Chapter 141

Combination (4)

The Ice Blossom was an herb found only in cold regions—and even there, it was exceedingly rare.

Moreover, it tended to melt as soon as the temperature rose even slightly, and it remained in bloom for only a short time.

It could grow only during the limited season of winter, had a short lifespan, and possessed the durability of an ocean sunfish.

Most importantly, it required land abundant in mana.

All those conditions combined to make it an exceptionally rare herb.

As always, however, the Forest of the Four Seasons seemed to be an exception.

There was no need to explain how much mana existed here.

The seasons changed every week, so its short lifespan wasn’t a problem either.

If I searched around the shelter, I could find Ice Blossoms with relative ease.

Therefore, to me, Ice Blossoms were nothing more than seasonal flowers.

Flowers that came into season once every four weeks, at that.

Title: Found More Ice Blossoms

Wild Grylls

(Photo of an Ice Blossom)

(Photo of Ice Blossom 2)

(Photo of Ice Blossom 3)

Are these like seasonal wild greens or something? There are quite a lot of them.

└ Heavenly Demon: You must be the only person who would describe such a precious medicinal herb as seasonal wild greens.

└ SwordMaster: All kinds of supposedly rare herbs seem to be gathered there. Those really are incredibly valuable.

└ Does this mean he’ll be able to find Ice Blossoms every winter from now on?

└ Seems like it. Wouldn’t the same apply to other herbs? Different herbs grow in different seasons.

└ What herbs grow in spring again? All sorts of medicinal herbs grow between spring and summer.

└ For real? At this point, anything he picks up will probably be considered medicinal, lol.

└ Starlight Princess: You found several rather than just one! Are

The Ice Blossom was a medicinal herb found only in cold regions—and even there, it was extremely rare.

Moreover, it would often melt away if the temperature rose even slightly, and its blooming period was short.

A single limited season called winter, a short lifespan, and the durability of a sunfish.

Above all, it could only grow in soil with an abundance of mana.

All these conditions combined to make it an extraordinarily rare medicinal herb.

But as always, the Forest of the Four Seasons appeared to be an exception.

There was no need to explain how plentiful the mana was here.

The seasons changed every week, so its short lifespan wasn’t a problem either.

I could easily find Ice Blossoms simply by searching around the shelter.

Therefore, as far as I was concerned, the Ice Blossom was nothing more than a seasonal flower.

One that came into season once every four weeks.

Title: Found More Ice Blossoms

Wild Grylls

(Photo of an Ice Blossom)

(Photo of Ice Blossom 2)

(Photo of Ice Blossom 3)

Are these like seasonal herbs or something? There are quite a lot of them.

└ Heavenly Demon: You must be the only person who would describe a precious medicinal herb as seasonal greens.

└ SwordMaster: It’s like every supposedly rare herb has gathered there. Those are genuinely precious.

└ So does this mean he’ll be able to find Ice Blossoms every winter from now on?

└ Seems like it. Wouldn’t the same apply to other herbs? Different medicinal herbs grow in different seasons.

└ What medicinal herbs grow in spring again? All kinds of them grow from spring through summer.

└ For real? But anything he picks up will probably be considered a medicinal herb, lol.

└ Starlight Princess: You found several, not just one! Are you going to use those to make more essence?

└ Wild Grylls: I’d like to gain cold resistance. I have plenty of ingredients now, so I think it should be fine.

└ Starlight Princess: All right. But could you give me the mature mandrake you mentioned yesterday?

└ Wild Grylls: I’ll give you a mature mandrake and make another blue mandrake using yesterday’s method. That should make your research easier.

└ Starlight Princess: I’ll be sure to repay your trust!

└ Wild Grylls: Thank you.

└ Passing Dwarf: Hey, what about me? Give me one too.

└ Wild Grylls: You reek of alcohol, so go away. Besides, I don’t have enough to spare for making liquor. I’ll consider it once I obtain the ability I want.

└ Passing Dwarf: Okay, lol.

└ Wild Grylls: If necessary, I’ll make the liquor myself, lol.

└ Passing Dwarf: You little bastard!

└ Don’t worry. There are probably plenty of other medicinal herbs besides those, lolol.

└ What if he finds Sun Herbs in summer?

└ Sun Herbs only grow in deserts. It’s like how Snow Ginseng only grows on snowy mountains.

└ By that logic, shouldn’t Ice Blossoms only grow on snowy mountains too?

└ He’ll find something. We just need to sit back and watch, lol.

Now that I had found more Ice Blossoms, I ate a light breakfast and began the production process.

The first thing I needed to do was gather mandrakes.

This time, I collected several rather than just one.

I gave one of them to the Starlight Princess and processed another using the same method as yesterday.

