Morning arrived, and I was up before everyone else because I discovered a brand-new spell.       

“[Minor Heal]!”   

A warm glow flowed from my hands to Greggie’s injury. Immediately he said the discomfort originating from his stomach vanished. They asked how I did it, and the secret was in [Mana Language]. After yesterday’s events, I managed to grow to Lv. 22, which I didn’t realize until I had a chance to look things over. 

"It appears your accomplishments will populate the Skill Menu. From there, you can either buy a skill with SP to learn it immediately or continue to work towards it manually. There doesn't seem to be a progress bar, however," I said, telling them what I had learned. "[Mana Language] was there presumably because I used magic, so I purchased it with the SP received from leveling up." Mana was often a resource used in games and fiction to cast magic. You usually had to chant to use magic, although there were many exceptions to that rule, which seemed like it was there to always be broken by someone or something to proclaim how powerful they were. "High Fantasy is my favorite genre, so the chants are often elaborate and long-winded. After messing around, I discovered [Minor Heal]. But there's more. Here's something better."

From ember's wrath to soothing balm, 

Through mystic words, I call the calm. 

Let fiery agony now adjourn, 

As ancient forces greet the dawn. 

  

With whispered chant and outstretched hand, 

I weave the threads of healing's strand. 

From pain's embrace, let bodies turn, 

To find relief, through spellwork's learn. 

  

By arcane might, the hurt shall spurn, 

Embracing solace, hearts shall yearn. 

With magic's art, our fate we discern, 

Ablaze no more, under [Cure Burn]. 

New Skill: [Cure Burn] 

The frosty burn on Greggie’s hands and wrists went away. I did the same for my friends. Maybe that was the deciding factor that almost guaranteed our success.   

Now that we had a source of healing magic and a way to eliminate the burn we received from touching ice, things were looking up. Mary explained what she discovered last night and produced the mana orb.  

The day ended up being much more fruitful in many ways.   

Before leaving the inn, Elly and Keeth ripped the excess sheets we didn’t use and made those into clothes. He grabbed a handful of the desk and made a chunk into a needle, then expertly thinned the remaining parts and made them into thread. With his skill still active, he sewed the wood into the clothes to make sleeves, then canceled the skill to harden them. And since this was regular wood, the mana cost was nearly zero.   

From there, we left the building and kept close to the walls. Yesterday, we found a lone bipedal leopard in the bakery. And it was still here. It was alone, too, and we didn’t see any other enemies nearby. The plan was to lure him out, which I did with a few weak fireballs at the window. It was just enough to melt the frost covering it. The leopard turned around and raised its icy axe. It stomped close to the window, then left to look outside.   

Another fireball smacked into the frozen wagon near it, and it turned away from us.   

Keeth and Greggie held wooden axes the modeler had made before we left and snuck around the right side. They crossed the street. Whenever the leopard was losing interest, I’d throw another fireball.   

When they were close, they ran forward. The leopard turned to face them, and Ami ran like the wind down the left. She crossed over and dropped-kicked the leopard while it snarled its fangs at Keeth.   

The dumb monster didn’t hear her coming because it was showing off. Keeth and Greggie slammed their weapons into the monster’s back. They tore into flesh and scattered crimson all over its snowy white fur.   

It was like watching a gang assault. But we couldn’t give up.   

None of us needed to offer any semblance of mercy to our enemies because they wouldn’t do the same to us.    

When the monster’s HP was below half, Mary summoned the mana orb and joined the fight. She threw it at it when I ran to get closer in case something happened, and the leopard’s…mana? Its energy? Whatever it was called covered the monster and forced it into the ball, which dropped and wiggled. After the third time, it made a distinctive click, and Mary said the leopard was captured. The ball turned blue and returned to her hand.    

She threw it, and the leopard appeared. It looked at Mary and waited, holding its club by its side. The wounds it suffered still haunted its body, but I healed it with an overcharged [Minor Heal].  

She told it to jump, and it did. It dropped the weapon upon being asked. Mary became silent, and the monster jumped on one leg.   

