Chapter 107
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 107
Chapter Title: The True Master of the Eternal Glacial Crystal
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The ice crystal of the millennial frost began spewing blasts of frigid energy in all directions with ever-increasing ferocity, almost like it was starting to breathe.
...
No, it was probably just my side sensing the vibrations that way. To it, that was likely less like breathing and more like convulsions right before an explosion.
Kwajik— Kwajijijik—!!
The cracks crawling across its surface, growing bit by bit, were now thick enough to see with the naked eye.
A little more, and it would shatter completely, fragments scattering everywhere.
I took a deep breath.
And then, one step.
Toward the ice crystal.
"Hyun-sol..."
Seol Yu-bin's voice called from behind, but I didn't look back.
The moment I turned my head right now— my legs would probably freeze solid.
The first step felt different.
The snow that sank up to my ankles... had turned to stone-hard ice.
It wasn't the sensation of stepping on shattered ice, but like treading on living cold itself.
As I took the second step, numbness crept up from my instep.
The third, the fourth—.
A delusion hit me, like ice was slowly crawling up from my knees.
The chilling sensation made me look down at my legs.
'... Fucking hell, it's not a delusion. They're really freezing over.'
A sharp pain shot up, like flesh being scraped by ice crystals— then sensation vanished as numbness set in.
That felt even worse.
Pain was better than nothing. No feeling at all was terrifying.
Thoughts unrelated to my will began popping into my head, one by one.
—Go back.
—You're not the one.
—You don't deserve to be its master.
—Run.
—One more step here, and you, everyone around you— everything ends.
The ice crystal seemed to be projecting its will onto me.
Just like the Book of Restraints, some items had egos.
The words weren't language, but the meaning was clear.
A meaning I could understand.
Like the instinctive rejection of something that had endured here for thousands of years, freezing everything in its path.
A very dignified way of saying, "You're not mine. Get lost."
"Shut up..."
I gritted my teeth and pressed on.
One step, another.
A shrinking sensation deep in my chest.
My heart rate slowed, then suddenly spiked.
Thump, thump, thump—!!
The beats were erratic.
Cold started at my fingertips, racing through veins to elbows, shoulders, nape.
A brain-freezing chill.
'... This is seriously dangerous.'
Even as my mind made that judgment, other voices kept whispering.
—Stop.
—This is as far as you go.
—Someone else will handle it somehow.
—You don't want to die, right?
"I..."
I muttered into empty air.
"...came all this way because I didn't want to die in the first place."
[Division Reconstruction automatically activates.]
[Warning: User's mana circuits are attempting contact with glacial relic mana beyond capacity.]
[Pre-dividing portion of target energy.]
Ding—!
A system message flashed briefly before my eyes and vanished.
And the sensation changed.
Until now, the icy energy had come as a solid mass. But suddenly, it shattered into fine particles seeping into my body.
Countless shards of ice, silver-white motes rolling over my mana circuits.
Division Reconstruction split them further, polishing each speck to fit my circuits.
Ching— ching— ching—.
A faint sound like processing metal echoed inside me.
Like sanding rough edges smooth, honing the jagged glacial mana.
"Haa... haa..."
My breaths grew shallow.
The air itself frozen, lungs like ice blocks.
Still— I could hold on. For now.
One step.
It was right in front of me now.
But as I reached for the ice crystal, my mind blanked completely.
—You're not as great as you think.
—Give up.
—This was never a realm for the likes of you.
The millennial frost's ice crystal made one final push, crushing my will with all its might.
My fingers trembled.
Dropping my hand now— it would feel so easy.
Like my survival odds would improve, easy to rationalize, "Yeah, this is as far as I go."
... That was the most repulsive thought.
"Fuck that. The days when you could think 'what could trash like me touch anyway'... ended ages ago."
I chanted that and forced my hand forward.
Ice crystals stabbing fingertips.
Skin splitting on my hand, veins freezing, bones screaming.
And finally, I touched it.
The cold surface.
The ice crystal of the millennial frost.
"...!"
In that instant, the world flipped.
<The True Master of the Eternal Glacial Crystal>
[You have made contact with the Millennial Frost's Ice Crystal (SS).]
[Conditions satisfied.]
[Quest begins.]
Ding—!!
My vision flashed pure white.
Sight flickered out completely.
The ground's feel vanished, Seol Yu-bin's presence, Chae Yeon-hwa's breathing, the basement air— all cut off.
When I opened my eyes— I stood in the middle of a snowfield.
An endless white expanse.
Blizzards howled from all sides.
No sky above.
Instead, my entire overhead was a massive frozen nebula.
Blues, silvers, pure whites swirling together, like the universe itself solidified into ice.
"This must be... inside the ice crystal."
Looking down, snow at my feet.
But different texture from the scattered snow in Seolga's basement.
One step— not crunching snow, but tinkling like thin breaking glass.
Jling—
'All mana, huh.'
Less a snowy mountain, more a sea of frozen, piled mana crystals.
That instant.
Kuwoong—!!
My chest slammed down hard.
The millennial frost's energy rushed at me like a storm head-on.
Ultra-low waves piercing my body.
Blood felt like cold sand flowing through veins.
[Warning: User's mana circuits on verge of collapse.]
[Division Reconstruction intervenes.]
[Target: Core mana structure of 'Millennial Frost's Ice Crystal (SS)'.]
