloodlust, Butcher, Winter Skin, Frost Dominion]
[Skills: Fallen Wolf Speed, Iron hide, Blood Hunt, Frost Claw
[Titles: Explorer of the Lost City, Wolf Slayer]
[Stats: Click to see]
[Fragments: 21/100]
Lian’s eyes stayed on his level. Level eight. After all those fights, he had only increased by one level.
This itself showed that leveling up becomes harder the further you go. But what caught his attention more was his new talent.
Winter Child.
He tapped on it.
[ Child Of Winter]
[Rank: C (+)]
Description: You have been accepted by the energy of the ice element. Natural resistance to cold increases. Limited control of the ice element in icy environments may be possible.
Power of frost-based skills increases. Overall body performance increases in icy environments.]
Lian’s eyes lit up.
"So that’s why..." Ever since entering Frostheart, he had noticed that the cold of this area affected him less.
Now he knew the reason. But that was not the only change. His gaze fell on the new innate skills.
Winter Skin.
[Winter Skin]
[Description: Your body gains more resistance against cold, freezing, and damage or attacks caused by frost attacks or monsters.]
Lian gave a small smile. A simple skill, but very useful. Besides, when he goes through his first evolution, this skill will definitely become even stronger.
In general, talents and innate skills can only be upgraded through evolutions, increasing their rank and abilities.
And of course, not every talent and innate skill can be upgraded. Only those that have a (+) can be upgraded.
Then he clicked on the last one.
Frost Dominion.
[Frost Dominion]
[Description: Ability to have limited control over Frost present in the environment. At lower levels, creating ice is not possible. Uses 0.2 mana per Minute of use.]
Lian raised his eyebrow. Currently, his mana was very low. But this innate skill could become something terrifying in the future.
If he got his first evolution, if the rank of this talent increased, then he might be able to create ice from nothing.
But something else occupied his mind.
Fragments.
Twenty-one.
He frowned.
"Wait..." Before entering the city, he only had one fragment. He had gotten ten more from discovering Frostheart.
So where had the ten extra fragments come from? There was no way he could have gotten that many fragments by killing that many monsters.
Something came to his mind. He looked at his old title.
Wolf Slayer.
He opened its description.
[Wolf Slayer]
[You are the first person to have slaughtered a Fallen Wolf. From now on, for every wolf you kill: +2 Fragments.]
For a moment, Lian’s eyes widened. Then a smile appeared on his face.
"So that is the reason."
He had killed five frost wolves. So that was why he had gotten ten fragments. Everything fell into place.
And more importantly, outside the castle, there were more than twenty other wolves. If he killed all of them, the amount of fragments he would get would be insane.
That way, his number of fragments would reach more than 60. Would it not be possible to easily upgrade all his skills like that?
Then he clicked on Stats to take a look at them.
[Strength: 78]
[Spirit: 5]
[Speed: 66 ]
[Mana: 3]
[Resistance: 32]
[Stat Points: 68 ]
68 Stats Points!.
A number that surprised even himself.
He had earned 20 points from discovering the city, 28 points from killing 7 Frost Stalker monsters (each kill gave 4 points), and then another 20 from killing wolves (each again giving 4 points).
He had also realized that the system rounds the points, for example, if a monster’s stat is actually 466 percent, his talent only gives him 4 points for it.
His strength and speed were insanely high, but he also had clear weaknesses.
Mana, soul, and resistance were all low. If he faced a creature like Mira again, these weaknesses could be deadly.
Especially for using his new innate skill and his other offensive skill, he needed mana.
Lian leaned back on the chair and stared at his stats pointes
His finger hovered over the floating window. Now was the time to choose. A choice that could determine the outcome of future battles.
A small smile appeared on his lips.
"The best way to use these points..."
At that moment, a heavy sound was heard from deep inside the castle. The sound of something very large being hit.
Lian immediately stood up. His eyes narrowed.
"Seris...?" He was sure that girl had done something again.