“I acquired another skill. It lets me telepathically communicate with my monsters. And I can…understand them,” Mary said. “The leopard cannot speak, but I can interpret its feelings, and it transmits information to me that way.”  

After nicknaming it Snowy, she returned it to its orb, which vanished inside her body.    

That was a start, but there was more to come. We weren’t done.    

With Snowy in hand, we abused the leopard’s expert hearing and impeccable sense of smell to find other monsters, including a frozen plant that launched icicles, a frozen canary, and an icy snake with water flowing through it.   

They were instrumental in defeating ten more leopards and assisted in taking them to our base.  

Once there… The choice was difficult and obvious. We needed food. By a rough count, it had been nearly sixty hours since anything entered our stomachs. Greggie said he could handle it. He grabbed one by the furry leg and dragged it into the kitchen.   

We heard a knife slice into flesh. The noise was sickening and upsetting, but this was the cost of survival. The chief returned with a pair of bloody hands holding expertly diced filets. Keeth made six skewers from wood and roasted the freshly carved meat over the campfire’s glow.   

“I used [Mana Marinade – Physical] while butchering it, so it should increase your physical attributes. I skinned it the fur, too,” Greggie said. “We can use them as clothing. But we don’t have anything to wash the blood.” He also said he used [Thermal Check] and said it was well below freezing—something we knew, but it was nice to know. “I searched for spices, but I couldn’t find anything. I’m sorry, but the food'll be bland and tasteless.”   

“Snowy, can you retrieve us a block of ice?” Mary asked the leopard. The beast just walked out of the inn. It returned and placed the ice in the sink before our food was ready. 

“Oh… Meat… How I’ve missed you…so much… Please don’t ever divorce my stomach again…” Elly was on the verge of tears.  

“If you take away…almost everything, this reminds me of Mexico.” Ami bit straight into the meat and ripped it apart with her teeth. “We lived off the land. Sleeping with wolves and wildebeests. But this… It’s not as fun.”   

The group went silent as we ate. Tamed monsters needed to eat, so Snowy joined us. It used its powerful jaw muscles to bite into the flesh of its kin, chomping through bone and ligament as if they were made of paper.    

Once finished, I used my flames to melt the ice, making water. We washed the fur and let it dry in an upstairs room while Keeth prepared more wooden thread for later use.    

The night was spent making a few pairs of gloves, which Keeth used to protect his hands while making a handful of weapons from the icy stone around us. He also made some cups and bowls we used to boil the water to make it palpable.  

The fur was enough to make some clothes, but it wasn’t enough to make each a complete set.    

---

“Go! Attack it!” Mary shouted an order at Flutter, an ice bird monster she had just captured. It flew high and dropped tiny icy spikes from its azure wings. The snowy bipedal leopard dodged out of the way and roared, throwing the rock it held.    

We had just left our haven and wanted to explore a little bit. Now that we had clothes made of fur, the coldness didn’t bother us that much. And we felt far more confident in fighting. Ami stepped up to the monster Mary fought and relaxed in a loosened stance. She was nimble on her feet and tested her movements, feigning a charge before rushing in. Ami ducked under a wild swipe and replied with a kick to the shin. The green bar representing her aura increased, and she unleashed a powerful [Aura Blast] and blew the top half of the monster to gory bits.   

She wiped her sweaty brow and gave me two thumbs up with a very Ami-esque smile. Flutter returned to Mary’s shoulder and chirped.   

But our exploration needed to continue, so we waded through the labyrinthian city, taking on solo monsters. Keeth, Greggie, and Elly were on their own and heading to the west, and we had plans to return to our safe haven before night.  

During our journey, though, we discovered treasure chests locked away inside basements and attics, and they held jackets, shirts, and other clothing enchanted with resistance against frost and ice. A few shoes, after I focused on them, told me they were blessed with {Liquid Resistance}.  

That was nice to know, but this world felt more like a video game. There were levels, skills, loot… Bosses and dungeons.   

It still felt very surreal to me.    

