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  We left Cirgo about half an hour ago. The white road was already far behind us, swallowed by the thick snow falling in heavy flakes. Here, the wind whistled softly between tall trees.

  It was beautiful. And… unsettling.

  When the carriage stopped, the silence grew even heavier. Part of the soldiers stayed behind to set up a base point, while we, the smaller teams, moved on to “investigate.” I still didn't know exactly what, and no one seemed eager to explain.

  Three veteran adventurers were waiting for us: Don, Pumpkin, and Logy. Each would go with a different group.

  Don looked like a walking wall. Thick black armor, a huge white shield, easily bigger than him. He rarely spoke, but his presence alone radiated safety. Still, I didn’t want to go with him, me, Sentil, and Don would probably say nothing for hours. It'd be painfully awkward.

  Then there was Pumpkin, the most… alive of the trio. Black armor, bright orange hair sticking out of her helmet, a black sword at her waist, and energy enough to power a city. She ended up with us and seemed thrilled about it.

  The relief of not being with Don lasted about five seconds, until I realized Pumpkin looked like the type of person who’d “accidentally” set someone on fire “for training.”

  Lastly, Logy also wore black armor, but carried a summoned staff. He specialized in support, healing and buffing allies.

  His destructive ability was low, but he could use some ice spells if needed. He joined a larger group of soldiers, his range buffs would help them a lot.

  °??──────??°

  It’s been seven hours since we split up. Right now, I'm walking right behind Sentil. We already killed some strange monsters, a living snowman and a few wolves, but they were few this time.

  "Hey hey, is it true you're a Metamorph?" the orange-haired knight in black armor beside me asked, leaning in.

  I smiled awkwardly and nodded. She seemed very happy.

  "So it is true! That's so cool! What are your skills?"

  I raised both hands, fire in one, ice in the other.

  "Right now, just these two. But I'm not really good at using them yet."

  We had fought together today, so she’d seen my fire ability, but ice was new to her. I thought it wouldn’t be very effective on the monsters here, so I avoided using it.

  Sentil had only used his sword so far, no skills at all. Pumpkin and I had done most of the work, though she had clearly carried the team.

  "So you have ice too… want some advice?" she asked.

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  "I do, please."

  She gestured dramatically. "You're wasting a lot of mana with your fire attacks. Watch."

  She stretched her left hand forward, releasing a burst of orange fire that scattered across the air.

  "That's what you do. See the problem?"

  Her flames were strong, I couldn’t see anything wrong.

  "I don't know. It looks pretty strong."

  "You're spreading your mana too much. See how the flames scatter? That’s fine if you're fighting multiple enemies and have tons of mana to burn, but you'll drain yourself fast. So it's wrong."

  "Then what's the right way?"

  She pressed two fingers together, index and middle, holding them up in front of me. A tiny marble-sized sphere of fire formed.

  "Condense your attack. What really matters is how dense your mana is and where you focus it. All that mana you waste hitting empty air can be condensed in a smaller space to cause massive damage while spending less. Like this."

  She aimed at a tree and fired. It didn’t even look like fire, more like a beam of heat, carving through the tree.

  She did it again, stronger, and half the tree vanished.

  Pumpkin was incredible. With just fire, she could cause insane destruction, even explosions.

  Sentil glanced back for a moment, clearly annoyed, then kept walking without a word.

  ‘Doesn’t matter. I'm going to ask Pumpkin to teach me everything she knows.’

  "How do you condense your mana?" I asked.

  "It's tricky at first. But before doing it, you need to learn how to manipulate your mana efficiently. Mana isn't just for casting skills. We humans use it to reinforce our bodies, increase speed, boost thinking, sharpen perception... lots of little things."

  I sighed. "So I won't be learning that anytime soon…"

  "For now, just look at a point above your finger and try using your skill. You'll feel something eventually."

  I didn't hesitate, raised a finger and focused intensely, trying my best to control my mana.

  Sentil finally spoke, without looking back:

  "Viola Pumpkin. Tell me why you're teaching the Metamorph to get stronger."

  She shrugged.

  "Because I want to see how far he can go. Strong people make things more fun, don’t you think, prince?"

  "That logic will get you killed someday."

  "Life is short," she laughed. "For me, at least. For him, maybe not so much. I'm just helping a potential future magic-knight."

  I was about to respond when a voice echoed in my mind.

  ? Sir, a high density of mana is approaching from below. ?

  ‘From below?’

  "Guys, something's coming from underground!" I shouted.

  Sentil and Pumpkin jumped instantly. I followed.

  The ground exploded. Snow shot up like a white geyser and a giant arm burst out, then another. An ice golem, as big as a small house, rose with a roar. Its core pulsed bright blue inside its head.

  "An ice golem? Down here?"

  "What's the problem?" I asked.

  "These monsters are born in mountain regions, not underground," Pumpkin answered.

  Without warning, the golem raised several ice spikes from the ground, we dodged, Sentil cutting some mid-flight.

  "Aim for the head! The core is there!" Sentil commanded.

  "Got it! Victor, hold him still for me!"

  I nodded. Time to trust myself. I rushed toward it, dodging long-range ice strikes. Close enough, it swung at me.

  I caught its massive fist and held it in place.

  Before it could attack again, Pumpkin fired a concentrated beam of fire into its head, it vanished instantly, and the golem collapsed.

  "Nice job!" Pumpkin said, grinning and raising her fist.

  I bumped it lightly, smiling. "You too."

  "Don't relax yet. Why was this golem here?"

  "Maybe it fell?" I suggested.

  "Maybe something stole its habitat?" Pumpkin offered.

  Sentil stayed silent. Apparently, the golem being here was much more serious than I thought.

  "I'll report this to the research team later. We'll set up camp ahead."

  "But we didn't bring anything," I said.

  "We'll build an igloo," Sentil replied. "Victor, Pumpkin, don’t lower your guard tonight."

  "… Igloo?"

  "I’ll make the fire! I brought meat!" Pumpkin cheered.

  “Where is this meat of yours?”

  She opened a portal of shadows and pulled out a piece of beef. "Here.”

  And so, we decided to explore more tomorrow, to find out why the Ice Golem's environment had changed. Also, I learned that people in this world can be… a little eccentric.

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