Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The mystery of nature knows no bound, and as the myth of God of Creation coupled with the wrath of nature, any incredible scene might be crafted, whether it’s a fatal impasse, a magnificent view, or a wonderful sight.
The Great Snow Mountain of the Northland, officially graced as the Great Mountains of the Northmost Snow White, also dubbed as the “Everfrost Arctic Prison”, was connected to three of the Seven Northland Countries. The area it occupied was nothing less than a small kingdom, but its inhabitants were rather unique, and the population was indeed small.
Along with the rise of sea level, one could barely see any region uncoated with snow.
The endless snow hills, the miraculous snow-sculpting rocks, the icy stalactites, the silver trees, the skyscraping snow towers, the small world beneath the elemental glacial lake, the frozen upside-down waterfall, and the various strange monsters as rare as the Ice Phoenix and Silver Unicorn, and all the unparalleled breathtaking views of the Snow Mountain had won it the reputable name of the most beautiful life-forbidden zone in the world.
Of course, it had to be a forbidden zone for mortals. It was one of the most frigid places in the world, with an average temperature of negative fifty-degree Celsius. Other than several special occasions, the mountain was always blanketed with heavy snow, and was a place of absolute despair, where no normal living creature would survive.
There were some who even treated it as a sole frost plane. From the perspective of sorcerers, this land held the characteristic of the other world, especially with the overspreading Ice elemental crystals (every elemental plane produces its own elemental crystals). If there comes a day when the Ice Elemental God is born, this would have to be his previous cradle.
This place might not have any signs of normal lives, but it was not until the point of dead silence. While the normal lives could never relish the coldness from the land, it turned out to be the playground of the elementals, spirits and extreme monsters.
The gigantic ice dragon that noticed the flattened person stuck to the sole of its foot after half a day of crawling along the mountains, the elemental wild boar that could make the mountains tremble by just walking, the super ice phoenix that stirs up blizzards by just its falling icy feathers upon its flight, these few creatures were living in this place of no man.
There were even some who were born in the same age with Ayer and possessed unfathomable strength and hidden power. Nevertheless, they had been living here across the centuries, and would never leave here even if the world had come to destruction.
“You heard of it? Two days ago, the ice boar in the north gave birth to a herd of shots, and one of them was a mutant with wings, it could be a boar king of mythical rank in the future.”
“Ah I see, that is a big fortune. I’m going to prepare the gifts. How about visiting the Ice elemental lake to ask for a piece of ice crystal from the old Dragon King?”
The time was crawling pretty slowly here, as it was rather remote. Besides, this snowy land was much more peaceful compared to the outside world. Those lives which coexisted here had known among themselves for hundred years and were no different from the kind of neighbours who chat on a daily basis.
It was probably the nature of ice and snow monsters to embrace peace. This place was always silent and peaceful, but lately, something was different, they had started a new hot topic.
“You heard of it? A superstar singer visited the home of Frigid Nightmares on the birthday of the Pork King’s son. She was the master of ceremony as well as the singer, and her singing was amazing.”
“Was it the song “Happy birthday you pig, happy birthday you pig. Pig’s head pig’s brain pig’s body pig’s tail, but a child who is never fussy in eating. Sleeping till the noon day by day, never brushing his teeth and never fighting”? Oh, I heard it once from the neighbours, Ader (the yeti) and little Mi (ice unicorn), so this song was from there. Not bad at all, it sounded pleasant and fitted the occasion!”
“That’s right, everyone calls her “Our Snow Diva”. Those people swarm up to her every day?”
“It’s a she? But I was told it’s a boy?”
“...I met the singer once. I may not know much about the gender of the little meaty man, but how could such a cutie be a boy? Could it be that they are just like as us, genderless?”
“Who knows, anyway, the Frigid Nightmares had so much fun lately, it seems that one could only enter this place with their Soul Contract. Is this possibly the first occurrence since the past three hundred years?”
“Certainly, they could be seen singing and dancing on the square above the straits, every day, and it’s that “Little Little Applet” song?”