When the sky darkened, we were entering what looked like a library. The floor was covered with snow a few inches thick, and most books were ruined. I couldn't read the scribble-like, symbol-based language for the few legible books left. It reminded me of Chinese or Japanese. Despite knowing those languages, it did little to help me understand the symbols. 

Ami discovered a stone tablet hidden behind a wooden wall on the top floor. She said she had heard air behind it, so she just broke through it with a few powerful kicks.   

“Wait… I can read this?”  

“I can too. It must be written in Silvaran,” Mary said, peeking over my shoulder.  

“Stone Tablet 1: The Rise of Fairy Queen Melusine…” The tablet recounted the golden era of Melusine’s reign—a time in which harmony and prosperity were the defining factors. The queen's rule was characterized by wisdom, compassion, and a deep connection to the natural world.  Her kingdom stood as a beacon of hope, and her subjects revered her as a symbol of light and benevolence. “…little did she know of the lurking darkness beneath her city… A curse waiting to shatter the tranquility she had built for herself.”   

“That’s so sad… The beautiful woman was once nice?”  

“Yes. It seems like it,” Mary answered Ami. “Do we have to kill her to escape?”  

“That’s my guess. She’s probably at the castle. Maybe that should be our goal. We need to find more safe havens. These tablets could grant us a clue to defeat her.”  

“But Quella, do we need clues? We’re so much stronger now!” Ami formed a muscle and proudly showed off her toned arms. “Fighting is getting easier. I can more readily understand the enemy. Oh, and your melty fire is super strong.” 

Melty fire? That’s a new one.   

“We cannot take any chances. I don’t know if my flames can win against the queen. We still have over three weeks to get back to Cridia.”  

“Okay… If you say so, I’ll follow you because you’re the leader!”  

“Flutter, I need you to scout the area, okay?” The icy bird left Mary’s shoulder and flew through the open window. We waited until the coast was clear, then returned to the inn.  

The other team was waiting in the lobby to welcome us back, and we swapped info. They had found another safe haven about four hours away.  

“It looks like a blacksmith’s workshop. There were anvils and hammers, but we didn’t see any metal or materials,” Greggie said. He had this…look in his eye. Something was bothering him. “We brought back another six leopards. It should be enough to get us outfitted with a few spares.”   

“We discovered treasure chests filled with resistant gear,” I said. Mary threw out Snowy, who held an armful of clothing. Whatever her monsters carried could accompany them inside the mana orb.   

Greggie prepared dinner while we sorted everything. The thermal socks and boots were most helpful. The jackets were less so, but very much appreciated. Our chef packed the food with [Mana Marinade – Magical] to increase our magical ability, then we swapped more stories while drinking our purified water.   

With the flames going, it felt like a real campfire.   

The food was bland, gamey, and chewy. But it was better than nothing. Greggie kept apologizing, but it wasn’t his fault because this place had nothing in the way of spices.   

 

---

When the next day came, we packed what we needed and left for the next haven. Once there, we set up the living room for the night and continued our investigation.   

Things were really kicking up speed. Our growth was fast—probably hyper-accelerated, but our status as Soul Warriors was to thank for that. No wonder they were used as deterrents against war if I held enough firepower to burn an entire house to smoldering ash. Instead of finding ways around buildings that blocked our path, I opted for the destructive route, which sped things up.   

It attracted attention, but Ami was powerful enough to take four monsters in a fight. Whenever a wayward strike or an icy projectile pierced her skin, I healed her wounds. 

Elly was with us today, and she jumped on a carriage, nearly slipped on the ice, sang her heart out, and watched the magical notes her voice produced destroy our enemies.    

In the heat of battle, we take our stance, 

A symphony of power, in our hands. 

With every note we sing, our enemies fear, 

Melodies of courage, drawing near. 

 

We raise our voices, our spirits ignite, 

Musical warriors, shining bright. 

Our songs are weapons, melodies untold, 

Fighting through music, brave and bold. 

 

Notes like daggers, piercing through the air, 

Harmonies of victory, we shall declare. 

Each verse resounding, striking with might, 

As we dance on the battlefield, our hearts alight. 

