"Two hiding behind those trees. We can circle around this way." Rex whispered to his allies behind him.
Rex led their squad deep into the Orna Mountains and navigated them through the orc sentries that were scattered throughout the area without any issues. There weren't too many orcs, so for the most part, the squad was able to travel in a straight line to their objective.
The steep mountains and freezing weather would normally be impossible for most people to travel through, but for this group, it couldn't even slow them down. Even Nataly had invested a decent amount into strength and vitality, allowing her to pull her own weight.
The squad evaded two more orc patrols and soon reached the location marked on the map.
Aron pulled back the hood of his cloak and felt the cold air around him. "Is it just me, or is it getting much colder?"
Nataly instantly agreed, "I've noticed the winds became harsher as well."
Rex stroked his chin as he spoke, "We are higher up in the mountain."
Duncan shook his head. "This change in temperature is too drastic. Could it be coming from the legendary item?"
Sol agreed with Duncan's theory. "It may be the case. We were told it was growing from a tree made of ice. Maybe it also made its surroundings colder as a side effect. Let's head wherever it feels the coldest and see if it leads us straight to it."
Everyone agreed it was worth trying and ventured further into the area. After walking around, they quickly determined which direction had the sharpest decrease in temperature and headed that way.
As the temperature continued dropping, it had long passed what would have been acceptable for the normal human body to withstand. The winds also became harsher as a dense blizzard consumed their party. It not only became harder to walk but also to see, as even Rex's vision became heavily limited to only 30 meters, while the rest could only see 10 feet away.
Traveling 200 meters towards the source of the blizzard, the cold was no longer something even C-Rankers could easily withstand. Aron was the least affected because of his attributes and skills focused on his physical body, but Nataly fared much worse.
She trailed behind the group, shivering and sneezing loudly. "C-c-c-can we take a break? S-s-start a fire or something?"
Even Sol was starting to be affected by the hard winds, so he could only imagine how the others, who weren't as durable as he and Duncan, were feeling.
He turned back to see how Nataly was holding up, but there was someone else who was faring way worse than her.
"Lapis?! Are you okay?!" Sol asked in shock.
Unlike Nataly, whose face looked dry and reddish, Lapis's skin was unnaturally blue, and she was shivering underneath her coat.
Lapis played it off as best she could. "I-i-i'm f-f-f-ine. K-k-keep g-g-going…"
She tried to continue walking but stumbled over. Sol caught her just before she hit the snow.
"You're clearly not fine! Let's take a moment to rest. Rex, do you see a steep mountainside anywhere?"
Rex nodded. "We just passed by one. I'll take us there."
The group turned back and walked slightly away from their initial path, where they arrived at a mountain wall. Sol used [Terra Manipulation] to hollow a small cave, and the group went inside. Shielded from the harsh cold winds, they started a fire to warm up. The moment Lapis felt the warmth of the fire, she immediately passed out.
"She'll be fine. It's from exhaustion," Nataly stated after checking her.
They took out a sleeping bag and laid Lapis on it so she could get some rest. Since it appeared none of them were going anywhere until she recovered, they made themselves at home.
Sol made some simple furniture with [Terra Manipulation] while Duncan took out cooking tools to prepare a meal for everyone.
When Duncan was done, he gave everyone a portion.
[Warming Ioculen Soup
Rare
Effects: +20 vitality and [Cold Resistance] Lv 2 for 6 hours]
Sol couldn't hide his surprise when he inspected the soup's effects.
"Twenty vitality and cold resistance for six hours?!"
Duncan nodded with clear disappointment on his face. "If I had more ingredients to work with, I could have doubled its effects and duration."
'This was with what he had lying around?' Sol couldn't believe it.
This was the first time Duncan actually cooked for the group and made a system-recognized meal out of it. When Sol previously asked why he didn't use his [Splendorous Cooking] talent, Duncan told him it was because they didn't need it. It cost mana and good ingredients to make meals with decent effects, so he would only do so if he had a surplus of ingredients or a good reason. His skills also weren't at the level that makes even his most simple meals empowering yet.
Aron tasted the soup and felt its effects. "Wow! This is way better than potions!"
"I don't know about that," Duncan said. "Potions and cooking have their own strong points. If we compare an equally skilled alchemist and chef, the alchemist's potions will have stronger effects, while cooking tends to have a much longer duration."
Rex agreed but added his own opinion. "In this case, cooking is better as we don't know how long we have to endure this cold."
"Let's hope this will help Lapis endure the cold better…" Nataly said while looking back at the sleeping Lapis. Her skin color was back to normal, making the rest of the squad feel relieved.
Aron looked at Lapis with curiosity. "Why do you all think the cold affected her like that? She definitely has more vitality than most of us except for Duncan and Cap."
"Never have I seen nor heard of such a thing. Could be unique to her talent." Duncan's wealth of experience couldn't add much in this case.
The rest of the squad discussed possible reasons for what may have caused it while Sol silently ate his soup. He believed he already knew the reason for her weakness to the cold since they fought in the tournament. His ice element Lipon affected her way more than he predicted, and it happening again here further cemented his theory.
'Her variant blood gives her a severe weakness to the cold…'