[Division begins.]
A massive diagram unfolded before my eyes.
Like someone spreading out a constellation map.
Thousands, tens of thousands of points layered like icebergs, thin lines connecting them into a blueprint.
"... This is the ice crystal's structure."
Each point a mana nexus.
Each line an energy flow path.
And over it— Division Reconstruction's power glided smoothly.
Tsssk—
Each pass split mana clumps too dense for humans.
In the blueprint, a huge ice mass shattered into dozens, hundreds of tiny pieces.
[Division complete.]
[Reconstruction begins.]
The shards— flew toward me now.
Esophagus, lungs, abdomen, heart, brain.
Fitting into my mana circuits, snapping into place.
Kwang—.
Thump—.
Thump—!!
Like another heart layering over the original in my chest.
Not hot, not cold— a starlight pulse resounding.
"Ku... ugh..."
Pain threatening to drop me any second.
But simultaneously, I understood.
Felt it.
Right now, my body was rewriting the millennial frost's circuits as its own.
[Simultaneous Circulation Optimization activates.]
[Merging user's existing mana circuits with Millennial Frost's Ice Crystal circuits.]
[Adjusting conflicting sections.]
[Partial restructuring to circuit form essential for Stellar Magic use.]
Thousands of circuits flickered on and off in my head.
Mana Sensitivity Genius trait auto-activated, aiding the rewrite.
Like forcibly rewiring a human neural net into a form that could handle stellar senses.
The snowfield before me soon turned to a diagram of nothing but lines and points.
The whole world looked like mana circuits.
"Ha... haa... fuck... so that's why demons say all Stellar Mages are crazy..."
I genuinely thought so.
Living a life repeating this with a sound mind?
Only madmen could.
Still, I was holding on.
Ice storm unrelenting, snowfield showing no sign of thaw.
But at least it wasn't shredding me at once like before.
Thanks to Division Reconstruction. And my will.
"Good... then, what's left is..."
I panted, staring straight at the snowfield.
The blizzard parted.
Far inside— a massive shadow emerged, walking forward.
A silhouette like a giant ice heart, or an ancient king's scepter.
The ice crystal itself? Or a guardian born of its will?
Either way, one thing clear.
What happened here from now on wasn't mere contact— it was the true trial to become its master.
"Alright. If it's a test..."
I curled my lips slightly.
"...let's cheat as dirty as possible, and awaken that grind-it-out will from when I played 10,000 games to see the ending."
Just before the massive silhouette fully revealed itself in the blizzard, another chill wind swept the snowfield.
And I, with Division Reconstruction finishing up, forced my thawing legs off the ground.
Slowly... very slowly, moved toward the giant silhouette.
And after what felt like an eternity, I opened my eyes.
The familiar hospital ceiling came into view.
A system alert popped up simultaneously.
Ding—!
Grade: SS (Current Unlock: S)
Nature: Glacial · Stasis · Compressed Origin Mana / Restructured for Stellar compatibility.
Explanation: The core mana structure of the Millennial Frost's Ice Crystal (SS) has been reconfigured by the Division Reconstruction trait into a Stellar Mage-form circuit tailored to the user.
The Eternal Glacial Core is not mere glacial attribute, but an ultra-transcendent chill wielding stasis akin to time itself.
It halts all kinetic energy in a set range, freezing and fixing targets not by temperature, but by state itself.
However, the user's current body, mana circuits, and mental strength cannot fully handle SS form, so Division Reconstruction auto-adjusted to S-grade limited version to prevent overload.
[Eternal Glacial Core – Original (SS) Effects] ※ Currently Locked
[Absolute Stasis]
[Eternal Glaciation]
[Cold Stasis Circulation]
[Absolute Zero Resistance]
Current Unlock: S-Grade (Adjusted Effects)
※ Auto-corrected based on user's current circuits/constitution
[Stasis Field – S]
Effect: Slows kinetic energy within 3m radius (max 70%). Gently fixes target's speed · vibration · mana waves.
Reduces projectile/magic/physical attack speeds. SS stasis impossible; slowdown only.
[Glacial Etch – S]
Effect: Individually freezes touched target's parts, fixing state.
Time fixation impossible; temporarily shapes structure/mana flow.
Can create temporary vulnerabilities to physical/magic attacks. Limited binding/control vs. SS absolute fixation.
[Cold Core Correction – S]
Effect: Maintains user's full-body mana circuit temperature steady.
25% reduced mana cost for glacial/cold spells. Massive boost to physical/mana resistance vs. extreme cold.
High resistance + circuit optimization vs. SS eternal survival.
[Crystal Circulation – S]
Effect: 15% faster mana recovery in combat.
Absorbs external ice-attribute mana for self-regen.
Assists multi-mana fusion (sub-structure of Stellar Magic). Enhanced recovery + partial fusion vs. SS infinite loop.
"Fucking insane."
Worth risking my life for.
Never dreamed I'd snag an SS-grade trait.
Of course, my pathetic stats forced it down to S-grade, and most SS traits/skills included probably unusable properly.
Couldn't even wield S-grade Tidal Binding right, no way an SS trait's skills.
Still, the limit break itself wasn't bad.
No matter the process, I'd end up treated as SS-grade Hunter like Wol Ha-yeon.
"Fucking nice."