 

We raise our voices, our spirits ignite, 

Musical warriors, shining bright. 

Our songs are weapons, melodies untold, 

Fighting through music, brave and bold. 

 

With every chord, we weave a spell, 

Unleashing power, where foes shall dwell. 

Rhythm and harmony, our guiding light, 

Together we stand, ready to fight. 

 

We raise our voices, our spirits ignite, 

Musical warriors, shining bright. 

Our songs are weapons, melodies untold, 

Fighting through music, brave and bold. 

 

So let the music soar, let it ring, 

Through the battles we face, together we sing. 

For in our voices, strength shall arise, 

We fight as one, with melodies as our prize. 

Her voice was as lovely as ever. Even she was brought to her knees and wailed at seeing the music she loved so much carve open monsters, destroying their heads… Even if the sight of so much blood brought upon by something lovely crushed her heart enough to make her regret even becoming an idol in the first place…  

Elly continued to sing. Because she knew we needed her power. Even if the battlefield became an orgy of blood and gore, she endured the weight pressing against her soul.    

As the day continued, the lyrics became more depressing. They were dark and unnerving, reflecting their power.    

We stopped after finding the second and third tablets detailing the rise and fall of Melusine. They were in the same multi-level barracks near a large piece of the crumbled wall.   

The second was titled The Shadow’s Awakening. The ancient curse beneath the kingdom’s capital city awoken during the night. The icy grip of darkness crept through the land, corrupting everything in its path. Melusine and her people faced a growing threat while the realm she ruled was twisted into a frozen hellscape. She was desperate to save her kingdom, so she sought answers to help her restore light to her pride and joy.  

The third was The Descent into Frost, which chronicled her desperate measures. By then, the tablet said the unyielding winter trapped the citizens in the city. The powerful blizzards had destroyed the walls and turned the surrounding plains into an icy wonderland. The mountains situated nearby were also suffering the effects.   

Melusine desperation led her to discover an ice crystal hidden deep below the labyrinthian tunnels below her castle…and it was this crystal that was the true artifact of the ancient malevolence. She held noble intentions, yet her fateful attempt to save her people resulted in the Fairy Queen unleashing the full force of the curse upon herself.    

Returning home, we again swapped info at the new save haven. The other team found two more havens after Mary’s icy bird helped scout out half of the remaining 30% of the city.   

We were making good progress.   

---

The fourth tablet was titled Frozen Reign, and I found it with Greggie and Keeth inside a bar. A locked door prevented us from entering the basement, but Keeth expertly picked the lock, acquiring the [Lockpick] skill without needing to spend any SP.  

After Melusine released the ice crystal’s curse, the entire kingdom transformed into what we were adventuring through. The vibrant life it once held was silenced by eternal ice. Melusine was said to have been trapped in her throne. She became a prisoner, yet she ruled over the desolate realm while being tormented by the knowledge of her unintended role in bringing about the frozen apocalypse.   

If she was here, then how did she show up before? My guess was some projection skill. That kind of thing was common for mages to use to talk to someone far away without leaving the comfort of their home.   

In my books, at least. 

I hadn’t had luck discovering spells other than [Cure Burn] and [Minor Heal], but I had used them so many times they were Lv. 10—which seemed to be the max.    

Later that night, we made it to another new haven, which put us that much closer to the castle. This place was another inn, but its kitchen was twice the size of the lobby.   

This place had charcoal and a grill, and we killed a few plant monsters during our search. Greggie minced their remains after noticing they smelled like onions. We also encountered more of those icy canaries. Their meat was spongy and softer than leopard fillets. Greggie packed the minced plant and laid it on the grill in a thin layer. Then he carved the bird meat thin, poked holes through them, and placed them over the bed of onion-like plant. The juice from the canaries would drip onto the plant, and the onion-like vapor would help cook the meat and impart some sense of flavor.    

Even without spices, it smelled amazing. It tasted even better. Since there were two ingredients, Greggie used his magical marinade on the onions and physical on the meat until his mana was dangerously low, but we felt the bonuses. It was like a faint flame coursing through our bodies. This little bit wouldn’t amount to much, but it would stack. And as Greggie acquired more mana, the effects would strengthen.   

