Episode 108 - Academy (6)
Whoooosh! No matter where I looked, all I could see was the fiercely blowing snowstorm.
'Where the hell is this.' The faintly visible mountain peaks told me it was a snowy mountain. I watched the raging blizzard for a moment, then tapped Helena on the shoulder.
"Helena! Snap out of it."
"Ugh... Hah?!" Helena shot up quickly, scanning our surroundings. She looked like a cat with its fur standing on end.
"Ah... Si-woo-nim...?" Her wariness, which had instinctively gathered mana, rapidly subsided. The moment she saw me, she turned back into a cute puppy.
"Where... is this?"
"I don't know. I woke up and I was here too."
"Hmm... I definitely saw a flash of light from that feather." She recalled the memory of that moment. Something had been absorbed into the Hwajo's feather, and then I felt an overwhelming presence.
'Honestly, it was on a completely absurd level.' It was so hard to even move a finger. Just recalling the memory still gave me goosebumps. I had met many strong people like Cheongwol Seonja and the Sword Saint, but nothing was as overwhelmingly oppressive as that.
"Do you have any idea what this situation is?" Helena asked with a wry smile.
"No. This is my first time experiencing something like this too. That presence I felt from the feather... It was like a Catastrophe-class monster had appeared."
"Catastrophe-class?" The reason North Korea collapsed in this world was because of a Catastrophe-class monster. To think it was on that level. No wonder it was so damn hard to even take a single step.
Helena thought for a moment before continuing. "...It seems like we were forcibly teleported, but that doesn't make any sense."
"Teleportation? There's no receiver or anything here, is there?"
"That's exactly why it makes even less sense. A place so far away that the weather is different... and there are no facilities at all."
"Hmm..." I closed my eyes and tried to sense our surroundings, but it didn't work well. For some reason, my energy sense wasn't functioning properly here. 'Plus, there's almost no mana here either.' The mana concentration in the atmosphere was incredibly low. It didn't seem like it would be easy to replenish mana once it was used up.
Helena fiddled with the earring she was wearing, then frowned.
"My escorts don't seem to be here. I can't track their location."
"Were we the only ones teleported?"
"I'm not sure... I don't know if that's fortunate or unfortunate. I can't even contact my family..." Several of her magic tools were dead. Especially the ones related to communication.
"Ah...! Can you hear me?"
"Yeah. I can hear you."
"This one works."
Communication between us was fine. It felt like we had entered a dimensional rift. I had no choice but to scan our surroundings with my bare eyes. The blizzard felt like it was getting worse and worse.
Whoooosh!
When I first opened my eyes, it was relatively calm. What could have been called fluffy snow was turning into a biting wind. It was getting to the point where I couldn't even see the person right next to me.
"Si-woo-nim! Don't go far!"
"Yeah! You be careful too, Helena!"
I kept a close distance with Helena and scanned the vicinity. And I found two things.
First was Michael. The man who had bid on the Hwajo's feather at the auction. 'Well, I'm not even sure if it's a Hwajo's feather anymore.' Michael was buried in the snow, his face twisted in a grimace. Seeing the goosebumps on his arms, he looked damn cold. I looked down at him with Helena and spoke.
"This bastard isn't the culprit, right?"
"I doubt it. His father is a merchant I know. He's not the type to do something like this. He wouldn't have the ability to begin with."
"Let's ask him when he wakes up. And... what about this?"
In truth, I suspected this was the real cause. A palm-sized feather that was burning despite the fierce blizzard. It was the second thing I found here. It was the only red thing in this pure white world. Just in case, I didn't touch it and simply observed it. The transcendent presence I had felt earlier was gone.
"Helena, can you give me your hand?"
"Yes, yes..?!"
"I want to check this out. We might get teleported again."
"Ah... R-right. We can't get separated..."
I tightly gripped her hand, which had become as cold as an ice block due to the weather. Then, I wrapped Mixed Energy and Anti-Magic Power around my other hand. I carefully examined the feather on the ground. Even though it was burning, the heat was weak. I could only feel a faint warmth. I touched it nervously, but I wasn't teleported.
- ...Come.
It felt like an echo from a distant place. A faint voice resonated in my head. As I gradually reduced my Anti-Magic Power, the sound became clearer. It sounded like a bird's call at dawn.
"Come here..."
"Come here..."
The feather kept repeating those words. Like a broken radio.
The blizzard grew fiercer. There was a limit to how much I could block the cold with mana. Especially since the mana recovery rate here was incredibly slow.
Whoooosh! The sound of the rough wind made it hard to hear each other. Even though we were right next to each other, we had to shout.
"Si-woo-nim! Wait a moment!" Helena fiddled with the bracelet on her wrist, then frowned.
"...It doesn't work!"
"Huh?! What doesn't!"
"My subspace doesn't work!" She narrowed her brow and tapped the bracelet. It was her subspace artifact.
'It doesn't work...?' I reflexively pulled an energy bar from my Inventory. 'This one's fine.' As long as the Inventory worked, I didn't have to worry about starving to death.
