Alex sat on the tree while a campfire was burning below him. Several skewers filled with meat were hanging near the fire, and Alex was eating one of those skewers right now. From time to time, Alex jumped down, retrieved another skewer, and went back to the tree. He still wasn't sure what kind of creatures lived in this area, so he tried to remain hidden.
Anything that came here would have its attention drawn to the fire and sled wagon, leaving Alex the initiative.
After eating quite a bit of meat, Alex pulled the remaining skewers from the fire, put some of his spare clothes around them, and put them on the sled wagon. He would eat them tomorrow while traveling.
A couple of hours passed, and it was now well into the night.
That's when Alex felt something approach.
Alex didn't hear or see the approaching creature, but he felt a lot of Ice Mana moving towards him.
Alex slowly stood up from the branch and silently moved to the next tree.
A feeling of nervousness appeared in Alex, but he forced himself to remain calm. 'Judging by the amount of Ice Mana being displaced, this is probably a creature of the Second Realm, and it's definitely not in the earlier stages.'
'I can't fight that.'
After moving two trees away from his makeshift camp, Alex closed his eyes to concentrate on feeling the Ice Mana in the atmosphere.
In Alex's mind, he saw a sizable, blue ball of Ice Mana moving towards his old camp. The blue ball of Mana was about two meters in diameter, which confused Alex a bit.
'It feels like the creature is about as long as it is wide. It's not as tall as it's wide or long, but it is still quite tall. I wonder what kind of creature that could be?'
Surprisingly, Alex heard absolutely nothing.
The forest was completely silent, which was a scary thought.
A creature of such a size should make some sort of noise. Sure, the Pest Cats were also silent creatures, but they had an Affinity for Darkness. Alex was pretty certain that the Darkness Affinity allowed the Pest Cats to remain silent.
Yet, the creature that had just entered Alex's camp obviously had an Ice Affinity.
'If I couldn't perceive Ice Mana, my survival would depend on luck. I would have remained on my branch, and I wouldn't even have noticed it. My survival would have completely hinged on it not seeing me on my branch.'
According to Alex's perception, the creature stopped before Alex's campfire, and then, Alex felt like it had gotten colder.
'Did it put out the fire? It probably doesn't like fire due to its Affinity.'
Then, Alex felt the creature going to his sled wagon. The sled wagon was made of Ice Wood, which had a lot of Ice Mana. Because of that, the sled wagon was also visible in Alex's perception.
'I hope it doesn't consume all the Ice Mana.'
The creature went to the sled wagon and stopped in front of it for a couple of seconds. After that, the ball symbolizing the creature went over the sled wagon.
Alex grew nervous. If that thing consumed all the Ice Mana in the Ice Wood, everything would have been for nothing.
Luckily, the creature only walked around the sled wagon. It climbed over it, circled it, and stopped beside it. Obviously, it was quite curious about the sled wagon.
The creature moved around a lot, but Alex had never heard any sound coming from it.
Some seconds later, the creature left the sled wagon without absorbing the Ice Mana.
Yet, Alex felt it coming towards him. It wasn't moving very fast, but it was definitely coming towards his tree.
Alex narrowed his eyes as he made a split-second decision.
Whoom!
Alex shot an Ice Blast to his front and quickly circled the tree.
In Alex's perception, the ball of Ice Mana shot towards the direction of Alex's Ice Blast with incredible speed.
Alex didn't hear any sound.
After that, Alex slowly and silently climbed down the tree and snuck towards his sled wagon.
'That thing has an Ice Affinity, and it can probably also feel Ice Mana. It probably felt a little bit of Ice Mana coming from my left arm.'
In Alex's perception, the blue ball of Ice Mana was rapidly moving around the forest. It was moving up trees, going down trees, and running around trees. It had suddenly felt a lot of Ice Mana, and it was searching for the origin.
Alex had to use all of his self-control to not sprint towards his sled wagon. He had to move slowly.
Eventually, the creature went back to the tree Alex had just been on. Alex felt how the creature climbed up the tree and moved all around it. If Alex had remained there, he would have been spotted.
Alex arrived at the sled wagon and slowly crawled beneath it. Then, he remained motionless and silent.
That thing had an Ice Affinity, and it could obviously feel Ice Mana. Alex's left arm was a dead giveaway, and he had to deal with it.
So, Alex decided to mask the Ice Mana in his arm with the Ice Mana of all the Ice Wood.
Alex hoped that the Ice Mana of the Ice Wood would outshine the little bit of Ice Mana on his left arm.
The creature inspected all the different trees in the surroundings, but it eventually went back to the sled wagon.
Then, it simply stopped at the spot where Alex's campfire had been.
Alex opened his eyes from below the sled wagon, and he could finally see the creature.
'No wonder it was so silent.'
pᴀɴdᴀ nᴏveʟ Eight long, blue icicles were fusing with the snow on the ground. It was like the snow and icicles were one and the same thing.
Whenever the creature moved its icicles, it would leave a tiny part of the icicles behind. If one didn't look for these parts, one wouldn't notice them. They were only some small, azure spots on the snow.
Alex also looked at the ground beneath him, and he saw the same azure spots. The creature had already been down here before.
Alex moved his head a bit forward to see the creature.
'Sure enough, it's a blue spider.'
The creature was one of those kinds of spiders with incredibly long, thin legs. Yet, its legs weren't actually legs but just long icicles. Only its actual body had flesh. Together with its legs, it was about two meters wide.
'It replaced its legs with pure ice?' Alex thought.
The spider only rarely moved around, and Alex guessed that it was probably trying to sense any vibrations.
The spider remained motionless for about a minute, which felt like an hour to Alex.
Then, the spider slowly walked away, leaving behind azure spots on the snow beneath it.
After a while, Alex couldn't see it anymore, and he closed his eyes to check the surroundings with his perception.
The spider continued traveling for a while at a slow pace, but then, it suddenly exploded to the side.
Alex felt the spider speed out of the range of his perception.
"Creee!"
Alex heard the painful screech of a beast.
Alex took a deep breath and released a deep sigh.
The spider found its prey, which meant that it would return to wherever it had come from.
'That was close,' Alex thought as he finally relaxed. 'Luckily, it had an Ice Affinity. I honestly need to be more careful in the future. Right now, I'm in the Ice Wyvern Zone, which is filled with Ice Mana. Nearly all the beasts in this Zone have an Ice Affinity, which gives me a way to perceive them before they reach me.'
'However, that won't always remain like that. The Storm Eagle Zone is probably full of beasts with a Wind Affinity, and I can't feel Wind Mana. I'm pretty strong, but there are still several creatures in the wild that are more powerful than me. I should avoid staying outside if it can be helped.'
'I've been too arrogant,' Alex thought with narrowed eyes.
Alex slowly left the sled wagon and went back to his tree. The sled wagon was still a major beacon for all the creatures with an Ice Affinity, and Alex had only gone below it earlier because the spider had already thoroughly investigated it.
Luckily, for the remainder of the night, nothing of note happened.
When Alex saw the first light of day, he took a deep breath.
'Time to continue.'