Sylas exited into the dense steel jungle of York City, but just as quickly left. This time, he didn’t need to deal with a storm, and since he still had the boat he had taken from the cottage, it was smooth sailing on his way out.
Soon, he had his sights on the portal back to the icy lands of the Arctic Tundra. And as the chilly winds hit him, so too did his gaze become just as cold.
He seemed to be quite obedient, already returning the moment he got Lucius’ message. But he had his own reasons.
It was a simple matter for him to delay this return for another week or two. But there were several reasons he didn’t.
The first was because of the Africor Continent Portal. The second was because of his family, he had truly been away for too long. And the third reason…
Sylas stepped into the snowy plains, the wind buffeting him from all sides. It felt colder than he remembered, which was odd… especially since his stats were far stronger now.
However, that didn’t stop him from feeling quite relaxed. After all, he had a great affinity for this chilliness now.
Sylas brought out the Mancer’s Wand.
—
[Mancer’s Wand (Silver) (Treasure)]
[The Paths of the Mancer are long and complex. There is no one Path that is superior to another, but the distance one can travel depends greatly on your strength of heart. The Mancer’s Wand allows you to feel and sense your Path of the Mancer, how to progress it, and how to improve it. How far you can see down this road will be decided by your own personal insight]
—
This was his third reason. He needed to be in a region that matched his affinity in order to see the effects of the wand, so returning was only natural… but how long he would stay here was another matter entirely.
If it suited him, he wouldn’t mind spending several days in the depths of this cold.
Sylas sensed the changes to the Mancer Wand silently, trying to see what it wanted to tell him. He wasn’t completely certain that it would give him what he needed, the description of this treasure was more vague than any other he had ever seen.
However, soon, he began to feel something odd.
‘Hm…?’ Sylas paused. ‘Follow.’
He began to allow the wand to move on its own, and he quickly followed after it. He ended up summoning his Blue Cyclone Horse, but it was clearly much slower in the snow than normal. Still, it was faster than walking himself.
What Sylas didn’t expect was that it would take him half a day to reach his destination. He was forced to take two breaths in between, not just for his Mount’s stamina, but that of his own as well. Keeping the Mancer Wand activated took a great deal of Aether.
The good news was that he had not only reached his destination, but he felt that
The region Sylas had reached was colder than any other he had been to. Even with his Constitution and affinity, he still felt a biting cold and goosebumps crawled up his skin. For the first time since he had come to the Arctic Tundra, he wanted something to bundle himself up. But he had already come too far.
He could only thicken his Aether skin and look forward with a pensive expression.
The location could only be called an arctic oasis. There were trees and foliage of crystalline ice, and in the middle there was a crystal clear lake that should have long since frozen under this sort of cold, but still somehow managed to remain liquid.
Around this lake, there was a dense pack of creatures separated into two groups.
On one side, there were Arctic King Cobras in numbers larger than Sylas had ever seen before, and that was saying something considering he had been attacked by more than 50 of them before.
On the other, there was a pack of polar bears. However, rather than having black marbles for eyes, theirs were an icy blue that looked as though they had replaced them for polished balls of ice.
No matter where you looked, all of these creatures were powerful. Though… it seemed that the Arctic King Cobras were being a bit suppressed.
‘Is it because of me?’ Sylas couldn’t help but wonder.
The cobras only occupied about 30 to 40% of the surrounding lake land. By comparison, the polar bears had the rest and seemed to arrogantly look down on the cobras.
They had human interactions from time to time that made them easy to read, almost like they were toddlers.
‘If I’m correct… if the Arctic Emperor Cobra died and left a gap in leadership, that would give these polar bears the chance to make their move. But there’s no clear gap in their stats, that can only mean that the polar bears have a creature that’s likely to be on the same level as the Arctic Emperor Cobra…’
Sylas was only making a guess, but if he was right, this place was definitely not one he could easily take advantage of.
It also had to be remembered that the Arctic Emperor Cobra was only in the middle of an evolution. What if the Arctic Emperor Bear, if one really existed, had completed theirs?
Still, this was good news for Sylas. That lake should be the core reason for the evolution of these beasts, or at least one of them. And it had the Ice-Poison affinity that was perfect for him.
He didn’t necessarily need to risk himself either to use it.
The Mancer Wand wasn’t some guide. The only reason it had led Sylas here was because he used it as a proxy to sense Ice-Poison Aether. The real purpose of the Mancer Wand was to distill the Aether in the surroundings into a form he could observe and comprehend.
He wondered what he could learn just by allowing the Mancer Wand to lurk here?
‘Let’s see…’