"Haa..." Helena was breathing warm air into her palms, shivering. She was wearing jeans and a white short-sleeved shirt. Just looking at her made me feel colder. It was an outfit that completely clashed with the blizzard raging all around us. It couldn't be helped since it was summer clothing.
"Haaah..." I saw Helena trembling from the cold. I was about to pull out a long padded coat for her, but I stopped myself.
'Wait a minute...' A thought came to mind about what an adult man and woman should do when stranded in the cold.
Whoooosh!
"Ugh... It's getting colder and colder...!"
"Ahem! Tell me about it...!" I managed my expression as I looked at Helena. That's right. When a man and a woman are stuck in the cold, there's only one thing to do.
'Body heat management!' Her lips parted slightly, and I began to hear her voice. I focused my energy around my ears, sharpening my concentration. Helena whispered quietly, her voice trailing off.
"It's, it's too cold... I, I can't help it."
Helena had already finished digging a shelter.
'Damn. She's handy too...' Just digging about a meter into the snow brought a wave of warm air. The walls looked quite sturdy, as if she had done something to them. This was enough to maintain body heat. Helena looked around her creation with a proud smile.
"Heheung..." It was a height where you couldn't stand upright, but it was perfect for sitting. A shelter wide enough for four or five people to lie down and rest was complete.
"Si-woo-nim. Let's rest a bit and then look around."
"Sigh... Alright."
Helena asked in a cautious tone. "Is it uncomfortable? Should I make it wider?"
"No, it's enough. This is too... wide." That was the problem. It was too wide. Michael, who still hadn't come to his senses, was lying on the floor. 'He's an Awakened, so he won't die.'
Si-woo had eaten the Moonlight Grass and gained the blessing of the Yin-Yang Body. Thanks to that, he had cold resistance, so he wasn't particularly cold.
"R, right. It's too wide. I, in a place like this, body heat is the most important thing..."
"Huh?"
"S, so let's sit a, a little closer."
To think such commendable words would come from Helena. I was more than welcoming. I pressed up against her until our sides touched.
"Like this?"
"Th, this is too close!" Helena subtly pushed me away, forcing me to stop at a distance of about 10cm.
'What kind of body heat maintenance is this?' It was such a damnably wasteful distance for body heat. It was frustrating. I wanted to hug her right then and there.
"Ugh... c, cold..." I heard someone sprawled on the floor muttering, but neither I nor Helena paid any attention. We were just watching each other, engaged in a subtle battle of nerves.
As time passed, the temperature dropped even further. Seeing Helena stroking her own arms made me feel a little sorry for her. I decided to make one last attempt, and if it didn't work, I would just take out a padded coat for her.
"Helena, take this."
"Yes..?" I took off the jacket I was wearing and handed it to her.
"Huh..?"
"I don't really feel the cold. I'm fine." It wasn't a lie. This freezing cold just felt like cool air to me. The synergy between Mixed Energy and the Yin-Yang Body was amazing.
"Ah, no! If you endure with mana, you won't last long."
"I said I'm fine."
"Hah..?!" I forced the jacket over a reluctant Helena. If she refused this too, I would have no choice but to give up and take out the padded coat.
Another five minutes passed. Whether it was from the cold or from embarrassment, Helena's cheeks were flushed red.
"Aren't you cold..?"
"Hmm... I'm fine." I inched closer to her, managing to close the distance to 5cm. She didn't push me away anymore, but the closer I got, the more she flinched. It was a bit frustrating maintaining such a teasing distance. I was just contemplating whether to pretend not to notice and just grab her when I heard something that made my eyes widen.
"I, I can't help it. C, come here. I'll hold you."
With her words, something warm touched my back. A soft, ecstatic sensation followed.
"D, don't turn around... Are you warm..?"
"Yeah... You're so warm." My little scheme had finally succeeded. A most desirable exchange of body heat was taking place. A heavenly sensation I wouldn't trade for a fortune. The gentle warmth spreading from my back felt so good.
'Keurgh...' I didn't know why we had been teleported here, but it wasn't all bad. Being teleported with Helena was a stroke of luck. I was savoring that soft, swelling sensation, focusing all my senses on my back, when...
"Ah..." Helena let out a small sigh. A sigh filled with regret, and her warmth moved away from me.
"Kkeung..." It was because Michael, whom I had carelessly thrown aside, was getting up from his spot with a grimace.
"Wha, what..! Where is this!! Huh?! L, Lady Helena!?" Michael made a huge fuss for a while. Then, shivering, he looked our way. Si-woo and Helena weren't pressed tightly together, but they were maintaining a fairly close distance.
"Ugh.. It's, it's too cold.. If you could help me just a little..."
"What..?" Before I could say anything, Helena's cold voice followed.
"Haa... Why don't you just use that feather on the floor?"
"Ah..? Th, thank you!" Michael hurriedly picked up the burning feather.
"Yeah. It looks warm just by looking at it... Huh?" Suddenly, something felt off. I looked at Helena, and she was glaring at Michael with a sullen expression. She looked strangely angry. I was intensely curious if she, who had been hugging me just moments ago, knew about that feather.