Water. Natural flowing water, in a frozen place like this, shouldn't be normal, shouldn't exist. And yet, here it is. A whole freaking river, pond, and everything. Now, even though it is flowing water, it is still very cold but I don't know how to explain why this existed in the first place.
Either the salt concentration of this water is so high that the freezing point is lower than the temperature in the surrounding area or there are some magical properties in this water. From what my [Heat Sense] tells me, the area is around -8 degrees celsius, which is not the coldest it has ever been here, not even close, in fact, this temperature might be close to normal, but it is relatively colder than most habitable areas. Surprised the water is still not frozen in these temperatures.
And if anyone was wondering, yes, these are somewhat normal temperatures here. Sure, if you take a normal human on Earth here, they would be freezing to death but the people here would be fine.
First of all, the people here are quite tough. Even the smallest of children, or at least in this empire, is durable enough to survive taking a plunge into freezing water as if it was normal temperatures. Also, every single resident in this empire has [Cold Resistance], which grows stronger the longer they live and the colder area they live in.
This is also the reason why it is normally only nobles, adventurers, or some experts that live in the capital. It is because since the capital is the most northern city in the entire empire, the only people who can live here need to at least have a high [Cold Resistance], which only some people have.
This would normally be pretty bad for the empire if the capital is not at the center of the empire but this was done so that only the toughest among toughest of people can actually go here. It would be pretty bad if normal people lived in this area where it is colder than freezing temperatures, and we can't really give up this part of the land either.
We could have just done it so that this place is only reserved for special people but there are some who just won't listen to whatever you say, so the previous rulers of this empire decided to place the capital here to not let any people who won't survive the cold to live here. It is still a strange decision but whatever.
I followed the flowing water to the pond that I detected earlier. It was actually pretty beautiful if I do say so myself. It was between small and medium-sized, it looked like it could be a pretty good place to take a bath and the scenery is just amazing.
Beautiful flowers in different and vibrant colors, which would normally be pretty rare to naturally exist in this place. Lots of dense trees all around it to block any vision, which would be pretty hard to find. And lastly, the water. It was shining, maybe it is just the ice on the water but it looked beautiful. Something about this place feels like a paradise, though I doubt it is a paradise if it is this cold.
I continued looking and searching around the pond to investigate and after a while, I received a notification from my skill that this pond or this area is completely safe. The water hasn't frozen because of something inaccessible even for [All of Creation] to find but whatever it is, it is keeping it from not freezing.
After all of that, I had a really bad idea. Or at least bad for me. Whenever I look into this pond, I have the sudden urge to just jump into it and take a bath, which I don't know why. Maybe it is because I've never really taken a private bath ever since I've come to this world or this place is somewhat enchanted but I just-
'Hey, Tomo. Do you want to take a bath in that pond?'
'Y-Yeah… something is making me think that I need or want to do that.'
'It should be fine, right? After all, [Knowledge]-san here said that the water is fine so it should be fine. Or are you embarrassed to go in naked?'
'I mean I would be embarrassed but I would be fine since no one would see me anyway. Though, I still don't know why I want to take a bath at this exact time.'
'Well then, you will find out soon. Just go already, don't worry, I won't peep. There isn't really much in there anyway since you are still young.'
'You know, that hurt my pride, like a lot.'
'Since when did you have any pride?'
'Shut up. Ok, let's do it then.'
I took off all of my clothing and prepared myself to dip into the water. Usually, it is not advisable to take off your clothes in this place considering how cold it is even if you have [Cold Resistance] but I'm different.
Not only has my [Cold Resistance] risen so high that it is not even that cold without any clothes, but I'm also very used to using very cold water to take a bath in my past life so I've been wanting to do this. Ever since I've come to this world, I have never used cold water in a bath until now.
'I don't want to jump in immediately because I'm not a kid but I'll walk towards the pond and when my body makes contact with the water, I will proceed to dive in the water.'
'How does that change anything? You literally only added more steps into the process.'
'Well, it is less childish, right?'
'I don't know what to do with you, just do it.'
'Ok then.' I did what I said and leaped into the water. It was cold, freezing cold. But I liked it. I've always liked bathing in the cold. There is always that feeling of not wanting to stop bathing whenever the water is cold.
Also, I noticed that I'm breathing underwater. My face or my head doesn't feel as wet as it should be for some reason, how did this…
"Answer. It is due to the effect of [Extra Skill: Water Manipulation] that is allowing you to breathe underwater."
"Wait, when did I get that? I didn't know I had that this whole time. Also, how exactly is it able to make me breathe underwater? And, am I talking underwater?!"
"Answer. By manipulating the water to create a shield around your head that is thick enough to not let the water come in but thin enough for you to not notice any changes. There is also [Wind Manipulation] that gives air for you to breathe."
"[Wind Manipulation]?! Since when did I get all of this?!"
"Answer. While you were asleep."
"Wha- What? Can someone explain to me exactly how?"
'Tomo… I forgot to tell you this but… these past few days, you talked quite a lot while you were sleeping. You also started moving like sleepwalking and because of that, you somehow got these skills…'
Huh?! That doesn't make any sense! I've been sleepwalking and talking? This entire time? No, she said these past few days, meaning it started recently. The timeline lines up with when I started having weird dreams…
And wait, no wonder I felt a little tired every time I woke up these past few days! It was because of me moving around at night! What is happening to me these days?
Anyhow, I'm actually feeling a bit tired… What the, what is going on?
"Notice. All requirements have been met. Initiating [Cryo Sleep] to begin the process."
What the- what is going on?
'Tomo! You need to hold on, something different is happening, let me check if…'
What? What is she saying? I can't hear her properly, ugh, I'm getting drowsy…
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Cold. Warm. Refreshing. Cold. Cool. My body is feeling a lot of sensations at once. I don't even know if I'm cold or not. One thing is for certain, I woke up, or at least, I am conscious. What did my skill say again, [Cryo Sleep] was it? What the hell is that?
Anyhow, I should probably find a way to wake up.
"Notice. Finalizing body structure… Complete. Initiating to wake the consciousness of the user."
Or that could happen as well. Great, so it was doing something with my body structure from the looks of it. So I've been sleeping because of that? Why would I need to though?
I slowly started to feel my body and started moving them. I feel normal, although it does feel kind of light, and skinnier… What happened to my body?
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…
"Hmm, I wonder where he went…"
"Looking for someone, milady?"
"Um, do you know where Tomo-chan went? I have never seen him ever since this morning. He wasn't at lunch either…"
It's strange. He never missed lunch ever since that incident with dragons. He suddenly had a huge appetite ever since that happened and when I told father what happened, he said it is one of the side effects of using a skill from the [Sins Series]. I hope he didn't get into any trouble.
"Maybe Her Highness The Empress might know where His Highness Tomo went."
"Hmm… that might work. Well, then I'll go ask her."
I ran for a while searching for my mother until I finally found her in her personal office. She was reading and checking some papers while holding a peculiar-looking compass. I wonder what that is…
"Mom, do you where Tomo-chan went? He hasn't come back ever since this morning and I'm worried if something happened…"
"I'm sure he is fine. He said he will go and explore for a while so he might be taking a while to come back. Also, didn't you two teach him enough to survive on his own?"
"Yeah but I'm still worried…"
"Well then, how about we check where he is then. Hmm… that is strange."
"What? What happened? Did something bad happen to him?"
"Well, I'm looking at where he is right now but it says he is in the middle of a pond and is currently sleeping?"
"What?"