Frenese didn’t answer her ramblings, but Hyde did.
“Should've picked the door artifact, it looked more useful.”
Clicking her tongue, she defended herself. “I wanted that one too, if I had known she had something like that, I would’ve reconsidered my petition.” She actually wanted to fight her, using the devil’s blood buff to overpower Nebura with ease, looting her like she did to Agorn, but Nebura folded and gave her the box, making her taunting useless.
You can’t always win… She sighed, ordering the vine to turn the box, checking that Nebura hadn’t installed any visible traps. Even if she had done so, Velvet wasn’t planning on tinkering with it, having another scheme.
She stored the box in a container, next to the other artifacts, and walked towards the towers, exiting the forest.
It wasn’t night yet, and she had a lot of work to do.
…
During the three days she had been out, the official shops had finally moved out of the market, and were now inside the Mergifari, who had suffered a full transformation.
The almost empty, barebones streets were now filled with shops of all types, where official mages sold products or services. Of course, more often than not, the ones taking care of the shops weren’t the official mages, but family members or the mage’s own Selected.
Some shops opened once others closed, due to a number of mages being nocturnal, so it didn’t matter when Velvet wanted to shop, because there would always be some open.
Some shops simply didn’t close, and just cycled between supervising mages.
Apart from the shops, a fourth tower had been ‘transferred’ from the market to the Mergifari. One that Velvet knew. The Arena.
Well, it wasn’t doing anything in the market anyway, since now it's empty… I want to be able to pack edifices too…
Doing something like that probably cost a lot of magic, and was done in a team, so it was better for her to temporarily forget about it.
Same about the Arena. Even if she needed to beat up mages to gain presence, Velvet wanted some bigger benefit, and the Arena didn’t allow looting the rivals after victory.
She had won more from Agorn than from winning the first time with Alrai. Of course, the prizes would increase as her victories accumulated. But she only had four days, and wasn’t going to spend them there.
Taking her sights away from the tower, Velvet went to her first objective.
The Institute.
The edifice where official mages imparted classes for a price.
The Mergifari didn’t teach for free, and every official mage picked the class they wanted to teach, the length, the number of seats and the price. Some official mages taught for 50 auris, while some ranged the thousands.
Here was where the second part of the Opening classifications mattered. Mages from rank 11 to 30 could pick five classes monthly free of cost, and the ones even higher, ten.
Something that every novice mage shared was that the classes imparted by their Selector were free for them.
This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.
Velvet didn’t search for Ceres’ class. She had some theory about his magic, but hadn’t yet asked him about it.
No. What she searched for was:
Hasdrubal’s class.
She was a knowledge mage, and letting Hasdrubal remain in the unknown category wasn’t good for her. So, before he went to find her, she would go find him.
…
In the Glacial sea, closest point to Agrana Base, Permafrost. Captain Sarcos’ ship.
Fermidia Sarcos, Captain of the Pioneer Three, one of the ships forming the Pioneer Fleet, the one designed and tasked with the Permafrost expedition, ongoing for one thousand, two hundred and thirty nine years.
Current percentage of territory explored: eleven percent.
Permafrost was the biggest continent, covering more than half the surface of the planet, while possessing one of the most unique environments on it.
Namely, it allowed no life to bloom and prosper.
No human life.
No animal life.
No plant life.
No microorganic life.
Nothing. Permafrost spared no one.
The Zone Zero. Zone of survival zero.
And every year, every day, Permafrost grew in size.
And every year, their planet grew a little bit colder.
The Snowbreak Project, the name given to the mission to stop Permafrost’s advance.
Captain Sarcos was at the ship’s helm, navigating between the colossal ice walls.
The walls, forcefully detonated on a previous exploration, creaked under their own weight, looming over the ship’s crew, who remained on constant alert.
No wind blew on Permafrost. It was only ice. Unmoving, uncaring ice. Neither rain nor storms approached the eternal calmness of the frozen continent.
Fermidia exhaled a deep breath, which froze between creaks once it left the safety of her magically enhanced uniform, falling to the floor.
Their mission consisted of locating the Agrana Base’s members, who hadn’t given signals of life from ten days ago.
Not by radio, and not by magic. The Agrana Base was uncommunicable.
As one of the deepest encampments on Permafrost, its worth was invaluable. Formed by thirty members, all of them scientists or trained mages, it was one of the camps who had discovered most of the information they possessed about Permafrost.
The Pioneer Three lit up, activating the magic formation, melting the frost constantly creeping over it.
Fermidia steered the ship, slowly crossing the mage-made river. Even when they had to hurry, the danger surrounding them was immense.
A too intense wave, a lively conversation, and the ice walls would collapse, burying them in ice.
They had been navigating nonstop, consuming potions and elixirs to not fall asleep. And they had almost reached the base.
At least, that was what the map said.
Fermidia slowed the ship even more, examining the surroundings.
Not too far away, a harbor had been made, with a tower, the ice fighting to encase it, but being stopped by the formation every time.
The protective formation works, so it wasn’t a sudden loss of power.
Fermidia gave the order, and the crew started getting ready to disembark, tying the Pioneer to the harbor.
She got down once everything was set, walking towards the tower.
Getting there, she unlocked it with the sigil only the captains and directors knew. She entered, closing the door behind her, activating the sound retention formation.
“Doctor Prana? Hello? It’s Captain Fermidia Sarcos, from the Pioneer Three.”
She walked through the tower; from the bedrooms, to the showers, to the control center, finding no one.
One of the numerous rings she wore under her gloves vibrated intermittently, a message in morse code being sent.
She answered as she exited the tower, going behind it. There, a narrow path went deeper, ending at a cave.
One of her marines was there. And so were the Agrana Base members.
Frozen, completely covered in ice, all of them in different postures.
Wait, these positions…
Some were kneeling with their back straight, left hand closed over the heart, and the other reaching forward. Some were fully kneeling, their faces and hands touching the floor. Some had crossed their arms over their stomachs, lowering their heads…
They’re praying. Fermidia noticed. And all of them prayed towards the same point.
An ice wall, recently covered by the ice. Ice which still allowed part of what was inside to be seen. That being a statue.
The statue was human looking, one of its hands reaching out to them. A neutral expression adorned its face, neither angry, nor happy. Long hair cascaded down its back, untied.
Upon seeing it, Fermidia took a step back, averting her gaze.
Humans weren’t allowed to have statues. Only gods could. And that wasn’t all. Once a god lost the Maquia and was killed, their sculptures were destroyed with them.
Only living gods had full sculptures. Mirel, Arhontissa, Paraiso and Idir.
And yet…
That sculpture wasn’t of any of them, and it wasn’t damaged. It also didn’t belong to Dodon or Ihilia.
Did Permafrost have a god? A living god?
Most importantly. Even if Permafrost had a god, who made the statue?
No life was allowed to prosper here.