"Is something happening...?!" I shouted out as the sound of my voice reverberated through the empty room. For some reason, I knew that the voice could hear me. And I was right as it replied immediately.
"Are you sure?" I asked as I didn't completely trust her as the gluttonous didn't be even sure herself.
My dark world quaked again.
'I think... I have the solution... just try to hold on until then." I replied worriedly.
...
I slid below the mist once more.
A chill. A chilling pain spread through my body as I heard the slowed down sounds of a fight reach me even inside my mental world as the gluttonous voice grunted and breathed. Muted bangs and booms made it through as well.
It was picking up.
A minute or so passed.
Slowly the chilling pain began to dull as the sound of the metallic voice chimed out. But weirdly enough... it seemed unaffected by the slowing down time of my mental space.
[Tempering in progress: Cold Mastery]
'Good.' I thought. 'It seemed like my line of reasoning was correct.'
My imaginary body continued to numb and my pain lessened. Unknown to me, my physical body was numbing was well - it was getting colder. Not just from what I was doing inside my head, but due to icy poison that had been injected.
Yet, I didn't shiver. No, I embraced it with open arms I mean stomach. I embraced the coldness.
But the soothing numbness didn't last long. Like all my attempts of tempering myself, the heaven's would instantly make it harder.
Bam!
[Tempering failed] the voice chimed while my training was interrupted and I was knocked backwards.
My mental world tilted and I rolled away from the mist.
Romp. Romp. Romp. I continued to roll until I managed to latch my foot on to the floor once more.
I tilted my body back upright. Instantly, the coldness inside me that I was feeling disappeared and was replaced by warmth once more.
In an instant... it seemed that all my progress was gone.
"WHAT'S Wrong?" I yelled out as I recovered as quickly as I could.
A stretched out murmur entered my head
"Hold on as much as you can." I reinsured the voice with uncertainty. Everything was still speculation, but I knew deep down that this was the way to progress - to get out of my mess.
Without wasting any more time, I grabbed as hard to the floor as possible. Sliding with utmost speed, I entered the mist once more.
Once again the coldness spread throughout my body as started to temper myself once more.
But the second time was a different experience. I couldn't just sit still. It was taking too long. Seconds seemed to tick me by, but each second felt like a minute. Although time passed slower in my mental world, I knew that one slip up or a couple of milliseconds could be the fine line between us dying and not dying. I knew I needed to hurry.
'Hurry up.' I shook as I tried to inhale some of the mist to speed of the progress.
My thoughts were plagued as I became more anxious.
Seconds passed by and my heart began to pound faster as my thoughts turned darker and darker.
'This isn't fast enough.' I thought to myself as waited for the numbing sensation to return to me.
My body tilted. Another hit... probably another dodge... I wasn't sure. Already on-edge and anxious, I managed to hold on to the second time.
I began to panic as thoughts continued to rush through my head... I needed to absorb more of the cold mist.
But I couldn't... I knew that I barely had any time left.
Within those few minutes, I went from calm and collective to my other state: impulsive.
Unable to keep still, I took another chance. I decided to resort to drastic measures.
"This is going to hurt!" I called out in preparation.
My head stretched backwards as my sides opened up as well as I faced myself towards the light - towards the gaping hole in the sealing. Like an open hole, I allowed the mist to flow straight into me. - straight into my stomach.
The first few milliseconds didn't feel so bad. I felt my saliva slowly drip down my throat, but that only lasted for a moment. Instantly, it froze as chunks of ice fell down into my stomach. Standing below the falling mist, I sucked in and swallowed as much mist as I could.
And that's when the real pain began.
It hit me: harder and faster, stronger and more persistent than the Female Frostfang's poison as I nearly buckled over because of the pain. Barely able to hold myself in my position the chill seemed to even reach my soul as I tried madly to consume the mist before me. Instantly my body dropped in temperature as the cold spread throughout my body. Absorbed directly into my stomach, it was transferred around my body.
The experience is hard to describe. It was like my body and brain instantly turned to ice. It was so painful that I couldn't even think... I could only feel as it spread through my body.
Jolting like I was electrocuted I started to shiver and vibrate uncontrollably. Like someone was pumping lava through my veins, my veins burned, but it wasn't lava, it was ice cold freezing water.
The cold hit reached my head almost instantly.
"AAARGH" I yelled out in pain as I could feel my head pounding. Like something was hammering from the inside, a chilling headache shut out all of my other thoughts.
PAIN! IT'S SO PAINFUL! MAKE IT STOP!' and other exclamations were the only things I could remember thinking.
Through our agony... I could barely hear the metallic voice call out as I continued to hold still with my mouth open. Ice chunks began to build up in my mouth and sides as my temperature lowered even more.
[+10 determination]
Seconds later, it sounded out again as it mixed in with my screams.
[Status: Hypothermic]
- 75% all stats (Resisted by [cold resistance] and [cold mastery])
Warning: User has entered a state of extreme cold. Find warmth quickly or death will be imminent.
Estimated time until death: 1 minute 2 seconds.
But I held on. I held on through the pain, through a pounding headache, through the screaming. Every time the metallic voice chimed, it gave me more motivation - it kept me going.
My world began to darken around me. My mental room shook. The light above me became fainter and fainter. Like it was dying. But it wasn't. I was dying. Dying in self-induced torture.
...
[Cold Mastery] (Updated)
Ding.
Ding.
Ding.
Estimated time until death: 48 seconds.
...
[Cold Resistance] (Updated)
Ding.
Ding.
Ding.
Ding.
...
Estimated time until death: 36 seconds.
...
*Ding*
[User: [Cold Mastery] and [Cold Resistance] requirements: reached]
[Secret requirement: reached]
[Magic Tree: Frosty Mist] (Discovered) (Locked)
Error... Unable to determine mana... Scanning... Troubleshooting...
[Mana Bar] (Unlocked)
Mana: ???/???
Error... information: system.mana() missing...
Error... External information required...
Proceeding...
[User prompt: Would you like to invest 5 SP to unlock the [Magic Tree: Frosty Mist]?]
...
"Ye...Yes."
[Are you sure?]
"Ye...."
[Request Accepted]
...