It was just a matter of getting there.    

If we wanted to have our own rooms, we could’ve. But after bunking together for so long, it felt odd to do anything else.    

We were all tired from exploring, so we hit the bed early to prepare for what would soon be the end of our spelunking—something we were ready for. We just wanted to get out of this hellhole.   

This place was affecting us. I noted and brought it up before bed, but I said I felt like I was changing.   

Hunting monsters, killing them for experience and levels, butchering their flesh and preparing it over the fire…  

We were almost monsters ourselves—fighting for the right to survive.    

Elly agreed and broke into a mournful cry. She experienced a breakdown and almost pulled her hair out before Ami wrapped her in a tight hug. Keeth whispered and wondered how many he would kill tomorrow. The garrote he made of icy stone remained in his gloved hands. 

It was bloody.   

Greggie looked at a butcher knife Keeth made him. His instructors had taught him to forever respect the tools. So, he refused to use it to kill, even though he had a skill to increase damage with butcher knives. Next came the shield-- made from a chunk of a falling spike. Greggie ran his hands over the surface, then looked at his scar-covered forearms. They were gained from fighting on the front line, and he deeply sighed with a heart full of internal struggle and strife.    

We were all feeling the effects of the day. Even if they were monsters, a human could only kill so much—even out of self-defense—before it became too much.   

I wanted to escape before it got to that point.    

---

In the morning, I woke up to find Ami peeking into the kitchen. She crouched underneath a half-window and looked inside. She heard me stir awake, then put a finger to her lips.  

I crawled silently, stepping over Mary and Keeth, and joined our talented luchadora.   

“Greggie’s been doing this every morning…” she said as we watched Greggie exercise. He tried and failed to do pushups, so he settled for the wall variant. He did twenty and almost dropped to his knees. A puddle of sweat surrounded him, and he stretched his back before falling to his stomach.   

It was faint, but I heard him whimper. He got off the ground and wiped his runny nose before attempting to do a few squats. He placed his hands behind his head and lowered his knees, gritting so hard his lips started to bleed.   

“He thinks he’s weak. But he’s not. Not just anyone can survive this,” Ami whispered. “Qutie… I wanna help him. You said it yourself. We are in this together. Survival means surviving together.”  

“I think he’ll like that.”  

Seeing Greggie wanting to better himself struck me in the heart. Ami went to him, carrying a cup of refreshing water. He was shocked and embarrassed at his efforts being discovered, but his emotions flowed past his eyes. He made and fist and punched his knees, which caused Ami to hug him. She rubbed his head and said it was okay.   

The noise woke everyone else. And like the night before, we shared an emotional moment with a close friend.   

Greggie said he always struggled with his weight. And since the kitchen was often a battle place, he remained in just enough shape to work long hours.  

Elly forced herself into the ‘Greggie Fitness Party’ as she called it, which consisted of all of us, but the primary members were Ami and herself. “I’m gonna work you like a dog when we return to the church,” she said. “There is no tougher routine than being an idol. We’re expected to dance and sing for hours on end. And we never, ever miss a day to better our bodies!” Elly bounced to her feet, swayed her hips, and sang a song famous for being the theme of a popular chain of gyms. 

It was nice hearing her sing from a source of love, not violence or death. And Greggie had the support he needed. During breakfast, which was more grilled bird and greens from a frozen plant monster, he admitted he had never felt more helpless than in the past few days. He wondered if he could’ve helped Shuuta more if he had been in better shape. Or if he had done a little less something during his life, he might’ve died when we were running away from those monsters on the first day.   

He couldn’t stop thinking about how his lack of general fitness almost killed us.   

If he had been a few pounds heavier… Or if he had slipped further back…  

Elly quickly ended Greggie’s pessimistic attitude and said those things were in the past. We were here now, and we were alive. We were in the present, and what we did today decided our lives in the future.   

It was a profound way of thinking—not many people would have expected an idol to say something so thought-provoking.