I started by boiling the mature mandrake together with an Ice Blossom, dyeing it blue.

"Kkuyolk?! Kkueok!!"

Once again, I forcibly poured elixir into its mouth.

It suddenly reminded me of foie gras, the dish made from goose liver.

Apparently, they force-feed geese by inserting funnels into their beaks to enlarge their livers.

A mandrake was a plant, so it wasn’t quite as bad, but its reactions still made the process unpleasant.

Although in my case, I was forcing medicine—elixir—into it rather than food.

"Kkiyoooooot!!"

Whack! Smack!

The moment the elixir took effect, I beat the thrashing mandrake until it calmed down.

’Now I just need to send these.’

I sent her three mandrakes in total.

One was an ordinary mandrake, another was a mandrake combined with an Ice Blossom, and the last was a mandrake that had absorbed both an Ice Blossom and an elixir.

If she researched them one by one, the Starlight Princess should be able to figure something out.

I would have liked to give All-Father some samples and ask him to conduct research too, but I didn’t have enough.

[Starlight Princess: Thank you. I’ll send you my findings by lunchtime.]

[Wild Grylls: Understood. Is the mandrake combined with the Ice Blossom still intact?]

[Starlight Princess: Perhaps because the Ice Blossom was absorbed into the mandrake, it’s still blue. If I’d known this would happen, I would’ve asked you to send it yesterday.]

[Wild Grylls: Neither of us knew. I’ll wait for your findings, then.]

Now that I had entrusted the research to the Starlight Princess, I needed to attend to my own work.

My first priority was controlling the ability.

As I had repeatedly emphasized, it would cause all sorts of trouble if I couldn’t control it.

I used aura not only in combat but also for various kinds of labor.

Logging, mining, digging, processing materials, and so on.

It was useful in countless ways.

But if everything became covered in frost—or froze solid—whenever I used it, that would be an enormous headache.

’Let’s determine why my mana is giving off cold. Has the mana itself really changed?’

I quietly closed my eyes and circulated my heart method.

I could clearly feel the mana inside me flowing through every corner of my body.

At the same time, I felt an intensely frigid sensation.

The mana itself had taken on the properties of cold.

However, contrary to the Starlight Princess’s fears, my circuits hadn’t frozen solid as they would with Severed Meridian Syndrome.

As though my body had completely adapted, the mana circulated easily without placing any strain on me.

’How should I put it...?’

Was it similar to how the waters of the Arctic and Antarctic didn’t freeze easily?

I didn’t mean that my mana contained salt.

I was merely speculating that the essence I had consumed yesterday had caused a similar phenomenon.

It wasn’t a bad thing, but I had only avoided the worst-case scenario. The ability remained troublesome.

’It would be perfect if it just had an on-and-off switch.’

How could I separate the cold energy from my aura?

As I pondered the problem, a thought suddenly occurred to me.

’Wait. All my mana gathers in my dantian, doesn’t it?’

An internal energy heart method accumulated mana within the dantian through breathing.

In other words, even if mana spread throughout my entire body, it would eventually return to the dantian.

Then what if I separated the cold energy every time the mana returned and stored it independently?

’My dantian won’t freeze solid, will it?’

That possibility was frightening too.

I stopped circulating the heart method for a moment.

This was when I needed an expert’s opinion.

[Wild Grylls: Heavenly Demon, may I ask you a question?]

[Heavenly Demon: What do you wish to know?]

[Wild Grylls: Well, the thing is...]

I gave the Heavenly Demon a general explanation.

I wanted to separate the cold energy from my mana and store it inside my dantian.

However, I was worried that the cold energy might adversely affect my dantian.

I asked her to tell me whether my concern was baseless or if there was a genuine risk.

The Heavenly Demon seemed to contemplate my question for some time before replying.

[Heavenly Demon: I understand what you mean. Your concern is not unreasonable.]

[Wild Grylls: Is it dangerous?]

[Heavenly Demon: It would be dangerous if you separated them incorrectly. As you fear, your dantian could freeze solid. However, if you use the proper method, you should be able to separate them safely.]

[Wild Grylls: Could you teach me how?]

[Heavenly Demon: Of course. The principle is to create another dantian within your dantian.]

[Wild Grylls: That sounds incredibly difficult.]

[Heavenly Demon: It is nothing extraordinary. If your existing dantian is meant for pure energy, the new dantian you create will be exclusively for cold energy. Wait a moment.]

After leaving that message, the Heavenly Demon disappeared for a while.

I tilted my head, unable to understand what she meant by creating a dantian inside my dantian.

I didn’t doubt her, since she was the expert in this field.

I simply couldn’t grasp the concept.

’Maybe I’ll have to perform manual labor without aura for a while.’