“...I had been there once, those Frigid Nightmares were dancing and transforming themselves at the same time. In the end, it turned into a chaotic dance performance by a group of monsters.”
At this moment, between the straits, before dawn, the sound of singing and dancing from the square was hurting my head again.
“The boundless mountains are my love. To sell of my love, to force me to go away. Your hearts are always too soft, your hearts are too soft. You are my little applet, little applet! little applet! Humph!”
“Damn your little applet, it’s getting pretty old now, you know?”
Unfortunately, this ice cave had no doors or even windows, so I had no choice but to “enjoy” this insufferable evil sound that was penetrating my brain.
Albeit the unanimous praises from the Frigid Nightmares, I terribly regretted the performance that time, especially after some discovery later.
“A song for a Frigid Nightmare? Oh Oh Oh, that’s just a joke. No matter how unreliable we could be, we will never trade our own people”
What I was feeling that time... If I couldn’t beat it, I could put the lion-alike Frigid Nightmare into the Goblin cannon then fire it, or I could try to barbecue its lion head. I would abandon the fact they were any ancient creatures or even my ancestor’s friends, as the lion head must be delicious...though there was still something wrong with it.
I arrived here out of a promise, regardless of the abundant tasks in hand. Was it easy for me? And yet I was fooled by these Frigid Nightmares, I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry for myself.
“How could you wear a fake face here? You should meet everyone with your real face.”
This lion head seemed to make a good point, in case a mighty existence was agitated by this, things were going to be problematic. With this immature young look and androgynous voice, it had brought me some little trouble too.
Snow Diva? What was that? I did not know.... Alright, I admitted. It was the fault of that talkative Irene, a black history that should be concealed in the history. Once I came out from this mountain, I would risk my life to fight anyone who dares to mention that name again!
Nevertheless, things ended in this way for a reason.
Frigid Nightmare was a kind of unique spirit creature, their bodies were phantoms of ice and snow... Akin to the Lava tribes who grew up by devouring the lava, they grew up by devouring the freezing ice energy and gem. Unlike animals with flesh, they had no appetite and desire for sex, thus they would never perceive the physical intimacies between the meaty men.
Being a phantom, yet having an authentic existence, they still had their own hobbies.
Without any sense of physical satisfaction, the spiritual satisfaction would naturally be the aspiration of these spirit creatures. As they were not able to compose music, paint, do poetry nor other cultural arts, they thus admired the brilliant aura of the other races in the outside world. For them, these were the nourishment and luxuries for cultural development.
Even so, the Frigid Nightmares did not intend to hide their interests. Rumors had it that the predecessors of Mist Kingdom had spent quite some time preparing their presents and performances just to trade for their cubs during their visits in history. This had inspired the Frigid Nightmares to start celebrating the Winter Festival, which was originally not their tradition.
On that day, the visiting contractor from far away would perform the exquisite show he had innovated or offered some seemingly valueless artworks by the craftsmen and painters. Meanwhile, the elder Frigid Nightmares which had returned from their adventure in the outside world, would tell stories about their past experiences. In the end, during the closing ceremony, the elder Frigid Nightmares would be gazing emotionally at the departure of newborn Frigid Nightmares, just like any young parent who is sending their children to school for the first time.
It appeared that the Mist Kingdom had not fulfilled its promise for nearly four hundred years. This was the reason which encouraged me to curb my temper and sing along with them.
Frankly speaking, my skill of singing was just like everyone, although my voice was not bad. I had always forgotten the lyrics amid singing and often went out of tune too. An innate weak sense of rhythm had multiplied the mistakes in chanting the lyrics, as the words might get tangled up, too long, or too short.
At the sight of the snowy ladies who were skilled in singing and dancing to sing, singing the off-tune song better than the composer, especially at the moment when the tune went off, I was extremely embarrassed.
Along with the melody of these “divine songs”, the Frigid Nightmares were fond of the unique culture and ideologies which were not found in their world. The new and deep cultural details were indeed alluring for them.
However, I had been counting the days with my finger, as I had not much time left to be wasted here.
