Sol felt helpless watching Lapis devour her meal in seconds as he hoped she would take at least five minutes eating it. It would give her enough time to adjust after waking up, but it appeared she didn't want to afford that time for herself and would rather get moving.
He stood up and packed his things. "Alright, if that's what you want, let's head out."
Sol wasn't going to force her to rest. He tried the nice way and failed, but at least now she wouldn't freeze to death from the blizzard. Though he would like to know the reason for her urgency, it was unlikely she would confide in him yet.
The rest of the squad stood and got ready to leave. They stored away their items back into their spatial rings and put out the fire. When done, they all headed out of the cave once more to face the frigid cold, this time more prepared.
Sol didn't notice much of a difference besides it feeling less cold than before, but for the others like Nataly and Lapis, the difference was much more drastic.
Nataly was shocked at how drastic it was compared to before. "Wow! It's much more bearable!"
Sol nodded. "Then let's keep going. Rex, lead the way."
"On it." Rex moved ahead of the group and led them back on track to find the source of the magical blizzard.
With limited vision, Rex was still able to see 30 meters ahead, allowing the group to avoid perilous terrain such as deadly chasms and perpetual avalanches. Every mile they traversed, the blizzard increased in potency until eventually it was no longer just snow buffeting the squad.
"Ice coming our way!" Rex warned the squad.
After hearing his warning, Duncan immediately pulled out his shield and used his talent skill [Shimmer Dome] to envelop the group in a silver light barrier.
Not a moment later, a crackling sound was heard as the barrier was pelted by sharp pellets of frozen rain and hail. Unlike normal hail that was round and would at most bruise if one were hit by it, these ice shards would easily pierce straight through thick metal sheets.
Luckily, the cracking sound was from the ice shattering upon smashing onto the barrier, as it held up well against the onslaught.
"Can we walk with the barrier?" Sol asked, as he didn't see the hail ending anytime soon.
Duncan nodded. "It can, but I'll need a lot of mana to maintain it."
Sol handed him his share of the mana potions without hesitation. "Use as many as you need."
If the potions ran out, Sol didn't plan on taking the ones he had distributed to the rest but instead used the ones he still had from before the knight selection. From the adventurers he killed in the dungeon and the ones he bought, he had a decent supply of inferior quality potions compared to the ones given by the Royal Knights, but he hoped it would be enough to get to their destination.
Duncan received the potions and, without hesitation, marched forward against the hailstorm. Rex continued to lead the way until they walked for another mile.
During that mile, Duncan went through his supply of mana potions and half of the ones given by Sol until Rex saw the end in sight.
"I see it! A blue ice tree!"
Everyone's eyes lit up as they pressed forward more energetically than before, knowing that the end was in sight. As they approached, the tree was finally within everyone's sight, and they could see it for its grandness.
It was huge, with its trunk 5 meters wide and towering beyond their vision. Through the hail, they could see a faint dark blue light.
Rex squinted as, even with his enhanced vision, he couldn't see it too clearly. "I can't see it well, but that should be the fruit."
Aron agreed, but he noticed there was now another problem. "How do we get it then?"
"I could fly up and grab it," Sol said.
He had the Blessed Boots of the Sky, which had the skill [Magical Flight]. It would be faster and less painful than climbing the ice tree.
Duncan was hesitant about the suggestion. "Are you sure? Even if you can endure the hailstorm, the fierce winds may make it impossible to fly."
The rain of ice shards had only become stronger as they neared the center, and if not for the silver barrier protecting them, the squad wouldn't have been able to make it this far.
While Sol believed he could endure the ice, he wasn't sure if the boots could endure the winds. If he was on his own, he could try combining it with an intermediate-level flight spell to increase its potency, but it would raise a lot of questions from his squad if he did.
Sol and the rest of the squad went silent as they thought about how they could reach the fruit unharmed.
It was then that Nataly had an idea. "Maybe we don't need to go up."
"What do you mean?" Aron asked.
"While this tree is completely made of ice, it still adheres to the rules of nature and life. That's why it bore a fruit, right? In that case, if I cast nature magic on it to make it drop the fruit, it should work."
Seeing as no one else offered any other suggestions, Sol gave her the thumbs up. "Worth a shot, give it a go."
"Alright! [Ripen]!"
Nataly instantly chanted the spell [Ripen], which was commonly referred to as a nature mage's first spell. Its effects were simple: it would accelerate the growth of a fruit, but that wasn't the reason she cast this spell in particular. When a fruit was already ripe, the spell would then sever the stem from the tree.
A small amount of mana entered the ice tree, causing it to gently glow. Because this tree was made of ice, one was able to see a greenish light travel through it and head upwards beyond the hailstorm.
The tree rumbled mysteriously as the hailing around them began to lessen and reverted to the previous blizzard. While none of them could see if the spell worked, something clearly happened.