Sekashi hurriedly withdrew her hand, stammering an explanation, "S-sorry, I just got this power, I... I haven't fully controlled it yet..."
Eserin was slightly surprised. "The power of an Ice Elemental Giant? This contract seems quite miraculous."
Behind her, the massive Ice Elemental Giant's shattered body was slowly repairing itself. Countless ice crystals gathered from the air, filling the enormous gashes.
It followed silently behind Sekashi like a moving glacier, walking up to Chen Yu and Eserin before standing quietly.
Chen Yu looked at the big guy curiously, then glanced at Sekashi. A panel popped up.
——
Reputation Title: Frostborne Life
Acquisition Conditions: A Shaman or Priest of the Lizardfolk tribe undergoing the Life Spirit trial must forge a covenant with an Ice Elemental Scion within an elemental plane, causing a transformation of life.
Title Effects:
Note: This covenant uses bloodline as an offering and ice soul as witness. When cold blood and the glacier heart beat in sync, the boundary between two worlds dissolves within the covenant-maker's scales—elemental power is no longer borrowed strength but an eternal echo flowing within the bloodline.
——
Gains primary attribute bonuses?
Wow.
No wonder this silly kid's strength increased so much. Turns out she got power bonuses from the Ice Elemental Giant.
He suspected that if Sekashi threw a punch now, it might not just send an orc flying.
Whether the corpse could remain intact would be a question.
"Envoy, am I... okay?" Sekashi asked, seeing his silence and thinking something was wrong, immediately growing nervous.
"You're fine."
Chen Yu shot out a small blob of gel that splatted onto the Ice Elemental's icy body.
Using this gel as a medium, his thoughts transmitted over: "Big guy, let me ask you something. Why did you chase me the moment you saw me before?"
The Ice Elemental's massive body trembled slightly, sensing the voice that suddenly appeared in its mind. It seemed a bit confused.
Sekashi encouraged it, "Don't be afraid. This is the Envoy, a very good Slime. Whatever you're thinking, just tell him."
Encouraged by Sekashi, the Ice Elemental finally spoke haltingly in elemental language with a buzzing voice, "Fire bright, conspicuous, attracts weird thing... companions disappeared, because of it..."
"Weird thing?"
Eserin keenly caught the keyword, exchanging a glance with Chen Yu.
It seemed the mystery of the disappearing magical creatures might have a clue.
"What kind of weird thing?" Chen Yu asked.
The Ice Elemental struggled to think of how to describe it.
"Big, stone wood, green, six huge legs... moving... devouring..."
Its description was abstract. Chen Yu tried hard to understand for a long time before barely piecing together an image in his mind: a moving castle with six giant legs.
A castle with legs? Did it gain sentience?
Why does this elemental plane keep producing such bizarre things?
He instinctively looked at Viola's spirit floating nearby watching the commotion.
Viola shrugged.
"Don't look at me. Zeyarila has plenty of strange things. A moving planar castle exile isn't that surprising."
She added slyly, "It might just be some alchemical creation left behind by a crazy alchemist or an ancient civilization. The elemental planes connect to the Prime Material Plane and the outer planes. It's normal for some odd things to wander in occasionally."
Alright. Since this experienced Dryad lord said so, Chen Yu could only accept this setting for now.
After pondering, Eserin asked, "Then what does this legged castle devour your companions for?"
The Ice Elemental remained silent for an even longer time before buzzing, "It searching for something... devours magical creatures to walk, to move..."
"Searching for something?"
Eserin frowned. "It needs to devour elemental creatures' energy to sustain movement?"
"And it's searching for something... On this desolate ice field, what could possibly attract its attention?"
She suddenly thought of something. "Wait, could that castle be searching for a planar rift?"
Hmm...
Now that she mentioned it, it really was possible.
The most special, most valuable existence on this ice field was none other than the rift connecting to the Prime Material Plane behind them.
A strange alchemical castle trapped in an elemental plane... What it most likely desired was finding a stable exit to escape from here.
Anyway, that thing definitely didn't sound like something they could handle.
Time to retreat.
Let's discuss this back home.
Chen Yu gave the retreat order. The Magical Creature Army immediately began packing up, dismantling the battery array, preparing to withdraw.
Sekashi, holding a little slime, watched the busy crowd nearby. Thinking about the imminent parting, she felt a bit sad inside.
After the Magical Creature Army finished packing the battery array, she waved goodbye to everyone. "Thank you, everyone. I... I'm leaving..."
Chen Yu's voice suddenly transmitted over. "Wait, tell me your current address."