“...Aroyin, You are the friend of the Mist king, you are also an elder of mine. You should have been to the outside, the Mist Country is in danger now, and I have to hurry back.”
I had repeated this sentence several times but had not been taken seriously by the ice-crystallite lion head, after all, he would get me to do some trivial tasks, such as singing to celebrate the newborn shoat of an ice boar staying at the mountain side, or celebrating the ten-thousand-year-old birthday of an elder phoenix.
“I could not wait any longer! If the answer is still a no, I have no choice but to go back now. I will come again next year.”
This time, I was standing in the doorway of Aroyin. Seeing that I was so anxious that I would leave in any second, he finally stopped prevaricating on me.
“I know, I am aware of the news outside, and that you are in pursuit of power here. As an elder, I will not stop you, but look at yourself now, how are you going to attain power?”
“I? I am good.”
An inexplicable anxiety had urged me to answer without thought, but the face of the old lion was then filled with a benevolent smile.
“Is it good? You are a caster of Freezing Force, and the Frigid Nightmares’ bodies were composed of the Freezing Force as well, but have you ever seen anyone of us rushing at things?”
“It’s too peaceful here! That’s the cause.” Just when I was about to retort, something flashed across my mind, staggering me.
Every element has its own nature and characteristics. Similar to the Fallen Magic and Holy light, which would influence the personality and mind of the casters, the elemental magics could, however, be controlled under patient and consistent training.
The elemental force might corrode its own caster. Fire magic would make one fierce and irritable, earth magic would make one moderate and steady, water magic would make one amiable and peaceful, wind magic would make one capricious and voluble. Whilst ice magic that was evolved from the water magic would make one “cold-blooded”, most of the casters were unusually calm.
“The affinity for elements implicates the harmony between the elements and you. In brief, how much the elements like you. Magic is a miraculous power formed by the strong will, and a will comes from the soul, thus the soul is the origin of this miraculous power. The incantations, casting techniques, and materials are just the supplementary, the most vital part is always the soul itself.”
“Many years ago, you might have been blinded by hatred and could not see the path clearly. You should have identified your path now, why are you still not opening up your heart to the elements? You closed your eyes and ears, barricaded your heart, how could you win the affection and intimacy of the ice element?”
“Since you are in pursuit of power, and the ice element is a power to be reckoned with. The elemental spirits love your singing, why did you deny their entries to your soul? My son, you are still too rash. This is a golden opportunity, look around yourself, you will probably see a new world.”
Hearing this, I broke out in cold sweat.
“All the miraculous power does arise from the soul? My bad, I have forgotten this foundation and was wrong all this time.”
To my surprise, I had unconsciously abandoned the imperative foundation along the path of seeking power. My Power of Law was due to my yearning for fairness, while the Holy light of God of Holy light was due to their dedication to the rules. Also, the wise practitioners had always corresponded to the nature of power by adapting their souls too, if it was power manipulating power, one would have fallen and not able to achieve the ultimate heights.
Outside the window, was an endless view of snow, along with the white sky, it happened to be the home of the ice and snow spirits, full of singing and pleasure. Albeit my presence in this snowy region, I realised that my heart remained with the secular world.
“You really thought a Soul Contract with the Frigid Nightmares was everything for Aurora Knights? Certainly not, that would be too crude for our sights, just like using a divine equipment to cut the fingers, what a waste of talents for yourself and Erebella’s. Besides, the maturity of your magical sword system was rather low, and the perception and utilization of elements were even worse, that was like begging with a golden bowl [1].”
“To keep the Winter Festival longer in full swing, please wait until you have cooled off, and we fellow elders will show you how to master the ice and snow. The Elemental Gods? Haha, before some ancient existence, they are just the juniors!”
“I may not be the strongest one amongst our tribe, but I could let you know the perception of Mist King towards the ice and snow. If my partner is still around, these younglings wouldn’t dare go on a rampage like that!”
TL Note:
[1] In Chinese, “beg with a golden bowl – 使用金盘子讨饭” means, waste one’s talent or ability in trivial matters, while it could be used for greater things.

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