CHAPTER 81

DEAD GORGE REALLY?

  As Hans and Delimira stepped into the SpaceDoor, Hans immediately got hit with the same nauseating feeling he experienced in his first space travel. However, in addition to that, his guts were telling him something else too, he couldn't pinpoint the cause but the foreboding he felt as he stepped into the grey smoke of the SpaceDoor was definitely not from the turbulence. And it proved right as he opened his eyes an hour later.

THE SLEEPING GIANT MOUNTAIN, CLANDOR

  The mountain range, as long as the sleeping body of a giant which divided Parv and the Elven land Clandor, was an anti-mana zone, a barren land where nothing could survive and acted as the natural barrier for both countries. But the human mind had no bounds as some had discovered how to live in that dread full and cold place and these people were up to no good either. At the foot of the mountains on the Clandor side, there was some activity going on. A man, covered in snow, entered the underground, tunnel-like gateway and brushed off the snow from his sleeves as he asked

"What are our gains, Commander Xandor?"

Xandor lifted his head and responded,

"You are late, First Captain."

"My apologies," the captain said. "The Utarians(people from Utar) resisted more than I had anticipated."

"Very well," Xandor replied, anticipating "As long as you were successful."

The man's huge smile caused a bit of snow to slide down from his beard. His confidence and grin confirmed the mission's success and Xandor answered his question, "We have retrieved all the sunstones from the research facilities," standing up he added, "Now we have enough resources to proceed with the next phase of the plan,"

The man then asked,

"Commander, did you see him too? The child, is he really the heir?"

"Even if he is," Xandor responded, "it does not matter. Once we wield the power of our king, we won't have to kneel before anyone - "

"What about the traitor, Commander?" the man interjected, hoping to crush the enemy as he clenched his fist in rage.

Xandor replied,

"It's not a priority at the moment."

"As you command, Sir," the first captain said confirming another thing, "That monster in Concordia, won't move, will he?"

Xandor looked at his subordinate and remembered the man to whom he was referring. He sighed and reassured everyone present, "That man can't leave Concordia." he added, "Have the other captains returned?"

The first captain replied instantly.

"Yes, they are awaiting your orders, Sir,"

"Then summon everyone," Xandor stated, his voice as grim as it could get, "we have waited enough, it is time for the world to feel the fear of the Eclipse once again."

SOMEWHERE UNKNOWN

  The bitterly cold wind, along with the snow, battered the almost-naked bodies of two children who had just been thrown into the snowy mountain. Hans woke up, furious at Rudolf, hugging himself tightly while shivering from the cold. Looking over at Delimira, he saw that she was in no better spirits. He nudged her, waking her up as she spoke rubbing her eyes,

"What is this?"

"This is the classic prank by Grampa, Winters," Hans replied irritably.

Delimira repeated Rudolf's earlier words,

"A hunter should always be prepared for surprises, lesson number one... Right?"

"You learn fast, Winters," Hans said, throwing another question at her, "Now, what should we do?"

"We need to find shelter.. first," Delimira replied slowly, "but.. where... are we?"

  Hans had been pondering the same question himself for a while, but the only place that came to his mind was another beast zone, having similar level beasts as Dead Gorge, a place he had suggested switching the intended training zone with, but Rudolf had failed to mention that he already did.

  He took a good look, mumbling, "The chilly wind and snowy mountain, accompanied by a dense forest at the base." And looking up, he spotted the tallest peak in sight, and his doubts were cleared. This peak resembled a sharp tooth of a beast, and the area was aptly named Frozen Tooth.

He glanced over at his companion, who was dozing off not because of sleep but losing consciousness due to the frigid temperatures. "Get a hold of yourself, Winters!" He shouted at her, "Start circulating your mana if you don't want to turn into a popsicle. This place is no joke."

  Despite Hans's natural resistance to severe weather conditions, thanks to the nourishment from strong beasts since his youth, he still felt the chill. This meant that Delimira was likely in worse condition. He observed her lips had already turned blue from the cold, and her leg was stiffly frozen in the snow. They both wore thin clothes, having shed their winterwear earlier, a decision that came back to bite them hard.

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  Hearing his loud shouts as some lost whispers, nothing was clear to her ears, she just wanted to close her eyes and rest. suddenly a sharp pain pricked her cheek and she opened her eyes frantically, rubbing her cheek which Hans had slapped hard. As she glared at him, getting back some senses she thought, this was not what she had envisioned either, staying up all night researching Dead Gorge. Sadly, her efforts had been in vain.

She subdued her pride, realizing it was not the time to be stubborn and rebuke Hans for slapping her. Mustering a little strength in her legs, she stood up, grabbing Hans's hand. and asked,

"How long we were out?"

"Maybe an hour or so," Hans swiftly replied. and upon glancing at her with ManaVision. He felt a bit guilty, cause he was doing not bad in the harsh weather, but she was not. Despite having mana circulating within her, it was not helping her keep warm. In fact, the abundant water mana within her was acting as a cold conductor, preventing her from generating enough heat to warm up.