This strange ability was making my body suffer.

I could only laugh hollowly.

I had no idea how long I waited, but after a while, the Heavenly Demon sent me another message.

[Heavenly Demon: (Image depicting the human body and an inner core) Can you see it clearly? You should notice a small circle inside this inner core. You must gather the essence into a mass and create another inner core in this manner.]

[Wild Grylls: Ah. So it’s like a mathematical set.]

[Heavenly Demon: Is "set" not simply a word used when things are gathered together?]

[Wild Grylls: It’s also a mathematical term. It isn’t used very often.]

[Heavenly Demon: I see. In any case, it is enough that you understand. Now that you know the principle, you should practice.]

[Wild Grylls: Don’t you have any other advice?]

[Heavenly Demon: The second mnemonic chant I taught you will be of great assistance. I would like to teach you the third chant, but I fear it may cause you to grow stronger in yet another bizarre direction, so it would be best to postpone it. That is especially true now that your energy has acquired the properties of cold.]

[Wild Grylls: Understood. Thank you very much, even if it’s only advice.]

[Heavenly Demon: This lady shall always be waiting. If you require assistance, you need only ask.]

No matter how I looked at it, the Heavenly Demon was a precious connection.

She had given me invaluable advice without the slightest hesitation.

The Heavenly Demon added that it would be better for me to learn the third mnemonic chant only after I could easily control both my cold energy and aura.

Ideally, I should wait until I could use sword force—in other words, an Aura Blade.

I agreed with her.

’If I become stronger in some stupid-ass way again, I’ll be the one who suffers.’

As someone had joked, my aura might end up piercing the heavens.

Praying that nothing like that would happen, I resumed circulating my internal energy heart method.

I recited the second mnemonic chant the Heavenly Demon had taught me and visualized the image she had shown me, separating my mana from the cold energy.

Shwaaaaa—

The cold energy gradually separated as though undergoing a chemical reaction.

Following the Heavenly Demon’s instructions, I positioned that energy in the center of my inner core.

As if creating another circle within an existing circle, I slowly forced the energy together into a compact mass.

Crackle—

Perhaps because the principle resembled that of an Aura Blade, it wasn’t easy.

Whenever I finally managed to gather the energy, it would often crumble apart.

Moreover, the circulating mana flowed as rapidly as crashing waves, making even the separation process difficult.

’I can’t give up.’

An Aura Blade manifested outside the body, whereas this process took place inside me.

Relatively speaking, this should be easier.

I refused to become discouraged and continued separating the two energies.

I had no idea how much time passed.

Eventually, my efforts bore fruit.

Shortly before lunchtime, I managed to form an essence core the size of a grain of millet.

’Now, if I want to use the cold energy...’

When I touched it as though popping a balloon, the essence core immediately burst.

Reforming it wasn’t difficult either.

After all, I had already traveled that path once.

If I gradually increased its size, I would eventually be able to use ordinary aura in daily life again.

Until then, I would have to avoid using aura while working whenever possible.

’I’ll just think of it as exercise.’

I checked the time.

Before I knew it, hours had passed and it was already lunchtime.

At that exact moment, the Starlight Princess sent me a message.

Her timing was impeccable.

She had promised to share her research findings by lunchtime, so this was right on schedule.

[Wild Grylls: What did you find?]

[Starlight Princess: I have good news and bad news. Which would you like to hear first?]

[Wild Grylls: Please tell me the bad news first.]

[Starlight Princess: It seems practically impossible to gain cold resistance using an Ice Blossom. It might be possible if we disregarded safety, but no matter how hard I thought about it, every method carried significant risks.]

To acquire cold resistance, I would have to consume an Ice Blossom despite the danger.

I was disappointed for a moment, but then a question occurred to me.

’Then what about the people who gained cold resistance in the past? Were they simply lucky?’

The moment the thought occurred to me, I asked her.

[Wild Grylls: What about the people from the past? You said some died after eating Ice Blossoms, but others gained cold resistance.]

[Starlight Princess: Do you remember the pufferfish you mentioned before? This is a completely different situation.]

[Wild Grylls: A different situation?]

[Starlight Princess: Yes. With pufferfish, people generally discovered which parts were safe to eat after countless attempts. But Ice Blossoms are different. Those people simply ate them.]

[Wild Grylls: They just ate them? Then how did they survive?]

The Starlight Princess gave me an intuitive explanation of the difference.

[Starlight Princess: To use the pufferfish analogy, it was eaten by people who could chew up an entire raw pufferfish and remain perfectly fine. In other words, the people who ate Ice Blossoms were simply exceptionally strong.]

[Wild Grylls: ;;;;]

So only natural-born powerhouses could eat them.

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