"Address?" Sekashi was stunned. Though she didn't understand what the Envoy wanted, she quickly gave the name of her tribe and the most iconic twin snow peaks next to the tribe.
"Good. Stay in the tribe these next few days, don't run around. I'll send you some 'airdrops.' Remember to watch for them."
"Air... drops?" Sekashi was even more confused.
"It means I'll drop some supplies from the sky for you. Tell me whatever you're lacking."
Sekashi finally understood, immediately feeling overwhelmed by the favor. She hurriedly waved her hands. "This... this is too much trouble for you, right? How could I possibly..."
The Slime clone nudged her.
"This is my investment in you. Making kids suffer and train on their own isn't popular anymore. Now is the era of competing with resources."
Words like "investment" and "competing with resources" were only half-understood by Sekashi. These terms were too novel for her.
But the Envoy said he would give her things and cared about her so much. She felt quite happy and quickly nodded obediently. "Under... understood. Thank you, Envoy."
"If possible, could you send some food up?"
"The snow mountains are especially cold this year. Prey is much scarcer than before. The wild tribe's stored food is running low. Everyone is going hungry..." After saying this, she lowered her head somewhat embarrassedly, feeling like her request was asking for too much.
Chen Yu was speechless.
This clumsy girl. The first thing she thought of was asking for food to help the wild tribe that took her in.
She didn't even think to ask for equipment or something.
She really made him worry endlessly.
But sending some food was fine. The food just shipped from the Dryad domain was more than they could finish.
Consider it paying her boarding fees as an exchange student.
"Alright, food it is. I'll also include some elven local specialties for you to try," Chen Yu agreed.
That's what he said, but he was already considering preparing some staff equipment, scrolls, and the like to send along.
"Remember, don't wander off. The airdrop will arrive in a few days."
"Mm-hmm! I won't go anywhere," Sekashi nodded vigorously.
After the instructions were given, Sekashi's spirit finally faded completely and disappeared.
...
In the warm snow hut, firewood crackled in the fireplace.
Sekashi slowly opened her eyes. Familiar warm air enveloped her.
The first thing she saw was her sister Semiaya with her back turned, carefully adding firewood to the fireplace to make the fire burn brighter.
Semiaya seemed to sense she was awake. She turned her head, handing over a bowl of hot soup that had been kept warm by the fire, asking with concern, "How was it? Didn't encounter any danger, right?"
Sekashi took the warm soup bowl. Just as she was about to speak, she failed to control her power. A cold current overflowed from her palm, instantly spreading to the clay bowl. The steaming meat soup in the bowl visibly congealed at a rapid pace, its surface covered with a thin layer of ice shell. Even the bowl's walls frosted over.
Semiaya stared at the instantly frozen soup bowl, stunned.
She abruptly looked up, staring intently at Sekashi, her eyes filled with pleasant surprise. "You passed the trial?"
Seeing Sekashi nod vigorously with some embarrassment, confirming the news, the tension finally released from Semiaya's face, revealing a relieved smile. She let out a long sigh. "Great... Praise Putu!"
After the joy, Semiaya looked at the nearly empty food bags in the corner. She stood up, picking up the spear and hunting bow leaning against the wall. "The tribe's food is running low. I'll go out and see if I can hunt a deer. We need to celebrate properly for you tonight."
Sekashi opened her mouth, originally wanting to tell her that the Envoy would send food in a few days.
But the words reached her lips, and she swallowed them back.
She thought the Envoy's "airdrops" would take a few days to arrive. Better mention it when they come, giving her sister and the wild tribe a nice surprise.
So, she just nodded obediently, instructing, "Mm, sister, be careful."
Semiaya rubbed her head, smiling confidently. "Don't worry. Wait for my good news."
After saying that, she pushed open the wooden plank door, her agile figure melting into the wind and snow outside.
Sekashi hugged her knees, sitting by the warm fireplace. The corners of her mouth couldn't help but curl upward as she began looking forward to the "airdrops" in a few days.
...
The Magical Creature Army orderly passed through the planar rift, returning to the Prime Material Plane.
The main force of Poison-stinger Wasps began retreating, returning to the Dryad domain to continue defense, leaving only a small squad of Poison-stinger Wasps responsible for guarding this rift entrance.
These third-generation wasp descendants had thick chitinous shells, possessing higher resistance to cold.
Even as the glow of cold-resistance potions on their bodies gradually faded, they showed no signs of discomfort. They just hovered quietly around the rift, their compound eyes vigilantly scanning the surroundings like the most loyal sentinels, as if they were born to belong in this environment of ice and snow.