  Looking at that, Hans halted her and, to give her a boost, he shared some of his energy through SugarDrain. However, this was not a permanent solution, as he had a limited amount of energy himself. He quickly located a suitable spot, directing his orca vines to excavate a cave, then used some cold-resistant vines to isolate the inner walls, completing the task in a matter of moments, much to Delimira's surprise. As she stood there, somewhat taken aback by the swift work but Hans jolted her back as he looked at her incredulously.

"What are you waiting for, an invitation?" he chided.

  Shaken out of her daze, she followed Hans into the makeshift cave, which extended deep into the mountain. Walking slowly, providing strength to her legs, she moved as fast as she could but Hans wanting to close the cave sooner took her hand and led her further inside quickly. Once they were deep inside, he sealed off the entrance to keep out the cold. However, the cave alone could not save them from the biting cold. Hans knew they needed to generate warmth from within, and he had an idea. He recalled a fruit called Isota that contained fermented juice, which had an alcoholic nature that could warm them up.

  As he sprouted the tree, remembering its fruit's formation process, he mumbled "The more ripen the fruit, the more effective it is." Isota's tree grew as he wanted and he plucked the aged fruit and handed it to Delimira, who grimaced at the sour taste as she sipped the icky juice. But Hans urged her to drink more, and soon they both felt the warmth spreading through their bodies, ignoring the strange taste as they downed two more fruits each. She chugged all she could and felt her mana recovering as her cold went away. She was able to stand on her own, a sign that she had recovered from the earlier stages of hypothermia.

As Hans pondered, Delimira expressed her frustration,

"So, your grandpa gave us false information and got us into this mess."

"Yeah, classic gramps." he said, nodding "I already suffered like this once, Aagh!! stupid grandpa."

Trying to move on from the mishap, Delimira asked,

"So, where is Frozen Tooth?"

"It's located at the northern end of Grimgar, just before the border to Utar." Hans answered patiently, " It's a beast zone, home to the native species known as Evil Monkeys. They're the intelligent lifeforms of the area and can even speak and understand the common tongue."

Delimira listened attentively, but her confusion lingered.

"Did your grandpa ever mention the Frozen Tooth before?" she asked, choosing her words carefully to avoid irritating him further.

"No," Hans responded promptly, his mind preoccupied with other thoughts.

But she persisted.

"Then how do you know about it?"

  Hans took a moment to collect his thoughts before responding. "Winters, I don't have the books in my room for the show. I'm not the lowest in class because I can't study, but because my priorities for learning are different," he explained. "As for the Frozen Tooth, this territory is too cold and windy. We won't survive without fire magic." He looked at her expectantly, hoping she could conjure up even a tiny bit of fire mana. He never saw her using it but she was the so-called genius of the Winter family so he took the chance and urged her to try conjuring fire, explaining that the fermented juice they drank only expanded blood vessels to increase blood flow, similar to alcohol.

  Delimira, undeterred, attempted to summon her fire mana, but it didn't come out. Seeing failure, Hans felt frustrated but tried to remain calm. He held her hand by the back of the palm, turning it upside down, increasing the concentration of mana above her palm and encouraging her to try again. He was not capable of separating mana like others but he sure could increase the concentration around.

Once again, Delimira tried and once again she failed, however this time, Hans couldn't help but raise his voice in frustration. "Come on, try again!" he pressed on.

  Despite her initial failures, Hans didn't give up on forcing Delimira to summon her fire mana. As the effects of the Isota fruit began to wear off, he quickly thought of a new plan. He aged the Isota tree, collecting its dried leaves and twigs, and placed some of them in his other hand, then he guided Delimira's hand to the top of the pile and commanded her to try again.

  When Delimira complained that it wasn't working, Hans pressed on, "DO IT NOW." With Hans creating friction between the mana strands in Delimira's hand and the pile, the heat aided her mana conjuration, and a spark ignited, sending some embers on dried leaves and twigs, soon engulfing them in a small fire. Hans released her hand and carefully placed the small fire into a pile of twigs and branches that he had gathered. He sat close to the fire and kept adding more fuel(dried twigs) to it.

  Delimira, on the other hand, was watching him in amazement, realising for the first time just how resourceful Hans really was. Until now, she had never really taken an interest in him, and their relationship had been mostly transactional. But as she watched him taking the lead she couldn't help but agree with Rudolf's assessment of him.

  As she sat by the fire to warm herself. She saw a chimney-like structure in the closed cave, providing an exchange of air, an excellent modification to the abode, Turning to him she saw, he was creating more wood like nothing. growing a small tree, ageing them for dry wood. Finally, unable to contain her curiosity any longer, she asked him the question that had been on her mind since he first used magic in front of her.

"Don't you have limits on your mana?"

"No," Hans replied confidently, "I have an unlimited supply."

Delimira was sceptical and responded,

"If you don't want to tell the truth, just say so. Why lie?"

Hans looked at her, taken aback by her accusation. "I thought it would be pointless to lie to you, so I told the truth," he said innocently.

Delimira remained unconvinced,

"I don't need to use my perception to know that's an absurd lie."

Hans simply shrugged and said,

"Whatever you say, Winters. Whatever you say"

***