The igloo’s door shifted to the side, letting in a cold gust of air that sent shivers down Jeffery’s spine. Along with the two people he had expected to see, there was a third person accompanying them as well.
“We’re back,” Lindyss said and glanced around. Upon seeing Kax, Jeffery, and Tafel sitting around, Lindyss nodded. “I see none of you even tried.”
“I tried,” Tafel said and pursed her lips. “The two of you were just too fast.” She raised an eyebrow upon seeing the third person entering the igloo. “Kim Hajun?”
“Hello,” Kim Hajun said and nodded. A few flakes of snow fell from his hair as he did so. A layer of white had built up on his suit, but Vur and Lindyss looked as if they had been indoors all day.
“Who won?” Tafel asked. She leaned over, picked up the giant muffin, and held it out with both her hands.
“Me,” Vur said and grabbed the muffin. He stared at it for a bit before handing it back to Tafel. “Let’s save it for later since there’s only one left.”
A blinding light illuminated the igloo, shining from the melon-shaped egg on the ground. “What was the unique hidden piece!? How could you not take me with you!?”
Vur blinked and lowered his gaze onto the egg. “I forgot.”
The egg stopped emitting the blinding light. “You forgot what the unique hidden piece was? How?”
“No.” Vur shook his head. “I forgot to bring you.” He rubbed his chin with his right hand while looking at his root bracelet on his left wrist. “The unique hidden piece is a passive skill. It’s called Constitution of the Lightning Lord.”
“Are its effects as strong as it sounds?” Tafel asked, raising an eyebrow. Lord of lightning, wasn’t that such a boastful name?
“It’s not that good,” Vur said and lowered his arms. “If someone attacks me, some of the energy from their attack is converted to lightning and reflected back at them. Also, I can absorb lightning to heal injuries.”
Tafel blinked. “Where was this unique hidden piece? What exactly did you have to do to get it?” Even though Vur downplayed the passive skill’s effects, that didn’t mean it wasn’t useful. As its name suggested, passive skills didn’t require any mana or conscious input to maintain. Vur had basically gained a new ability for free—unless he had to struggle extremely hard to get it. If he did, then Tafel wouldn’t mind as much, but then again, when did Vur ever struggle?
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Vur took a seat by Tafel and leaned over, resting his head on the demon’s shoulder. “I’m not sure how I got it,” Vur said. “I picked up a tree and got hit by lightning. Then the root bracelet said I found it.”
Tafel furrowed her brow and looked at Lindyss. The cursed elf nodded. “That’s pretty much what happened,” Lindyss said. “He picked up a tree at the top of a mountain. Lightning struck the tree, and then lightning struck Vur. You should’ve seen his face when it happened.”
“Right…,” Tafel said and pursed her lips. “So, it wasn’t troublesome or anything to obtain?”
“No,” Vur said. “It just happened.”
Tafel couldn’t help but notice the cramped expression on Kim Hajun’s face. “So, what is Kim Hajun doing here?”
“He was stuck on top of a mountain and asked us to help bring him down,” Lindyss said.
Tafel raised an eyebrow. “Like a cat stuck in a tree?”
“Exactly like that.” Lindyss nodded. “He climbed up, but apparently, he had no way down.”
“The mountain was far away, right?” Tafel asked. “Why did you bring him back here?”
“You can blame Vur for that,” Lindyss said. “He flew straight back.”
Vur yawned. “Flying up from the ground takes a lot more energy than gliding down from the top of a mountain.”
“In other words, you were too lazy to drop him off.”
Vur nodded, his hair brushing against Tafel’s neck as he did so. “Going down once makes more sense than going down and up and down again.” His eyes shifted towards Kim Hajun. “He’s on the ground now, isn’t he?”
“Yeah, in a frozen wasteland,” Tafel said. She frowned upon thinking about Kim Hajun’s circumstances. “Why was he even on top of the mountain in the first place?” With his prophetic dream, he most likely knew the piece’s location. “Was he going for the unique hidden piece as well?”
“Nope,” Lindyss said, a small smile appearing on her face as her eyes shifted towards the well-dressed man. “He wanted an achievement for climbing five mountains in the first stage.”
“Well, it’s a good thing he bumped into you guys,” Tafel said. “Otherwise, he would’ve been stuck up there and been unable to climb the other four mountains. It makes complete sense for someone to climb mountains despite not knowing how to descend from them.”
“I’m an idiot,” Kim Hajun said and shrugged. “What else can I say?” He stared at the ground and sighed. If things had worked out as they were supposed to, would he have gotten stuck at the top of the mountain? Of course not.
Lindyss reached into her pocket and pulled out a green orb. She passed it to Tafel with an underhanded toss. “Here. I picked up something on the mountaintop, and it’s not really useful to me, so I’ll give it to you.”
Tafel caught the orb and blinked at Lindyss. “What is it?”
“Check it with your root bracelet.”
Tafel placed the green orb on top of her left wrist, and an amber glow appeared on the bracelet wrapped around her skin. “This is a skill orb containing rudimentary wind magic?” Her brow furrowed, and she tapped on the orb. It dissolved into motes of green light that enveloped her body before sinking into her flesh, disappearing from view. Tafel’s eyes widened as she held up her hand. A small vortex formed just above her palm, only visible because of the snowflakes that had been caught up by the tiny stream of air. Tafel gulped and raised her head. “Did I really learn how to use wind magic just like that?” She turned her head towards Vur, who was still resting against her shoulder. The sensation of learning magic without even trying…, Tafel felt like she got a glimpse of the world through Vur’s perspective.