As for Peachy, she felt nothing at all. After exiting the rift, far from showing any lethargy from the cold, she comfortably shook her big head and snorted.
She even stretched her robust body with satisfaction, letting out a contented grunt.
"Huh?"
Viola's spirit curiously floated out from Eserin, circling Peachy twice.
"Strange. After this big guy took a stroll inside and came out, its aura has changed quite a bit."
Prompted by her, Eserin also examined Peachy carefully. The elf's keen vision quickly noticed the difference.
"Its fur color seems lighter than before entering, with a kind of... frosty white sheen."
Hearing this, Chen Yu also hopped closer for a careful look.
He saw that Peachy's fur color had indeed lightened, especially the mane part, which had almost turned silvery-white.
Strange. Did this trigger some buff?
Could Peachy's ancestors actually be some kind of snowfield wild boar living in the far northern snow mountains? Returning to a similar environment triggered a bloodline atavism?
Wait...
He suddenly thought, could it be that Peachy awakened a supernatural ability?
Thinking about it, it really was possible.
"Peachy, try your supernatural ability. See if you can control the ice and snow around you, like how Little Ka spits fire."
Peachy tilted her massive head, her small eyes filled with confusion.
Supernatural ability?
What tasty food is that?
She obediently lowered her head, grunting twice, seeming to try hard to feel and think about something.
Then she stomped her sturdy hoof onto the ice and snow beneath her.
Crack—!
With her hoof as the center, a cold, icy radiance instantly spread out.
The ice and snow on the ground seemed to be given life, rapidly congealing and growing upward, transforming into countless sharp, thick branches of ice.
These ice branches, as if possessing consciousness, quickly wrapped around Peachy's limbs and torso, finally covering and congealing on her body's surface, forming a thick suit of full-body ice crystal armor.
This ice armor perfectly fit her massive frame, flexible at the joints, its defensive power looking extremely impressive. It made her look like a war beast from the depths of the ice plains.
It really was a supernatural ability!
And a rare ice-control ability at that.
Little Ka controls fire, Peachy controls ice. They've really become the forest's ice and fire duo now.
Anyway, this was good news.
"Since that's the case, Peachy, you stay here and guard this rift for now. Get familiar with and hone your new ability."
Peachy let out a grunt of understanding. Clad in ice armor, she walked majestically to stand by the rift, like a loyal guardian of the ice plains.
Actually, compared to this layer of ice armor, she cared more about what lunch would be today.
If only she could have a bite of that crunchy frozen tree...
By now, Eserin had already mounted the Land-strider left by the elf ranger.
She looked at Chen Yu, extending an invitation. "Lord Slime, are you planning to return to the fortress now to deal with that vampire envoy matter?"
"If you're not in a hurry, you're welcome to come with me to the Dryad domain first for a short rest."
"No need."
Chen Yu's gel body bobbed up and down. "I still need to keep an eye on those goblins to the east."
Calculating the time, the Slime engineering teams and Beetle engineers he sent to the Western Swamp to establish an outpost fortress should have already reached the edge of the Goblin Army's sphere of influence and started construction by now.
Those greedy and irritable goblins certainly wouldn't just stand by and watch someone build a fortress at their doorstep.
He needed to go personally to oversee things, just in case.
As for that vampire... What was his name? Mir, was it?
Let him wait outside the fortress for now. Let him cool his heels.
Before leaving, Chen Yu wriggled his body, secreting a little slime equipped with "Bat Wings" and "Flame Affinity."
Chen Yu gave this little slime an order. "You, follow Miss Eserin to the Dryad domain. After replenishing supplies, take a few strong Beetle engineers and fly to the snow mountains. Deliver the things to Sekashi."
The little slime gave a "splat" sound, solemnly puffing out its little belly to accept the order. Then it flapped its little wings, wobbling as it flew onto Eserin's Land-strider back, finding a comfortable spot to settle down.
Eserin looked at this peculiarly shaped little slime, smiling slightly. "Don't worry, Lord Slime. I will arrange everything properly. May nature guide your path."
She performed an elegant bow, gently pulling the reins. The Land-strider let out a clear cry, carrying her and the little slime entrusted with the "airdrops" mission as it lightly turned, swiftly galloping toward the direction of the Dryad domain.
Chen Yu watched them leave, then turned around. His gel body slightly contracted, once again forming gel wings as he flew toward the southeastern direction of the Western Swamp.