[…What is ice?]
When Harloys was my teacher, her questions were always designed to stimulate my mind. In a similar fashion, my System started off by giving me a question and telling me to think about it by myself.
But unlike my confused self from back in the day, I could now count myself as an ice magic grandmaster.
“Ice is a special form of water. Ice magic is a branch magic of water magic. As long as I pay a certain amount of mana, I’ll be able to quickly change the form of water I create into ice.”
That was Roland Blackhand’s answer to this question back in my second life. It was a transmigrator-like answer, very scientific and practical, and was how he had developed his Ice Hallucination technique which was most suited to his combat style.
Being able to utilize “hallucinations” to the utmost extent would require outstanding manipulation abilities and absolute coldness and calmness even in the most heated of combat situations. However, this was a perfect ability for Roland Blackhand, who had abandoned human emotions. No—it should be said that only someone like Blackhand would be able to use such a power.
“Ice? It’s nothing more than a tool. It’s foundationally no different to fire or wind magic. It’s just a tool that I’m using for revenge. I absolutely must have those bastards pay the price for what they’ve done. I still don’t have enough power. I need more, I need absolutely destructive power.”
My third life as a lich answered this question by coming up with Ice Aeon. My incredible System gave him a path to reach the void of dreams, reality and illusions, where he saw the frozen age where the world and universe were first forming. He brought back that age that could freeze anything to death back to reality with him.
Emperor Yongye, the Emperor of Eternal Night, desired to bring eternal darkness upon the living. That was how the Ice Aeon of despair had been born.
“Power? Existence? No—the frozen age is only that homeland in my heart. I shall draw the Northlands’ beauty with my own brush. And my foundational magic of ice sculpting is the best paintbrush I could ask for.”
With Harloys and the Frigid Nightmares’ guidance, I was able to begin gaining a new understanding of ice.
“No, just this alone isn’t enough. Ice is only the base material for painting. I can use ice to create an entire world. I can create my own Frigidwinter Earth.”
During the danger of the Emordilorcan crisis, I took the most important step. However, it was likely that very few people knew what this step of mine truly represented… it represented the hope of the world.
I arrived at different answers at what ice was in each of these three lives of mine. Every piece of the puzzle seemed real but also like part of a blank jigsaw puzzle, which would be incredibly difficult to put together. [1] 1
“I should consider myself lucky. Very few people will have three completely different understandings of ice. Actually, it’s impossible for anyone other than myself to have more than two understandings of ice.”
Anyone learning about a specific type of knowledge would have to progress from a shallow to a deep understanding. Once they reached a certain level, they would have their own path and understanding, unique in the world. Even if another person walked down the exact same path, there would always be small coincidental factors different in that person’s life that would make this path impossible to completely replicate.
And people could only have one life experience. To use an analogy, it was like pouring water into a cup. A full cup of water wouldn’t be able to contain anything more. Even if you emptied the cup and started all over again, you couldn’t escape from the traces of water left behind in the cup. It was impossible for a person to have more than one Soul Imprint. The only method would be for that person to empty their entire head, starting from their very soul, and start over. That would count as a new life but was obviously straying far from common sense.
However, some things did, indeed, stray far from common sense. For instance, reincarnation. For instance, my System.
Each person who saw a painting would have their own opinion of it. I, however, had three completely different angles and opinions. Just like a filled cup of water, life experience was something that couldn’t be cleaned out so easily. Yet I had started over with a clean slate three times.
I studied ice magic in these three most recent lives of mine. Me being able to start over with a clean slate was due to my soul being damaged every time I reincarnated. This was both a good thing and a bad thing. But now this “bad side effect” of having to start over again had become “three life experiences” that nobody else in the world could possibly obtain. I doubted that a single person in the world had a deeper understanding of what the true nature of ice was.
[Then, what is ice?]
“I still don’t know! I had three completely different ways of looking at ice. Is the correct answer the addition of all three? What if I have four lives, five lives… or even thirteen lives’ worth of experience? Would I have to come up with yet another new answer, one that would also be correct? Is this the legendary multiple-choice question on a test?”
As I asked myself what ice truly was, I realized I had less of an understanding than when I first began. Was this the actualization of the legendary saying “The more you know, the more you realize how little you know?” The me in the past would have unhesitatingly answered the question. But now I found myself unable to define what ice was.
And so it naturally became impossible for me to add all my life experiences together and come up with a new answer.
“I don’t know. Isn’t ice… just ice? It doesn’t get any fancier. Hey, System, just tell me the answer. I’m not smart enough. I can’t figure it out.”
[…Didn’t you literally just come up with the answer? Ice is just ice. It’s a form of water, one of the four major elements that the entire world is created from. Every additional definition of ice was added on by others. Even ice magic was something people came up with by experimenting with water magic. How could any of that possibly be the true nature of ice?]
“…Are you kidding me…?”
Yet I was unable to say anything more as countless scenes and knowledge suddenly poured into my brain. The earliest mystical secrets were shown before my eyes: the scene of the universe’s creation. The information contained within far surpassed what an ordinary human could take in. At first I felt a headache but was unable to fall unconscious no matter what. Only when the knowledge infusion stopped did I directly fall unconscious, not able to say a single word.
…I could only hope that my understanding this time was correct…”Ice is just ice.”
******
The world didn’t stop revolving because Roland was busy having a headache.
“Damn it! Where the hell is the God Equipment of Fire?”
Even Solo, who typically had a good temper, was frustrated. Due to Aylos’ rash suicide, the original plans had all gone up in smoke. The plan to have the Water Elemental Goddess help retrieve the God Equipment of Fire could only be temporarily set aside. The Water Elemental Goddess herself—or more accurately the few remnants that remained—was contained within the ice crystal in Solo’s pocket.
It was unknown whether Aylos would live. Right now, Solo had nobody he could talk to about his worries.
If he was unable to complete his task, he would have a difficult many days ahead of him. He was currently wandering around the Water Elemental Plane, without a clue about where to search for the God Equipment of Fire. And this had already attracted the attention of many powerful existences.
******
“Have you heard? We’re starting another campaign to reclaim our capital.”
In Auland’s temporary capital of New Kagersi, the dark clouds that always surrounded the city seemed to have greatly decreased. In the military campground, the high-ranked military officers and high-ranked knights were chatting among themselves. They hadn’t yet received formal orders, but these warriors had experienced more than seventy rounds of battle by now, and from the resources and personnel they suddenly began receiving they understood what was going on. A new major campaign to reclaim the capital was about to begin.
“Weren’t we going to wait for our airship fleet to be completed? Why is His Majesty Darsos taking action now? Could it be that our airship fleet can be used?”
“No, I heard from my uncle who’s working on them that only five of our old ships have finished with the basic modifications. They’re far from being ready to use.”
“Why’s His Majesty in such a big rush, then? Is the Sea Tribe about to take the initiative to attack us?”
“No… What I heard was that a new batch of reinforcements arrived from the Northlands. Apparently, the Princess Knight is leading them, and there are many Aurora Knights. This will be another cooperative battle.”
“Wonderful!”
These young warriors desired the chance to obtain combat accolades, but not a single Auland warrior would ever imagine that their next battle would be the final one, the battle to reclaim their capital.
Meanwhile, in New Kagersi’s Mist Alliance embassy, the two princesses—also known as the Twin Stars—reunited with each other.
Their mission? Suffice to say, it was of Myth-level difficulty.
Note:
[1] TL/N: You ever see one of those jigsaw puzzles that are just pure white, with zero images on it to help you put it together?