Xie Wen and I sat there, right next to each other with a Spirit Stone in between us. Its faint glow grew stronger the moment we started breathing in the Qi inside and I didn't expect it to be so strong that the green glow can pierce my eyelids. It was like staring at the sun with your eyes closed except, when you open your eyes, you realize that the glow is actually pretty weak all along...

That's weird? I thought while staring at the Spirit Stone. Its glow is now stronger sure, but the problem here is that the glow just isn't enough to do what it was doing earlier. I scrutinized the stone for a bit before closing my eyes again and cultivating.

My Qi surged and spread across my body. I didn't miss the cold sensation that washes over me every it does, I don't know if it's normal for Qi to feel this cold but since I'm starting to shiver and Xie Wen looked fine, I'm starting to think that the cold has something to do with me than the Qi itself.

I stopped cultivating every once in a while because of it but since it wasn't killing me, I decided to just bear through the thing and see where it goes. Seconds turned to minutes and minutes turned into an hour, a bit later I was forced to let go and wake up from cultivation because it simply got too cold.

"Holy- shit," I stuttered through clacking teeth, "Xie Wen- do- do-" I paused and frowned, "Xie- Xie Wen do- do you feel that- dat thoo?" the cold got so bad that my words started to slur by the end instead of just stuttering. Xie Wen looked like she was in deep meditation so I'm on my own for the time being and at this point, I'm starting to feel scared.

"I-it's too co- kolhd..." my teeth stopped clacking and were just biting each other because I'm gritting them, my skin felt like it's hardening and worse- it feels like I'm inside a freezer. With nothing left to do, came desperation and what I did next can only be called praying-

I got on my knees and closed my eyes, then I held my hands together and tilted my head upwards, "gh-" I grit my teeth to stop them from clacking and decided to just pray mentally instead- Whoever sent me here, Gods or not, please, please make this stop!

I'm suspicious that this might've been because of Xie Wen but the only time she could have done something to cause this was when I was inside that Gym practicing that palm strike technique-

An idea sparked inside my head just then.

I opened my eyes and stood up, then I started moving as best as I could- please, please be right.

I walked over to where Xie Wen said she placed our spare clothes and hoped she wasn't lying earlier when she said it. I practically messed up my entire bed just searching for the clothes but thankfully, doing so wasn't in vain- YES!

I screamed internally while holding up a hole-less shirt. I took mine off and ignored the fact that the cold feeling didn't get stronger when I did, I put it on and checked my status screen, there isn't a progress bar for the Quest but I hoped that wearing proper a shirt and pants would be enough. I threw away my blood soaked shirt and dug through more of the hay and there it is, a pair of clean pants, ready to get used by me.

I immediately put it on and a sense of relief came over me when I heard a ding.

I didn't even hesitate and just opened the reward right then and there-

A brown headband appeared on my hand which was useless, I put it on regardless. After that, I opened the book I just got and started reading-

Everything went white and then I was suddenly in the Gym. I started touching myself, first my face, then my hands. I sagged in relief when I didn't feel a single shred of cold, "so much for that," I said while staring at the mannequin in front of me, like last time, it was featureless with nothing of note. "Just a simple mannequin and the outside- is no longer dark."

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

Compared to last time, the outside of the gym is no longer a dark void with stars dotting it, this time, it was a wasteland made of ice. Glaciers, snow, a blizzard, gigantic furry creatures so large that I can only see their legs, a few reindeers- if it's related to winter, then the chances are, it's probably out there in the wasteland.

I only stopped staring at it when I heard the sound of air getting violently ripped apart and when I turned my head, I came face to face with a mannequin that is holding a position of a punch.

I raised an eyebrow, "so it's about punching this time?"

Fair enough. I walked over to the mannequin and watched as it went back to the start of the stance, nothing major, just a simple stance where you spread your legs far enough that your body can throw a punch comfortably. The mannequin's hands were bent at the elbows and its chest tilted slightly to its left side.

Then it started moving, first, a step forward, and then it channeled its Qi followed by the pull of an arm then a quick release that sent a wave of air ripping across the gym.

"Looks easy enough," I said while getting into the starting stance.

I step forward, Qi circulation- "AH!"

Thunder rage from outside the gym and the blizzard started to howl. Earthquakes shook the building because the gigantic beasts started to stomp and the reindeers... started to fly?

"Uh..." I stared then quickly shook my head and checked the gym. "Nothing got damaged, at least," I said.

"Now, what the hell is up with that?" I stared at the raging blizzard just outside the windows, it was the reason why every single creature outside got irritated. It's obviously connected to my Qi and circulating it makes the thing stronger so what does that mean? Well it means that I have some sort of ice related specialty.

Duh.

So I guess it really wasn't Xie Wen. I sighed in relief, I can rule her out for now.

I watched in silence while the mannequin did the move again, the blizzard felt more important to me right now so I decided to sit down and cultivate here in this gym to see if I can control it.

I closed my eyes and circulated my Qi, the blizzard got worse and I noticed that even the faintest of Qi circulation causes it to go wild. I tried to control it, I really did, I even did an attempt to weaken the blizzard but no matter what I do, the thing won't let up and until now it just... kept going. Guess I have no choice then.

I gave up on trying to control it and stood up, if there was one thing I got from sitting there circulating my Qi, it was that I eventually managed to learn to live with the blizzard just going wild no matter what I do. And because of it, I don't really get affected by the loud howls and the thunder anymore.

I stared at the mannequin, who knows how many times it did the move by now, "Alright, let's do this."

I did the stance, circulated my Qi, the blizzard went wild, I punched and as I expected, ice came out of my fist. What I didn't expect, though, is the amount- "What the fuck?" I said in amazement while staring at the glaciers surrounding me in a circle. I didn't know how large it was but my best guess? 8 foot.

"I expected it to be much smaller." I said to the mannequin. I should've expected something like this given that there's a blizzard but that sort of thing just never crossed my mind, expect the worse and hope for the best and all that.

Instead of answering or replying, the mannequin simply circulated its Qi and heated up the entire Gym, the ice started to melt a second later and everything went back to normal not long after that.

"Alright, what are you gonna teach me next?" I asked the mannequin.

It answered by changing its stance, this time, the stance was wide, its legs were meters apart and its body was bent in such a way that it looked like a coiled spring. With its stomach folding, its legs shaped in a clock-like stance, the mannequin finished it all by bending its elbow. And then it suddenly straightened its body and for some reason, its legs just followed and slid across the floor.

The mannequin's fist went out and struck the air.

The punch looked powerful but the execution looked like it wouldn't be that alien to some ultimate attack. Following the stance is hard and trying is painful, suddenly pushing my body to do things like that gave me stomach cramps whenever I punched too far or too short, and sometimes my legs would just give up and I'd fall over and fail to do the attack.

I repeated it a countless times before finally managing to do it.

"HAHA! See that?!" I wiped my sweat with my sleeve and noticed how clean it was. When I looked down, I saw that I was wearing regular gym clothes, clean and- well these aren't important since they'll disappear when I leave this place anyways.

Again, the mannequin just stayed silent so I waited for it to do another stance but I was back into the real world before I knew it.